I want to learn guzheng by myself. Can I succeed? I studied piano and flute before.

First of all, these three are completely musical instruments in three fields. The instrument you chose is quite interesting. It can be seen that your musical quality should be relatively high and you have mastered many musical skills and techniques.

But we cannot easily say whether it is easier to learn or not because after all, these are not the same type of instruments. It's not like saying that if you learn piano and electronic keyboard, you will definitely be relaxed and happy; or if you learn violin and guitar, you will definitely become a master quickly. The reason is that their fundamental properties are different.

The piano is keyboard music, the flute is wind music, and the guzheng is string music.

1 Piano

First of all, from the perspective of musicality, piano can improve musical literacy and has high requirements on timbre, pitch, chords, speed, emotion, level, etc., which of course also It depends on how much you have learned. If it is only two or three years, it will not have any effect. When it comes to guzheng, you basically have the same starting point as everyone else. But if you have played piano since primary school and have a certain level of proficiency, then it is quite easy to learn any other instrument, whether it is orchestral music, traditional Chinese instruments, vocal music, etc., there is no obstacle in music theory.

From the perspective of fingering, the basic skills of piano develop the left and right brains. Piano learners must practice Hanon, Czerny, scales and arpeggios at the beginning. In this aspect, piano learners are very advantageous compared to learners of other instruments. Their finger flexibility is the king of fingering among all instruments. Among all instruments, the first is the piano and the second is the violin. Of course, this also depends on the progress and situation of your piano learning. If you reach level 8 or level 9, you can naturally learn any musical instrument. If you are level 5 or 6, it can be easier and more enjoyable. But if you don’t have a similar level, you still have to practice hard.

Among the stringed instruments, the guzheng is naturally complicated. The erhu has 2 strings, the violin has 4 strings, and the guitar has 6 strings... The guzheng has a full string, which shows that the fingering requirements must be Instruments that are lower than the previous ones are not particularly boring, but their range span is quite wide, and they require extremely high musicality, hand speed, and fingering accuracy. It will be easier for those who have learned string music to get started, but the piano is a keyboard, and there is no contact with string positioning, fret and other techniques during the learning process. Therefore, when you first learn the guzheng, there may be no advantage in getting started, but once you get started, you will The superiority of fingering dexterity and ear sensitivity will soon become apparent.

2 Flute

I don’t know what type of flute you are learning. If it is the most difficult flute, it should be very powerful. But I don’t have a deep understanding of the flute. Judging from its form, the sound is produced by blowing the breath from the mouth, and the fingering is limited to a few small holes. In addition to the requirements of music theory (in fact, the piano is completely sufficient), I personally think that the technical requirements are not enough. It is very high and has nothing to do with the fingering and technique of string instruments. But it will still help you a lot in terms of musicality.

In short, if you have learned two musical instruments and then learn a third cross-field instrument, you will definitely have many advantages over others. However, since there is no direct relationship, hard practice cannot be omitted.

I also learned several musical instruments, first piano, then guitar, erhu, and some small wind instruments. According to my experience, you cannot learn the correct method without learning from the teacher. I taught myself several string instruments for about a month and when I could play quite a few pieces, I found a teacher. The teachers' comments were the same: I had to learn from scratch, and the postures were completely non-standard.

It is best not to teach yourself, because you have not learned string music and have no basic skills. Even if you have studied string music, it is still different. For example, after I learned the guitar, my hand shape for playing the erhu was still wrong. The requirements of string music are completely unrelated to those of keyboard and wind instruments. First of all, the first thing you need to learn is not the advanced skills you have already mastered, but the most basic things such as posture, hand shape, strength, etc. The book Although there are schematic diagrams on the website, you will definitely not learn the most standard and professional things. It’s the same with any technique. You can learn it by yourself, and maybe you can play nice music, but if you don’t even have the basic postures right, you will definitely be laughed at by others.

Just like playing billiards if someone is very accurate but can't move or the posture is quite non-standard, it is a joke to outsiders. It is recommended that you first find a teacher to teach you how to get started and master solid basic skills. After you get started at this stage, there is absolutely no problem in getting rid of the teacher and practicing on your own.