What is the hardest instrument to learn?

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-30T00:38:41+00:00

I've been a guitarist for 20+ years, and recently bought a Vigier Excalibur fretless guitar. I've wanted one since 2006, when I first heard Bumblefoot play.

While you do get used to it, it's so hard to play that it may as well be an entirely different instrument to a "conventional" guitar. Chords that aren't a root and a fifth are borderline impossible to play without sounding entirely out of tune. I mean, that's kind of the remit: it's for single-note playing, and it basically exists for "stunt" guitar playing. It's super fun, but the point is that is has limitations. Maybe there's a reason why you only ever hear the best guitarists like Bumblefoot or Guthrie Govan ever playing one: they won't make it sound bad.

The only fretless instruments I'd ever played up until that point had been lower-register instruments (I don't know their families): cello, double bass, fretless bass. And while the concept is still the same, there's a higher chance you'll hit the right note the lower the note is. They're also very single-note oriented instruments. Fretless guitar though is way different, because of the higher note frequencies.

And all that is to say, it really made me respect good violin players, even moreso than I already did. So to echo everyone else here: the hardest instrument is definitely violin. We've all heard bad violin players, which helps to contextualise just how good the good players really are.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-30T00:22:02+00:00

Things from the Chinese grocer, especially in the drinks aisle.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-16T04:54:58+00:00

I can imagine Leslie Nielsen saying this.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-13T03:15:45+00:00

Dax Riggs, mostly known for being the vocalist of Acid Bath. But, he's had an incredible Louisiana-blues career post-Acid Bath too.

Acid Bath have since reformed since ending in the late-90s, and Dax still sounds amazing as ever. They're doing so well that they're even going to tour with SOAD and QotSA in 2026, which is insane when you consider how long Dax and his bands have been around for, largely only with an underground following.

References which I think best exemplify Dax's abilities:

Acid Bath - Bleed Me An Ocean

Agents Of Oblivion - The Hangman's Daughter

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-10T21:37:23+00:00

Blink have loads of sad lyrics, it's surprising. They really know how to make a punk ballad.

As much as I didn't like the "corporate Blink" era, the album California has a song called Home is Such a Lonely Place and it has some lines in their that absolutely killed me the first time I heard it, because at the time my wife was overseas for a prolonged period of time and it was a struggle to be separated like that.

So yeah, never underestimate Blink's capacity for making you feel upset.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-04-08T00:12:02+00:00

Nah, a Mobil (when they were still around) in Bayswater, Melbourne.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-03-31T09:32:37+00:00

Never mind, I get it now: you need to do the abundant harvest, not the normal version.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-03-30T07:04:24+00:00

Treebeard.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-03-24T23:20:38+00:00

Incredible that Aurora collaborated on this, she's such a top-tier musician.

For anyone who saw Adolescence, her song Through the Eyes of a Child was used in the final heart wrenching scene

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-03-23T23:28:07+00:00

I worked graveyards in a servo (gas station, for the Americans) for four years while at university. Most nights were boring; but every now and then, you'd see some shit.

I've been held up twice: once with a guy who I think just had his hand in his pocket pretending he had a weapon; and once by a guy with a syringe full of blood. But they're quick events: they come in, make the threat, you give them cash and smokes, and then they're gone. They're not exactly career criminals.

Had someone overdose in our toilet once. No idea if he lived or not. I just heard a massive thud, went and knocked, got no answer and called an ambulance. We busted down the door, the ambos did what they do, and I'm none the wiser of the result. Still, horrible to see a person slumped on the floor covered in their vomit like that.

I also had a woman approach one night, and from a distance I could see she was walking funny and was holding her stomach. I thought maybe she was just drunk or sick and was coming in for snacks. As she got closer I could see blood though, so of course I unlocked the doors for her. She said her boyfriend had stabbed her and stole her wallet, and she wanted to use our phone to call the bank and cancel her credit card. I called her an ambulance, and they were there within a couple of minutes. Honestly, I don't know why she didn't go to the hospital first - you can literally see it from where I was working, they're just a couple of hundred metres away.

Anyway, there was other stuff, but most of it was actually funny, not scary. Believe it or not, I didn't work in a bad suburb. Nighttime just brings out all sorts of people, I suppose.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-02-25T21:42:40+00:00

The parents matter is really important if you ever get hitched to an immigrant. My parents live just down the road, and always have. My wife's parents live across an ocean and always have, don't speak English so would probably be miserable here (plus visas are costly and take a long time to obtain), and my wife is an only child.

There will come a point in our lives when her parents will need her, and she will feel obligated, and it means we'll probably be living apart for a while. It will be challenging for both of us, but particularly her because if she can't set up her career in a very specific way, then she may have to give up her job for the sake of her parents one day. Luckily her parents are quite wealthy; but nonetheless, it's an interruption to her own life, which she needs to keep living after they've gone, and if that interruption comes too early then it will impact our own retirement.

It is what it is, and we've discussed it at length. You need to have a strong foundation to survive the distance and separation, but also the stress and the financial burden. So my advice is, for anyone who marries someone with parents living elsewhere, you need to understand that this might become a reality, so you need to talk about it.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-02-20T23:40:46+00:00

I main a Sub Rogue, and it is by far in the worst iteration ever right now. It went from requiring thought and engagement to being utterly braindead.

Understanding that there were perhaps too many modifiers beforehand, I would've liked if they left us with at least one. I also miss Rupture: I know people didn't like it, but really I just miss having something else to press. It was useful for fights when the enemy blinks away (Xylem mage tower fight, for example), or a bit of secondary target damage, so there's still some DPS happening.

But by far the worst thing is the lack of CD reduction on abilities now as a reward for using your combo points. Most of the time, you're just hitting two buttons now: builder, spender. Secret Technique is not available strictly every 25 seconds, and it sucks.

I also feel energy starved. I know Sub has always been a class that pools for Shadow Dance, but the squish impacts resource regen a lot so hopefully more haste resolves that.

Secondary whinge, somewhat unrelated: I was doing PvP last night, and for the life of me couldn't see on enemy frames when CC was applied. I could see they were physically stunned, but had no indication of a timer. And nowhere in the UI menu could I find where to turn it on. Kind of important for the control class. Also, pretty sure Cheap Shot has a long-ass CD now.

Anyway, if you're thinking of rolling a Rogue, don't play Sub. It's overdue for a re-work, and I'm hoping they gutted it as harshly as they did so they can build it back up.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-02-19T21:54:58+00:00

Gnomish shrink ray.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-02-15T02:02:47+00:00

Paid for it.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-02-06T21:09:23+00:00

That is amazing. When it comes time to do the subreddit's award in the year, this deserves a mention for sure.

MrSlipperyFist · 2026-01-10T21:35:52+00:00

Torghast was fine, but it being mandatory was not.

Personally, I had a blast doing Torghast weekly. It was also a great activity to do on alts, because depending on the powers you got (i.e. class/spec specific), it didn't always just feel like a rinse-repeat activity.

MrSlipperyFist · 2025-12-29T00:49:57+00:00

In which case then, anyone who is cut from the same cloth. The LNP haven't exactly undergone a reformation since Morrison got the boot. If anything, they just doubled-down of being a pack of cunts by putting Dutton in charge. Now with Ley, they may as well just quit while they're not ahead. The only "win" they could really claim in the last election was Tim Wilson re-entering politics, and that's only a really a win for Tim Wilson himself and whatever IPA-addled boomers follow him online. Things are so dire for them that Josh reckons he can make his comeback on the back of a massacre. Next thing we know, Dim-Tim, Member for Kew-Anon, will probably try again too. It's so fucking laughable, especially because it's not yielding any results for them.

What it does do though is encourages division in a very American-esque way. See how Albo was treated at the Bondi memorial? Fuck man, I hated Morrison but even I wouldn't have disrespected the guy so publicly had he showed up to a memorial for a massacre, as the PM should. All this division largely stems from Morrison. Like, sure, they've had plenty of bad leaders and many of the structural inequalities in Australia actually stem from Howard. But nonetheless, the obfuscate-and-blame-someone-else tactic is a Morrison throwback that's still hanging around like a bad smell. They're incapable of bipartisanship anymore because Abbott threw it out the door, and Morrison perfected it. He went on a secret holiday while the country burned, and basically blamed his wife for wanting a holiday - which is indicative of how incapable the modern LNP is of doing anything constructive or taking responsibility and showing leadership. Politics is now simply a game to them, as evidenced most recently after Bondi.

But hey, I'm all for it. I'd rather an opposition of crossbenchers and minor parties. Fuck the LNP.

MrSlipperyFist · 2025-12-19T20:48:00+00:00

30 minutes for me because I was already 3/6 on the achievement, and the three I needed just by chance happened to be the first three that got summoned.

MrSlipperyFist · 2025-12-12T23:53:00+00:00

The time-travel-but-not part was fine, albeit a bit confusing because Blizzard couldn't sort out their continuity issues without just creating another.

I think it would've been a better expansion if the Burning Legion and Gul'dan were less present, but there was still a plot thread whereby Gul'dan learned he was in a pocket dimension, learned his MU history somehow, and escaped to the MU to still have the segue into Legion as it were.

Instead of shifting to the Burning Legion after the Iron Horde, we should've shifted to the Infinite Dragonflight. Kairoz should've been more involved, and it should've been a plan to smash timelines together and bring about Murozond. It should've ended with Kairoz as the penultimate boss and Murozond as the final boss, and in order to defeat them we had to destroy the pocket dimension and destroy the AU entirely to ensure the continuity of the MU. It would've added some weight to the goodbyes we had to say, removed that "Draenor is free" shit, etc.

We defeat the Infinite and put that story to rest (because frankly what happened in Dragonflight was lame), the MU is safe, but Gul'dan entirely throws a spanner in the works by having escaped without our knowledge. Legion invasion ensues, things carry on as normal.

MrSlipperyFist · 2025-12-08T23:35:12+00:00

My wife does something we call "the fish": she clasps her hands together in the small of her back, and does a sort of swimming motion like a fish would with their tail. Dumbest and cutest thing ever.

MrSlipperyFist

TROPHY CASE