Reply To: Music theory and the JoCoeuvre
The first few notes of the scale are arranged linearly on a recorder. But then there’s a register change… not to mention different fingerings for sharps and flats depending upon where your other fingers are located. The recorder doesn’t require any of the fancy hardware used by Boehm fingering (found on flutes and saxophones), though.
Paul often plays a melodica, which is a mouth-blown version of the right side of an accordion. I have 4 of these around the house in various sizes. They’re very handy as ultraportable keyboards.
As for guitar: the standard tuning is intentionally weird. It makes it easy to play chords at the expense of making it more difficult to play scales and melodies. This is responsible for the digital game of Twister you see guitarists playing. A guitar is normally tuned in fourths, except for one jump of a flat fourth. One of the hardest parts of learning guitar is figuring out how to play across that odd jump. There’s no time to think about it, so you need to learn to Just Do It.