All of these instruments require a certain minimal measure of talent in order to be played. The real question is which one takes the greater measure of talent in order to be played well, or with excellence. As someone who supervises, coordinates, and directs musicians for a living, I would say that the talent required to master an instrument might have something to do with the number of "variables" entailed in playing that instrument. For example, for someone seeking to master the violin or saxaphone, it is necessary to cultivate an expertise in proper fingerings, rhythm, expression, and intonation. At the same time, while a piano player does not need to be concerned with exerting direct control over the intonation of her instrument, she is faced with the challenge of achieving harmony of performance between ten fingers and a foot. Something similar can be said about the drums. Cory Seibel
I used to play the drums when I was a kid, my father played the violin for years, and my wife can still play the piano reasonably well, yet none of us were able produce anything other than wind noise when we tried my daughter's clarinet.
