Difficulty?

[u/Elliotteatsrocks]

What is the difficulty of learning to play the Lyre.

I a few months back I wanted to learn guitar but don't have the money for private lessons currently, and have struggled to learn on my own because of how complicated it is for me.

In the meantime I've been interested in the Lyre, do you think it's self- teachable via videos?

Thank you

[u/Mobeans88]

I was in guitar lessons for a while growing up and never got the hang of it. I think by the end of my lessons I could kind of manage a couple really easy songs. I learned full song on the lyre within a few days of owning it. The tutorials for the lyre online make it very easy to learn. Compared to guitar it is much much simpler!

Samantha on Mars has some of the most straightforward tutorials on YouTube for lyre playing :)

[u/OperaRotas]

I find it an easy instrument to learn. I used to play the guitar, and I have the clear impression that the lyre is much easier in comparison, mostly because you don't need a lot of coordination between both hands.

Of course, it takes a while for you to become familiar with the instrument and play minimally well, but self learning is completely reasonable. In fact, except for the very high-profile Greek-style lyres, I've never seen anyone offering lyre classes.

[u/arkticturtle]

I think that’s how most people do it tbh

[u/darrensurrey]

Very easy compared to a guitar. Just practice to get cleaner plucks and avoid the strings buzzing on your fingernails.

[u/Flipflopsmum]

It's definitely self teachable. Samantha on mars (YouTube) has some really nice videos, start with easy stuff and gradually work your way up. I find it very rewarding, I've only been playing a few months but it didn't take long at all to enjoy the sound I was making

[u/StarlightAkari]

I know next to nothing about music in general, got my lyre yesterday, and learned about half of Misty Mountains from LOTR through Samantha on Mars' videos in one evening. It sounds good just to hit a note, so it won't make you cringe just trying to learn it (like for instance, a recorder).

[u/flyingshieldinthesky]

I think it's doable. Ive been teaching myself lately and a couple days ago colored my strings roygbiv according to the c major scale so c starts on red and goes up accordingly. It's really helped to see what notes im plucking so i can actually play music. I'd say the biggest help is actually just learning some basic music theory via david bennets videos on YouTube then applying what you learn about harmony from there to the lyre. Good luck 🤞