One thing I am really tired of hearing, especially now that I've been playing the trumpet, is that the trombone is the easiest instrument to pick up. This doesn't just go for the trombone, either. I have heard this used to describe every single instrument at some time or another. However, it seems to be the most common with the brass family: trombone is the easiest. I remember allowing one of the new trumpet players to play my trombone, and he did pretty well for a beginner. He doesn't really get tonguing or embouchure an struggles a lot with the trumpet. It made me particularly irritated when I asked him which instrument he liked better and he said the trombone was "too easy" (he wasn't that good to begin with
![Image](http://tromboneforum.org/Smileys/otjf/mad.gif)
Anyway, when I started actually learning from someone how to play the trumpet (he was the one who requested I learn), when I went back tot he trombone, I found that it was actually significantly harder to play for a brief period of time. I had trouble going to the lower notes, and I couldn't really hit the high notes at all, which is unexpected knowing that I had been playing with a smaller mouthpiece. Additionally, there is another person who plays the bass drum that likes to play my instrument sometimes, and he can never seem to figure how how to make the lower notes, even the most basic notes that you would expect a beginner to be able to play.
I guess where I'm going with this is that their is no instrument that's easier than another. Everyone has different talents and abilities, and it's only a matter of finding the instrument that best suits these traits that make it easy. A lot of people say the recorder is easy, and yet so many people advanced in instruments like the saxophone and clarinet have trouble getting just the right breath pressure to produce a clean sound. Others say the flutes is easy, but some people just can't seem to find the correct way to align their lips to produce a note. Tubas require a lot of lung capacity. Trumpets require a tight embouchure.
The trombone is not the "easy" instrument. People tell me I'm so great at it, but I don't even know everything there is to know about the instrument. I'm still working at my double tonguing, legato tonguing, sight-reading, and coordination, and on a professional level, it can be one of the most difficult brass instruments to learn. It all depends on your skills.
Anyway, I just wanted to know what you guys think. Is the trombone the easiest in your opinion? Am I just naive? I don't know, but this is my opinion.