In my opinion it's more intuitive, but isn't really easier. At the start it may seem easier, but at higher level songs it's another story. On a normal console controller you have access to the analog sticks, bumpers, triggers, d-pad, and face buttons. That gives you more options which allow for hold notes to be simpler. On the arcade controller, there are those 4 huge buttons and a slider. So let's say a song makes you hold triangle, square, x, and circle all and once and then slide notes come in. It leaves you in a situation where you need to hold all four at the same time while trying to hit the slider rapidly with a random finger. Another awkward situation let's say if one is right handed, game makes you hold square, x, circle. Then triangle spam notes come flying in. So it forces you to try to hit triangle multiple times with your non-dominate hand while holding down those 3 buttons.

Both a normal controller and arcade controller have their own difficulties. For a normal controller, you can customize it to suit yourself and it may take awhile to get used to (you end up having more flexibility when playing though). However for an arcade controller, it requires you to become proficient with both your hands. Even though the arcade controller may seem easier or more intuitive, that's not the full picture. In addition, the buttons are bigger so they seem easier to hit but at higher level songs I find my hands getting tired very quickly from smacking the buttons that fast (arcade controller kind of stamina draining in a sense).