Piano vs guitar vs ukulele: which is easier to learn first?

Piano vs guitar, or maybe the ukulele: the choice of a first instrument usually comes down to which one gets you playing music you love soonest. Each of the three is easy at a different moment, and each gets hard in its own way.

This guide compares the piano, the guitar and the ukulele for a first-time player. It covers cost, the first month, the time to a first song, portability, what each teaches about music and the styles it suits, for children and adults. A short decision guide and the first method book for each instrument follow.

Piano is the easiest of the three for the first notes, because every key plays a correct pitch the moment you press it. Guitar is the hardest in the first weeks, with sore fingertips and chord shapes that buzz, and then it gets you strumming songs within a month or two. The ukulele is the gentlest start: four soft strings, one-finger chords and a first song within a week or two.

Piano vs guitar vs ukulele at a glance

The table compares the three on the points that decide a first instrument. The times assume short practice sessions on most days, the same assumption as our learning timelines for each instrument.

Which is easier in the first month

On the piano, the instrument does half the work. Press a key and it plays an in-tune note, with no string to press just right and no tuning before you begin. The first weeks go to finding the notes and reading them: the black keys sit in groups of two and three, and every C is just left of a group of two. The free virtual piano plays from your computer keyboard, so you can learn that map before you own an instrument.

The guitar asks more of the hands from day one. A steel string takes real force to press against a fret, so the fingertips feel tender after every session until calluses form, which takes about a month of regular playing for many beginners. Chords buzz until each finger lands just behind its fret. The reward comes quickly after that: two or three open chords and a steady strum make a song, and the guitar learning timeline shows how each stage follows.

The ukulele sits between the two, closer to the piano. Its four nylon strings press easily and sting the fingertips less, and the neck is short, so the first chords sit within three frets. C takes one finger. That is why a ukulele beginner often plays a whole song in the first week, which no piano or guitar beginner can count on.

Which gets harder later

Each instrument has a wall, and they arrive at different times. The piano’s wall is hand independence. One hand plays a melody while the other plays chords or a second line, often in a different rhythm, and the music is written on two staves at once. Most piano students spend their first months building up to it, which is why a two-hand piece comes later than a strummed song.

The guitar’s wall is the barre chord, where the index finger presses all six strings across one fret. The F chord buzzes for weeks before it rings, and most players get past it somewhere in the first year. After that, the guitar opens into lead playing and fingerpicking, and each of those takes years of its own.

The ukulele’s wall comes later and is lower. Chord changes at full song tempo and the chords that ask one finger to hold two or more strings take a few months. Past that point, the ukulele is as deep as any instrument, and advanced ukulele playing takes years of practice, the same as advanced guitar.

Cost, space and upkeep

The piano costs the most to start. A digital piano has 88 full-size keys weighted like an acoustic piano’s, plus speakers, a stand and a sustain pedal. A portable keyboard with 61 full-size, touch-sensitive keys costs less and covers the first year of beginner music. The guide to types of pianos and keyboards explains which features matter for a beginner and which can wait.

A guitar is a wooden box with strings, so a playable beginner instrument costs less than a digital piano. An electric guitar adds an amplifier, or headphones through a small amp, to the bill. A ukulele is smaller again, and a playable one usually costs the least of the three. With any string instrument, a basic setup at a music shop lowers the strings and makes every chord easier to press.

Space and noise point the same way. A guitar and a ukulele hang on a wall or travel in a bag, while a piano takes a fixed spot in a room. A digital piano has one advantage the strings lack: a headphone socket, so you can practice at midnight without waking anyone. The string instruments need tuning before every session, and the online guitar tuner and the ukulele tuner do it through your microphone.

What each instrument teaches about music

The keyboard is a picture of music theory. The notes run in one straight line from low to high, so a scale, a chord or an interval shows up as a shape you can see. That is why many teachers explain theory at the keyboard, even to guitarists. The piano chord finder spells any chord and shows it on the keys.

The guitar teaches theory through shapes. A chord shape moved up the neck plays the same type of chord in a new key, so one barre shape gives you twelve chords. The same note also sits on several strings, which makes the logic harder to see at first. The guitar chord finder shows every common chord in open and barre shapes, and comparing its C major with the piano chord finder’s C major makes the link between the two instruments clear in minutes.

The ukulele and the guitar are tuned in a fixed relation. The ukulele’s strings, G, C, E and A, match the four highest guitar strings raised by five frets. So every ukulele chord shape is a guitar shape on the top four strings under a different name: the ukulele G chord is the shape a guitarist calls D. A ukulele player who moves to guitar keeps the shapes, the strumming and the changes.

Reading also differs. Pianists read standard notation in treble and bass clef. Most guitar and ukulele music online is written as tab, which shows the string and fret to play, and musescore.com has scores in both formats for all three instruments.

Which should you choose

Choose the instrument behind the music you want to play, because that is the one you will pick up every day. If the music doesn’t decide it, these situations usually do.

You want to sing and play songs soon

Pick the ukulele for the quickest start or the guitar for the fuller sound. Both put three or four chords under a song within weeks, and both travel to a campfire or a friend’s house.

You want classical music, jazz or a solid grasp of theory

Pick the piano. It plays melody and harmony at once, the theory is visible on the keys, and reading two clefs prepares you to read music for any instrument later.

You are choosing for a child

A young child often starts well on the ukulele or a keyboard, since both sound good after a few days. Most children are ready for weekly piano lessons between six and nine, and the guide to piano for kids covers the readiness signs. A guitar for a child should be sized to the child, with nylon strings for softer fingertips.

You are an adult with little time or a small budget

Adults learn all three well, and the stages are the same at 25 or 65. With ten to fifteen minutes a day or a tight budget, the ukulele gives the most music for the least. With 20 to 30 minutes a day, the piano and the guitar both reward it, and the piano learning timeline shows what each month brings.

Start with one method book

Whichever you choose, one method book worked through in order is the fastest self-study route, and it gives a teacher a plan to follow. Each page adds one new skill, and the songs use only what you have learned so far. We publish the first books in the Hal Leonard series for all three instruments.

For adults starting the piano, the Hal Leonard Adult Piano Method, Book 1, puts lessons, solos, technique and theory in one book, with accompaniments online to play along with.

The Hal Leonard Guitar Method, Book 1, is the standard first book for acoustic and electric guitar. It covers tuning, playing position, the notes in first position, rhythm, strumming and the first chords.

The Hal Leonard Ukulele Method, Book 1, by Lil’ Rev, takes a beginner of any age through tuning, chords and strumming, reading music and tab, and melodies in several styles. The full first steps on the instrument, from choosing a size to a four-week plan, are in ukulele for beginners.

Frequently asked questions

Is piano or guitar harder to learn?

Guitar is harder at the start and piano gets harder later. A guitar beginner deals with sore fingertips and buzzing chords in the first weeks, then strums songs quickly. A piano beginner gets clean notes from the first day, and the difficulty grows when the hands play separate parts and reading two clefs at once becomes essential.

Is the ukulele easier than the guitar?

Yes, for the first months. The ukulele has four nylon strings at low tension instead of six, so chords take fewer fingers and less pressure, and the first shapes sit within three frets. Most beginners strum a simple song within a week or two. The guitar catches up later, and the ukulele shapes carry over to its top four strings.

Should I learn piano or guitar first?

Learn first the one that plays the music you want to play. If you have no preference, the piano gives the clearest view of theory and reading, which helps on any later instrument. The guitar gets you accompanying songs sooner. Either way, the skills transfer, so the second instrument goes faster.

Can I learn piano and guitar at the same time?

You can, though progress on each comes slower, because the practice time is split. Many teachers suggest getting comfortable on one first, usually for several months, so the basics of rhythm and reading are in place. Both instruments use the same chords and keys, so theory learned on one helps the other.

Does learning the ukulele help with the guitar?

Yes. The ukulele is tuned like the guitar’s four highest strings raised by five frets, so its chord shapes are guitar shapes with different names. A ukulele player moving to guitar already knows the shapes, the strumming and the chord changes, and adds two lower strings and new chord names.

Try all three this week

Each instrument is easy at a different moment: the ukulele in the first week, the piano in the first notes, the guitar once the fingertips harden. Pick the one behind the music you love, set a short daily practice time and work through one method book in order.

Before you buy, play C major on the virtual piano, look up the same chord in the guitar chord finder, and tune a borrowed ukulele with the online tuner. Ten minutes with each tells you which one you want to come back to tomorrow.