guitar requires you to move your hand much more than you move your hands while playing a saxophone. once again, impossible to compare the two.

you might as well compare a violin to a xylophone next

Wait Pirate , your goin off the theme , we are not talking about mastering , we are talking about which is harder to play, and Exilement i'm not putting in guitar as an instrument to play with , but speaking of fingers as just as hard limbs to play with. So basically yes Sax is harder to play , since there needs allot of finger coordination , and lets not argue that its harder to move 10 fingers than 2 arms ,legs.

Finger dexterity is a lot easier to manage than full body coordination. Just harder to refine.

Moving your arms in a manner separate of your legs (ie, in a syncopated drum beat) is a lot more difficult than moving your fingers differently from each other.

I don't have a very reliable opinion on what it's like to play drums, since all I've played is Rock Band (though I can 5 star the hardest songs on expert, so I know what it's like to play fast shit), but I do know that it's hard to move your arms to play one thing while your feet are playing something entirely different. You can also see from my signature that I know how to move my fingers independently from each other, and honestly I don't think either of them are more difficult than the other, or at the very least too far apart to be comparable. They might just be games but the concepts are applicable to instruments.

Actually , i don't agree , it might be easier to play with like fingers 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , but when your play all random like 4 , 2 , 1 ,3 ,4 , 2 etc its allot harder and you usually change to different places quite quickly which involves a little arm coordination , and if speaking about guitar , you have to play the string with the other arm.

Your arms barely move when you play sax.

And while we're also on the topic of playing games, I'm about as good at O2Jam as I am at Stepmania, and that uses your first 3 fingers on both hands, and your thumb uses the space bar. I know what it's like to use almost all of your fingers. It's still not comparable to playing the drums, and that's the whole core of my argument. Quit ignoring the main point.

I also know how to play trumpet so I know what it's like to coordinate breathing and your fingers.

And stop talking about guitar. Guitar has nothing to do with this discussion.

I was in band for 5 years playing the flute. All wind instruments, especially sax and clarinet, are the hardest to play in a concert band.

With drums, you need a sense of tempo and mind, hand/arm/wrist coordination. You need to interpret beats quickly in each bar or the tempo of the whole song flies off. It's an important instrument, but in difficulty, it stands no chance against the sax.

The saxophone is an instrument you spend weeks learning how to play all together. Other than that you need to be really fast, and have a distinct mouth formation to get the faster music they get most of the times in parts. All reed instruments are ****ing assholes to play all together. Along with hitting the right fingering at the right time, the way you blow into the instrument can either perfect, or throw off your whole song. I'm not saying reeds are so terrible, but most instruments with them end up being harder for some reason. =/ The clarinet is the hardest to configure overall reportedly by the band I hate and ended up quitting.

Actually I'd say the trombone is one of the hardest instruments to play, but I have no experience with playing it. It just seems difficult

I'd suppose that the learning curve for the Drums is much steeper.
All you really need, like Exile pointed out, is the muscle memory.
Getting it is hard, but putting it together into new beats is easier afterwards.

Sax has a less obtuse learning curve. Syncing the lip placement and the finger motion can be rather difficult.

Quote from Exilement

Actually I'd say the trombone is one of the hardest instruments to play, but I have no experience with playing it. It just seems difficult

I learned the mechanics of playing the Trombone, the Trumpet, the Saxophone, The Flute, Snare Drums, almost every other percussion, and clarinet. Here's the list of my opinions toward the hardest to easiest.

Brass- Basically, it's hard to make a sound overall with these instruments. You have to make a vibration in your mouth through doing a buzzing sort of thing into a mouthpiece, and that generates a bigger vibration through the brass tubes. In difficulty:
1. Trombone is the second hardest instrument in my opinion. Even when you know how to play it, the sliding into different notes is terrible to remember, and still difficult to make a smooth song even when experienced in it.
2. Trumpet is about the same mechanics as tuba, but they both have their own difficulty standpoints. Trumpet is a speedier part of a band that needs a quick mind to play. Tuba is a bit harder to make a sound with requiring bigger lungs, and plays in the unfamiliar to most Bass Clef, as most instruments go by thy Treble.

Woodwinds- These seem to be harder than brass, just because other than the bass versions of all of these instruments, they all commonly contain fast parts in even slower songs.
-Clarinet contains the most notes, has the most difficult position, and has the fingering that satan gives to an instrument. I've tried it, failed at it.
-Saxophone is close to difficulty, still being a fast instrument, a wide fingering position, but a lazy go on the side of your leg playing position.
-Oboe I have less of an idea on, but I'm sure it's harder than the flute.
-Flute/Piccolo, I know from experience, are close to the easiest instruments. The fingering is okay, the speed is of the fastest in a normal concert band, and the mouth position and breathing into the wind instrument proves to be the easiest of all. The holding up playing position sucks ass overtime.

Percussion- Every percussion instrument involves hitting something in good form of hitting, and a need for punctual tempo.
-Xylophone/GlockenSpiel is fun to play, but requires a lot of skill to actually play something on a sheet of paper.
-Snare must suck to play. You stand up, and hit a drum very hard all day. Must be tiring. If they mess up, the band following their tempo messes up.
-Bass Drum is slow, and holds the overall tempo of the band in a sturdy background. Important, but less difficult.

Overall:
1. Clarinet/Maybe Oboe
2. Trombone
3. Saxophone
4. Xylophone/Timpani
5. Trumpet/Tuba
6. Snare Drum/Other Percussion needing speed
7. Piccolo
8. Flute
9. Bass Drum

Doz Kitsune Wins A Prise?

sax is harder. You need lots of practice to get your lips in shape, then even more to get a good tone. Even more practice to get a good range. Also, you have lots of different key combinations, all of which you have to have memorized and need to be able to press down in the split second it take to change notes. And you need to have good breathing technique, its hard to learn how to breathe right. and your lips get tired as hell.

and wow, its so hard to open and close a hi hat. really, drums are nothing near the difficulty level of an instrument that plays actual notes. sure, some people aren't meant to play drums, but they're not that hard.

and i play trumpet by the way, and i've tried flute before.

Quote from Rusender

and wow, its so hard to open and close a hi hat.

it's hard to do it rhythmically while playing 8th/16th notes on it, hitting the snare on every 2nd and 4th beat and using your other foot to hit the bass on (typically) the 1st and 3rd beat, or all 4 of them. And that's just a basic rock beat.

Quote from Exilement

it's hard to do it rhythmically while playing 8th/16th notes on it, hitting the snare on every 2nd and 4th beat and using your other foot to hit the bass on (typically) the 1st and 3rd beat, or all 4 of them. And that's just a basic rock beat.

yeah i know, ive tried drums before. but it doesn't compare to playing something like sax.

Quote from Exilement

it's hard to do it rhythmically while playing 8th/16th notes on it, hitting the snare on every 2nd and 4th beat and using your other foot to hit the bass on (typically) the 1st and 3rd beat, or all 4 of them. And that's just a basic rock beat.

Also, doing it for minutes on end can be very draining on the ankle muscles.
It might just be that I have the spring tension set too high on my set, but I practice for 15 minutes and me ankles feel like they got run over.

If you're keeping your feet up when not using them, there's your problem.

Nope. They're always down.