An electric guitar, a flute, a drum set or an electric violin?

I've tried all 4 of them, except 'electric violin' ... just classic violin.
i found the drums real difficult because right hand keeps a constant beat on the high hats, left hand is doing another rythm on the snare, foot is playing at a different section, quite confusing.. but like my friend told me...time is all it takes, and yerh.. its a very fun instrument though.
the flute, im pretty adapted/hooked on to it because its really portale and i find it easy to pick up notes/keys in a song. REALLY difficult and annoying in the early stages because of trying to get the clear sound thruogh the embouchure hole (blow hole to make tone).
I'm also a frequent guitarists but no where near expert. im pretty much on the same chapter as 'Re-Design' (early poster) i rekon.

but yerh man.. i rekon guitar would be best, as its a real common instrument and you'd find there are many out there who also play the Guitar and would be willing to teach a few stuff. With the guitar you'd mainly be learning chords and you'd just have the find out what 'key' the song is in then you can probably jam in. (sorry for some of the musical terminologies).
Flute/Violin you'd be learning 'notes', playing these would allow you to do awesome riffs and melodies (you can even play the flute/violin as a vocalists like the band "String Quartets" check them out... AWESOME, they played a few of YELLOWCARD songs)

LOL, i think i typed too much and kinda messy... but yerh.. try have a go at checking out other peoples posts and comments...
aiight tc.

Find what your friends play. Thats what i did. Or try what u lke. People who say guitar is the hardest, its the hardest FOR YOU. I think out of all of those choices its the easiest.  I tried clarinet and, in technical terms, HATED IT AND SUCKED. I also tried violin and had the same result. It bascially depends on what you want to do, or if u have a lot of time on your hands and want to be a b.a. follow mahavishnuman.

Are you wanting to learn to play an instrument or learn music? 

Which instrument interests you.  I you don't have a pretty strong interest in the instrument you choose then you'll find it hard to put in the time to practice.  Especially guitar when you finger tips get sore in the beginning.

What do you want to do with it after you learn.  Flute seems a little limited as to when you might be able to use it.  Guitar, drums and to a lesser degree violin (also learn fiddle) have more opportunity for band use.

Anything you try to learn is going to see hard in the beginning.  After a few months you will be surprised at how much you've progressed.  And then after a year you will have gone much farther than you expected.

I know this from personal experience.  I've been taking guitar for almost a year now.  I have no talent, no coordination, no natural ability in music.  But I have a huge desire to be able to play guitar just for my own satisfaction.  I still can't play anything that anyone would want to hear yet but when I compare the way I play scales and the things that I practice I am amazed at how much better I am that I ever thought I would be able to do.  And I'm not as good as I'm going to get.

So figure out what you think you want from this and the pick the instrument that you have the most interest in but not the one that you think will be easiest to do.  Even if you pick one and decide to change later you won't be loosing much since you are learning music also.

Good luck.

Well, one way to think about it would be, what kind of music to you think you'd be playing?  For instance, there will not be too much use for a flute in most Rock bands, but the drums or even the "fiddle"  would work.  Or if you plan on playing mostly the classics, then the violin or the flute would work (unless you want to learn to play Timpani). 

Well, Drums are definitely the most expensive.
Guitar is the hardest.
Flute is the least interesting.
You're kind of stuck...

There is positively no reason why you can't play all those things, and be proficient at each one, if you desire.  Guitar is always hardest when you first start due to the fact that you must develop callouses on your fretting fingers (which means avoid doing dishes or at least wear gloves - Palmolive is a guitarist's enemy because it "softens hands while you do dishes") and you must also develop muscle strength in your fingers and hand.  Violin has the added bonuses of difficulty in learning proper bow control (before you master the bow there is a lot of annoying screeching) and, since it's not fretted, intonation can be hard to deal with (although if you have a good ear, this may be pretty easy for you to correct, making it quicker to obtain).

It all depends on how serious you are and how much time you wish to devote to learning the instruments.  If you enjoy all of them, learn all of them.  You'd be surprised how much each of these instruments, save drums, have in common.  If you start learning them all and decide one or more of them aren't your cup of tea, then at least you tried.

Devote at least an hour a day towards playing and practicing, and you'll learn them in no time.

I hope that no-one will be offended if I say that drums are fairly easy to play. I myself am a drummer so my opinion is biased, but as long as you have a sense of rhythm and a 'feel' for the instrument, NEITHER of which can be taught, you should find playing them easy and fun. Also you don't need to be taught how to play the drums, most people can just set-up and play! You'll require practice of course, but what instrument doesn't! 

Some downsides, as I have discovered, are that drum-kits are expensive not to mention all of the add-ons you can buy (e.g. cowbell, splash cymbals, double bass pedals, e.t.c), require space, and are annoying when you can't tune a certain drum just right!

One final point though. If you are pretty handy and know where to look you can get cheap, used drum-kits that are maybe a bit rusty, and clean them up a bit like my friend did. He bought a gretch drum-kit for only £60!

Hope this helps =)

P.s. Whatever you do, DO NOT buy an Arbiter Flats kit! They are designed for beginners but are very expensive for the quality of the kit. Also they sound awful!

P.p.s Check out Cobus Potgieter on Youtube. He is a self taught drummer who uses a mix of acoustic and electric drums.