I agree with those who say piano is best to learn the basics. As a friend of mine once pointed out, "it's all laid out in front of you in black and white."

When I was a kid, I took piano lessons for only two years (got through "Teaching Little Fingers to Play" and "Thompson's First Grade Book") before my mother, the piano teacher and I all agreed there was not much point in continuing. BUT even that little bit gave me a (very) basic understanding of scales, sharps and flats, and reading music. I can still pick out a tune on a keyboard if I have to -- a useful skill -- though I certainly can't "play" the piano.

We all had "melody flutes" in grade school, and I tried playing the cello for a while, and have dabbled a bit with the guitar for many years, but I know those early piano lessons were the foundation.

Nancy