Guitar or tiple? What to learn first

It's up to the music you're trying to play. If your goal is Colombian Andean music with its bambucos, corridors, whirlpools and guabines, you can start directly with the tiple. If you want an instrument to play from everything, from bolero to pop, and build a broad base, start with the guitar: the tiple will come easy after.

The reason is that they are both related. The tiple is intersected with the same notes from the first four strings of the guitar, so many chord positions are moved from an instrument to another. What changes is his touch of his twelve metal strings, his brilliant sound and his role in music.

To sum up

The tiple has twelve metal strings grouped into four orders of three, tuned re, sol, si, Mi.
Those are the same notes from the first four guitar strings, so many chords are shared.
The guitar opens the door to most genres and tiple is the rhythmic and harmonic voice of Colombian Andean music.
The tiple demand more force on his fingers at first and his nylon guitar is more gentle to start with.
Both routes work: guitar and then tiple, tiple directly if your goal is Andean, or both later.

Guitar vs. tiple: Comparison

The difference between guitar and tiple for those who start
Aspecto	Guitar	Tiple
Cuerdas	6, nylon (classical) or metal.	Twelve metal strings in four orders of three.
Filling	My, La, Ree, Sol, Si, Mi.	Ree, Sol, Si, Mi: the notes of the first four guitar strings.
Tacto	Nylon: soft with yolks.	Metal and triple strings: more pressure and more quiet faster.
Sonido	Expand with deep low.	Brilliant, metal, with a great presence at the rag.
Paper on the Andean trio	The Netherlands, called embroidery, and harmony.	Harmony and rhythm and with melodies.
Music	Almost every gener, including Colombian music.	Especially Colombian Andean music and more and more in mergers.
Study materials	Abundants: methods and songs of all kinds.	Less abundant, but teacher and oral tradition weigh greatly.
Afinar	Six strings.	Twelve strings: takes more time and patience.
Age of Orientation Initiation	From 6 to 7 with small nylon guitar.	About 8.

The tuning: the bridge between them

Each tiple order has three strings tuned to the same note. In the most acute order, the three sound at once and for more serious orders, the tiple's string is jammed and sounds an octave under his partners, giving him that full and bright sound at once. If you want step by step, check how to tuning the tiple.

For those who come from the guitar, the practical result is enormous: the Re's high position with the first four guitar's strings is also Re high at the tiple. Other chords that have been used by the guitar with the 6 strings, as Sol or Mi, are adapted to four orders. What isn't moved is the scrape: the right hand of the tipist has blows, turned off and accents that are characteristic of each Andean rhythm.

Andean or Universal Music

Guitar is a passport: it serves as a bolero, ballast, rock, Bossa nova, classical music and also for Colombian music. In the Andean trio, next to the bandola and tiple, the guitar carries the embroidery, those low lines that walk among chords.

The tiple is the rhythmic heart of that same trio. His scrape defines if what sounds as a bamboo, a corridor or a whirlwind and in the hands of a good tipist also sings melodies. To play tipple is to come into a tradition with a repertoire, forms and ways of playing his own. If that music calls you, start with his [guide to Colombian Andean music]](/blog/musica-andina-colombiana-guia-para-empezar).

Learning path: 3 possible ways

Guitar first and then tiple. The most common path. You build a base of chords, rhythm and reading into a more gentle instrument for your fingers and in a few months you add up a tiple using the positions you already know.
Finger tiple. It makes every sense if your goal is Andean music, if there's a tipura tradition in your family or if you're going to get into a student or a high school ensemble. The first few months demand more of your fingers but motivation makes up for them.
Both at once. It's not ideal from scratch. It works best after you have a stable routine at one of them.

Whatever your path, later you can add up the [Andean bandola]](/clases/bandola-andina)That's complete with the tune.

Choose guitar if... / choose tiple if...

Choose the guitar if...

That's how you get to play a lot of genres, including Colombian music.
It's for a 6 or 7 year old with still sensitive fingers.
You'd love to come with me singing songs of all sorts.
Do you have to use as many methods and material as available?

Choose the tiple if...

The bambucco, the corridor, the whirlwind or the guabine are exciting to you.
You wanna play at an old student, a trio or an Andean ensemble.
A brilliant sound and an instrument with a Colombian identity are appealing to you.
You play guitar and you have a new color.

Can you see the [tiple class] approach](/clases/tiple) and [acoustic guitar classes]](/clases/guitarra-acustica)and in both his and his teachers adapt his repertoire to his goal.

Switch from guitar to tiple (and upside down)

From guitar to tiple: He dedicated his first few weeks to strengthening his fingers with short sessions, and learned how to tuning his twelve cordages with calm and worked with his separate, slow and clear accents and bambuco and corridor scattering.
From tiple to guitar: add two serious strings and learn how to play embroidery. The nylon strings will feel soft and the mast, more widely.

He who plays both better understands Andean music, for he knows what every instrument of the trio does.

Frequently asked questions

What's more difficult, tiple or guitar?

At first, the tiple, because its twelve metal strings demand more strength and its scattering has many nuances. Over time, the difficulty depends more on the repertoire than on the instrument.

Can I play tiple with guitar chords?

Many, yes. Since the tiple is put up as the first four strings of the guitar, the positions using those strings work as well. Those that require serious strings of the guitar adapt.

The tiple's only good for Andean music?

It's his place but his limit. Today we hear about mergers with jazz, pop and other music, and about how many genres have been put together.

How old can a child start with his tiple?

To conduct an orientation about 8 years old, while their fingers have the strength to step on metal ropes. Before, a small nylon guitar prepares the path very well.