The guitar and piano seem like the two most widely-used instruments. Is that because of their resonance?
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Singing and playing works.
Less so with the french horn.
Cello? I suppose so, but they tend to play one note at a time so less versatile. Same with bass instruments.
Banjo, and xylophone? I reckon they’re due a comeback.
They’re the easiest instruments to sing and accompany yourself. That’s entirely impossible possible with brass or woodwinds. Percussion instruments aren’t usually tonal and even then they’re xylophones or something that takes a lot more set up than a guitar.
Guitar is a little special because it used to be a backup instrument where chords were the main thing. Then when it became electrified you could suddenly hear individual notes over a band. Then electric guitar companies started mass producing them and guitar became one of the most accessible instruments too.
Piano is also a little special because the layout is dictated by music theory. It’s the simplest way to arrange all the different possible notes in a way that it’s obvious what each note is based on its position relative to the other white or black keys. Because of that, when electronic instruments became a thing the instruments used piano key layouts. And then with electronics and computers becoming cheaper, cheap electronic keyboards become
The piano’s unique schtick is that it can play a super wide range of notes at the same time. A player can hit deep bass notes on one side and super-high treble on the other. Combine this with the ability to play both melody and chords at the same time plus it frees the lungs up for singing.
The guitar’s biggest claim to fame has been it’s size, the chord/melody ability, and that it frees up the mouth for singing. Unlike the piano the guitar’s history has been repeatedly based on *travel*. It originated in the Mediterranean and spread with early sea-farers before ultimately being picked up the Muslims. While Europe favored other instruments the Muslims kept the guitar alive and it eventually resurfaced in Spain with the re-conquest, this is why the word “guitar’ is actually an Arabic word, by way of Spanish.
It gets complicated but the guitar faced stiff competition in Europe but got saved as a ‘rich peoples’ parlor instrument to impress guests. It’s fair to say the guitar’s saving grace was a single man – C.F. Martin who brought his version to the US and popularized a number of technical advances that made it bigger and LOUDER. The guitar was repeatedly almost killed off by louder instruments but Martin did 3 things that solidified it’s place in history –
1. Got it into the hands of American migrants out West with the expansion. Again, it’s a portable sing-along instrument and few people were wanting to lug pianos to California.
2. Got it into early forms of mass production and mail-order catalogs, getting *his version* recognized as **THE** acoustic guitar.
3. Whether or not he *invented* the technologies, he was the first who combined a metal truss rod, metal guitar strings, and innovations in the wooden framing of the guitar to make them BIG and LOUD. Again, it’s **HIS** acoustic guitar that we all recognize today as “the guitar” for this reason.
1: They are polyphonic instruments. That means they can play multiple notes at the same time. As opposed to something like a flute, only one note at a time. This ties in to the second point:
2: Piano keyboard is the standard for learning music. Even when not at a piano we tend to think in terms of its physical white and black keys and how they are laid out. Even learning guitar the books will show the chords on a piano keyboard often times.
3: Both are easy to play instantly. Many instruments must be assembled, possibly tuned, and then warmed up each time you want to play it. A piano or guitar is ready to go the second you feel like it. I think this is more important than most for why they are popular.
4:Both are *string* instruments. Strings make waveforms (soundwaves) that are closer to the fundamental sine waves that make up sounds. This makes them sound decent when paired or combined with many other things. Extremely versatile is going to naturally be more common right?
A lot of the modern ways we use instruments in pop music is based on conventions established in early rock’n’roll.
The early rockers were piano players, like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino. They often toured with a base player (the big stand up base type) and a drummer. If you squeeze three guys, a base and a small drum kit into a car, it’s pretty full. The piano pairs well with base and drums, as they cover complementary functions in music, with rhythm and melody combined. An important factor was also that pianos (or sometimes organs) were available in many churches in the south were rock music originated, so a lot of people could learn how to play.
So up until the mid 1950’s, a rock singer was also a piano player.
Then there came a man named Elvis Presley, and he became ridiculously popular. He didn’t play the piano as a young man (but he learned it later). He was given a guitar as a child, and on the cover of his first record he is seen playing an acoustic guitar.
Right then and there, the rocker became a guitar player, and we’re still trodding down that road.
Piano can play solo, accompanying an orchestra/choir, and also jamming for a band
Guitar let you play and sing the same time, and it is easy to travel with
Both have low skill floor
I heard David Gilmour describe both instruments as being more “complete”, meaning you can play a full song on either instrument that you won’t be able to on others.
This means you can have a bass line as well as a treble melody, and the bassline can provide a rhythm as well, meaning you won’t need additional instruments for that
The key with the piano is that you can play two parts of a piece of music simultaneously, which makes it fantastic not only as a performance tool but also as a means to learn about music composition/theory.
You can play melody, chords and rhythm with just one instrument. A complete package.
Can’t do that with horns or violins.
Lots of reasons.
They are very intuitive and easy to play. Piano = touch key, note plays (as opposed to learning how to blow into a saxophone properly)
They can be played/ practiced quietly. (Compare to practicing a trumpet)
They can be accompanied by singing (compare to drums or an instrument that requires your mouth to play)
They play chords, giving much greater musical depth.
String instruments are easy to troubleshoot/repair or even build yourself (guitar, not piano so much).
They are very easily digitized. Getting an oboe onto a quality recording requires a lot of experience.
Lastly, they are already so ubiquitous that their popularity feeds itself. If you like Coldplay you can learn their songs on piano, play along, and play for/with people who also know them.
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