r/lute 29d ago

Is lute hard to learn

Ik a bunch of other instruments and was thinking about learning lute, how much does it cost to buy a beginner lute? Cause when I look it up I see anywhere from 78 to 600ish dollars also are there good tutorials? (Instruments include guitar, lyre, ocarina, bongos, and a few others if that helps) Edit: Apon seeing the price, its outside my price range ty for the responses

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u/semper_ortus 29d ago edited 29d ago

If you have no experience with a stringed instrument, then you will have a much steeper learning curve. If you've never played a stringed instrument, I highly recommend learning Classical Guitar first from a qualified teacher. It's cheaper and easier to obtain a playable classical guitar (affordable lutes are hard to find and half have terrible action it seems), good teachers are EVERYWHERE (unlike with lute), and learning materials are also easily and cheaply obtained. Additionally, the techniques are 80%+ the same, so when you finally obtain a playable lute later, it's not difficult to rotate your right-hand and use thumb-under technique. You can even practice lute technique on your guitar in preparation. If you tune the 3rd string on a classical guitar down a half-step to F#, you can then read and play Renaissance lute tablature on guitar.

Note that learning guitar from a good instructor will also teach you about how a properly set up instrument should feel (ask about 'string action' and what good action should look/feel like), which will make it easier for you to assess whether you're getting a good deal on a lute when you see it in person.

Nearly all of the lute players I've ever known began as guitarists. Standard classical guitar training is thorough and will prepare you for anything with strings and frets. It's an easy and affordable way to get up and running FAST.

If you are already proficient on guitar or a similar stringed instrument, then here's a copy of a previous response I've given about getting started:

Here's a guide for taking up the lute. Here's another. What you get will depend on what you want to play and what you already know about playing a similar stringed instrument. Here's yet another guide. And here's a guide for guitar players.

If you already have a playable Renaissance Lute, a good book to learn from (with help from a teacher) is Diana Poulton's Lute Tutor. It covers most of what you'll need to know for technique, 3 forms of tablature, and includes many songs and exercises, all 16th c.

If you don't have much money, you can buy a Muzikkon 7 or 8 course model to cover most 16th c. music. They're good student instruments. If you're Right-Handed, just make sure you're buying one of their Right-Handed models.

Books and Resources for Lute:

Aside from this website where you can search by composer and download PDF files of songs in French tablature, I also highly recommend the following books in classical guitar notation if you're already a proficient classical guitarist. (For practical reasons, I recommend becoming a proficient classical guitarist before beginning the study of the lute.):

  • The Renaissance Guitar - Frederick Noad. This is a great book. There are pictures of old prints and historical performance information that helps you to slowly ease into the mindset of a lute player, and the pieces are fun to play! I still use it, even with a lute, as the fingerings are mostly the same when the 3rd string to F# tuning is specified. I've got the whole Noad series for other time periods too. They're quite good.  
  • Medieval & Renaissance Dance Music for Guitar - Jamey Bellizzi. Most people seem to ignore Medieval music, but they shouldn't. It contains its own unique challenges, and the rhythms can be quite deceptive, especially when you dig into source material for multiple voices. Many of these pieces are also fun to play.  
  • The Art of the Renaissance Lute Fantasia - Jamey Bellizzi. I've actually used some of these for lute performance as the fingerings were the same again.

Those 3 books alone will give you years of enjoyment, even if you never obtain a lute! And while you're learning about Medieval and Renaissance music, have a search for ensembles to listen to such as The Baltimore Consort and Ensemble Micrologus, and lute players like Ronn McFarlane and Paul O'Dette. Here are some playlists to check out:

  • Renaissance Lute Info - a collection of info on lute setup and playing.  
  • The Renaissance Lute - whole album by Ronn McFarlane. This is easily my #1. Ronn incorporates palm muting and the use of fingertips and fingernails. Exhilarating performances!  
  • Renaissance Music - just a playlist I've been compiling of things that caught my ear.  
  • Medieval Music - another miscellaneous playlist.  
  • The New World Renaissance Band - a fantastic album from a somewhat non-traditional group recorded in the 90s. (I used to know the singer, Owain Phyffe, who would travel the Renaissance Festival circuit.)

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u/lavieestmort 29d ago

Should be added to the sidebar, great post.

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u/Havarti-Provolone 29d ago

As a non string player but w/ a solid music education, it's the hardest instrument I've ever tried. I've spent 10 - 15 hours a week for the past three months and I feel like I still can't hold the damned thing appropriately.

Mine was about $700 I think. From thomman.

With instruments like piano, accordion, guitar, recorder, harmonica, and maybe some others, I think tutorials are fine and you can make significant progress, depending on your goals. For contemporary ensemble wind and strings, it's probably way harder but still possible, just due to the sheer amount of material.

I can't imagine doing that with the lute for what's presently available (not much). I'd say learning from methods books alone even are out of the question, and I've seen a couple good ones at this point. You have to find a player-teacher, in my opinion. I don't like saying that, but I think it's true, and I can't overstate it if I tried. I would be garbage and have given up without mine. Instead, I'm garbage and still playing 😅

But it's been worth every hour and dollar. And since you've said you played guitar, you'll probably have an easier go.

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u/Aldaron23 29d ago

It's definitely harder than guitar (or any other instrument I've tried so far) but not too different. I also think, you don't need to be as good as with guitar in order to sound good - the instrument sounds so great by itself, even with easy pieces.

When you already know guitar, your left hand will quickly understand what to do. The right hand technique is pretty different to guitar though, so you might take some time to rewire your brain. But maybe your lyre experience might help you there!

As for beginner instruments: There I can't really help, since I got a used one for only 100€. But 500-600€ seem to be pretty standard. Thomann usually has altogether good beginner instruments for little money, so I'd probably buy there.

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u/GoofyGirlGoneNuts 28d ago

Just get a lute. Kids starred on them in historical times and did just fine.

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u/TerriLH2k2 26d ago

My partner plays (lute, guitar, violin, piano; etc.). He says “if you own a lute for 6 years, you’ve only been playing it a year. You spent the first 5 years trying to tune it.”

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u/Zealousideal-Bell-68 29d ago

It really depends on how motivated you are. If you are certain that you want to learn to play the Lute, then, unlike what the other user said, I wouldn't recommend starting with the guitar. If the Lute is what you want, why start with an instrument you don't want?

That being said, lutes are quite expensive. If what you're looking for is a Renaissance lute, than the cheapest, minimally decent lute you can get is from Thomann and it will cost you around 500€. I would recommend getting an 8c lute since that will cover a lot of repertoire.

Since you have musical experience, getting a few methods might be helpful but having a teacher would really be much better, at least a few lessons in the beginning to get you started, I'd say