If you’re thinking about learning either the piano or cello, you’re probably wondering what distinguishes them from each other besides the sound and instrumental category they fall in. Which one will be easier and more rewarding for you to learn?
The piano is often easier to learn for complete beginners and offers a more expansive musical repertoire than the cello. But although mastering the fingering is challenging for novices, learning the cello allows you to join orchestras or clubs and connect with fellow classical musicians more easily.
The piano and cello are both very popular instruments. Still, the one that you should learn depends on which of them you’re more passionate about, which music style you prefer, and what your budget will allow. For a complete breakdown of other factors that you’ll be dealing with when deciding between these two instruments, keep reading!
Things To Consider Before You Start Learning
Instrument Size
A single piano can be played by anyone, no matter their age. All you need is an adjustable piano stool or adjustable frames for portable keyboards to account for proper posture and height. On the other hand, if the cello is for a child, you will have to buy a new cello as they grow.
Cellos come in a range of sizes, as demonstrated in this table:
| Cello Size | Age Range | Height |
| ¼ | 5 – 7yrs | >4ft / 1.2m |
| ½ | 7 – 11yrs | 4 – 4½ft / 1.2 – 1.35m |
| ¾ | 11 – 15yrs | 4½ – 5ft / 1.35 – 1.5m |
| Full | 15+yrs | 5ft+ / 1.5m |
Changing cellos can be inconvenient not just because of the expense; there will also be a brief adjustment period to their instrument’s new height.
The Learning Curve
For complete beginners, a piano is easier to play than a cello. After pressing on a key, you get the sound desired. It is pretty easy to learn how to play an easy song like ‘Happy Birthday’ after an hour or two. However, the cello is a string instrument without frets, which means you need to memorize the exact fingerings to produce the pitch you want.
Moving your hand even a little bit will produce a noise that is off-tone. Therefore, learning to play a song on the cello even within the first week is much more challenging.
Besides this, you will also need to learn the various bowing techniques that come with learning a string instrument. However, if you have already learned to play another string instrument like the violin, this should come more instinctively to you than the piano.
While the piano provides instant gratification, gives quick results, and is generally easier to play, this is not true for everyone. Some people never get used to the difficulty of having to read both the treble and bass clef simultaneously for piano and playing on multiple hands. They might find it easier to play the cello as you only need to read one clef at a time – either the bass or tenor clef.
Preparation Before Playing
A piano generally has little to no prep before playing. All you need to do is adjust the stool, make yourself comfortable, and start playing. The cello is a bit more complicated – you need to remove it from the case, tune it correctly, make sure the spike has somewhere to go to support the playing position, amongst other things.
The piano also has the additional benefit of only needing to be tuned once every two years, so you waste less time preparing your instrument and more time playing. The only con with this is that if you’re ever performing or going for an exam, you won’t be able to take your piano with you, unlike the cello.
This means that you will need to get used to the touch of a foreign piano, which can lead to difficulties playing your prepared piece. You might face unexpected shifts in dynamics if you’re playing on a softer piano or trouble jumping octaves in a fast-paced piece on a hard piano.
However, with the cello, you have to bring your instrument everywhere, so you will never face these types of complications.
Of course, with a digital piano, the maintenance will be less than the acoustic, and if you have a portable one, you have more freedom to take your instrument with you, which will be better for performances.
Orchestral Accompaniment
If you learn the piano, it is unlikely you will be able to play in the orchestra. Apart from the odd piano concerto, like Rhapsody in Blue, or the use of the harpsichord as part of the basso continuo for a baroque orchestra, pianos are seldom used as part of orchestral accompaniment.
This leads to many missed opportunities to socialize with like-minded music enthusiasts, especially in the classical music space. And it will limit your chances to increase your theoretical and practical knowledge by being part of an orchestral community. You could try being in a band, but if improvisation or composition is not your strongest suit, this is probably not a very good idea.
On the other hand, cellists are an integral part of every orchestra. A cello isn’t like the double bass – they get their fair share of melodic lines and aren’t just stuck playing repetitive harmonic accompaniments. They also get their chance to shine in string ensembles. Of all the instruments in the string family, the cello has the greatest range, mimicking the piano in that it can play both low and high notes.
The flip side of this is that the piano is a self-sufficient instrument, expressing a rich harmonic and melodic experience, while a cellist is often a part of the great orchestral cog. It is essential to hear the entire ensemble or orchestra to get the full experience.
Musical Spectrum
The piano has a rich history in classical music, but it is also used in almost every musical genre, from jazz, blues, or pop songs. As a result, you have a wide variety of pieces to choose from when you’re playing the piano. You could play a Rachmaninoff concerto or a rendition of a Taylor Swift song with broken chords for the bass.
The cello, however, is an instrument that is firmly rooted in the classical tradition. It’s challenging to find interpretations of pop songs for the cello. Most of the cello covers you’ll find online are usually backed up with piano instrumentation or part of an ensemble.
Despite this, there have been efforts more recently by innovative cellists like 2CELLO that push the limits of a cello’s capabilities, seen through covers like what’s shown on this video:
With all of this in mind, the piano is still hands-down the most musically versatile instrument you’ll encounter.
Does Age Matter When Learning These Instruments?
Everyone knows that it’s better to learn a musical instrument at a young age. Like elite athletes, those who want to pursue a musical career at the highest levels will need to start young and follow a dedicated path. However, you can still learn to play any instrument that you want when you become an adult. This is because adults possess better control of their bodies and can make necessary changes to their technique and posture more quickly.
They can also critically reflect on their playing and make the improvements that they want to see. However, this could potentially lead to overthinking and becoming discouraged that you’re not making progress as quickly as you wish.
It’s important to remember that as long as you’re trying your best and consciously practicing a few times a week, you will be making progress. You will eventually be able to play the songs or pieces that you want to!
How Much Does It Cost To Learn Cello?
The standard cost of a sixty-minute cello lesson for beginners is around $60, though it can go as high as $90 based on the amount of experience that your teacher has. As a beginner, you will probably start with 30-minute lessons, which will be cheaper.
Cello lessons tend to be more expensive than piano ones, where you can find good quality instruction for $35 to $50 an hour, and even cheaper if you take remote lessons online.
For those wondering about online cello lessons as a beginner – don’t. You need a teacher to tell you where to place your fingers on the cello and make sure you have good posture. This is not the case with the piano, or even the guitar, which has frets to guide you. An online instructor is not going to be able to accurately tell where your fingers are placed and correct you as needed.
Before diving headfirst into lessons and buying a cello, you should rent one for the first few months to see if you want to keep learning this instrument.
Rental cellos cost approximately $30 to $100 per month. The price for these depends on both the cello’s quality and competition from surrounding shops in the area.
Buying a cello is an expensive decision, so you should rent first. It will also give you some time to get the cello that best suits you on your instructor’s advice. As a beginner, you won’t know much about the different sounds. Thus, you can let your instructor advise you and play varying cellos out for you to choose which one you like best.
After buying a cello, there are additional hidden costs you need to be wary of. You will need to spend a few hundred dollars getting your cello set up, a bow, and the resin for your bow.
There are also maintenance costs involved for your cello that are more frequent than for the piano. If your bridge gets bent, or you break a string, or you need to repair your bow, you could easily drop a few hundred dollars.
In contrast, you usually only need to spend about a hundred dollars every few years re-tuning your piano.
Conclusion
Although pursuing the cello can seem like a costlier and more difficult investment than the piano, if you’ve fallen in love with its rich tones, you should go for it. It is possible to get cheap student cellos if you’re on a budget.
On the other hand, if you’re a piano enthusiast, you can get excellent beginner ones, either new or used, or a second-hand acoustic for a few hundred dollars when you start lessons. Once you have decided it’s for you, you can then upgrade to something more prestigious, either digital or acoustic.
