Tell me about teaching your kid how to play guitar

[Mr.Grumpy]

My daughter, who's about to turn seven, has suddenly decided music and musical instruments are cool. I blame the corrupting influence of 'American Girl' dolls, as my daughter has the one that's a country singer. (And a bunch of her accessories too, but that's a topic for another post...)

 

She wants an acoustic ('cause that's what 'Tenney' plays) but I want to steer here towards an electric guitar because I think the thinner strings will be easier and less frustrating to learn on. So, obvious choices are the ubiquitous mini-strats or maybe an Ibanez Mikro.

 

She'll be turning seven next month; I've tried teaching her some stuff on ukulele, and GEEEZ it's hard! The short attention span is a big issue, after five minutes or so, she's bored and wants to do something else. I was just gratified I could get her to play a one-finger C chord on the uke. I'm having to constantly - like every time she plays - remind her how to hold her hand and fingers around the neck. "Thumb goes here...not flat against the neck! CURL your fingers! Like this..." and so on.

 

She knows the very basics of counting time. She knows notes have letter names but doesn't understand anything about chords or scales.

 

If you tried to teach your child to play guitar, whether by yourself or with lessons from a non-parent instructor, I'd like to hear your experience about it and any recommendations you might have. Thanks.

 

 

[mikesr1963]

My oldest son took band in middle and high school. He and friends put a band together. In school he played trumpet and in the bands he played drums and then switched to guitar and lead singer. No guitar lessons he just took to took it because he loved it and the next thing I know he can play his ass off. However, the instruction he got in school is what elevated him to be such a good player.

 

My daughter took a year of guitar lessons and was never able to play worth a damn. She likes the guitar and noodles but without all the other love for music and music instruction she just never had it a love for digging deeper.

 

Me, I didn't touch a guitar until I was 30 but always love and watched the lead guitar players from the late 60's, 70's and 80's. When I started I used emedia Guitar Method and did every lesson. Read everything I could about guitar and building guitars I could. I picked it up very quick, fell in love with everything about it and it continues to this day.

 

At age 7 is pretty and cute or is she in love with the fact she can make music. Be honest and go from there.

[t_e_l_e]

not really any help, but my daughter is the same at age eight. she wants to do everything, singing, dancing, playing guitar etc. but if it comes to teaching or practicing something, her attention span is 5 minutes....

 

i have no recipe how to show her something and teach her. she does team figure skating and this 3 times a week and is very enthusastic about it. she is interested in reading, stories and books.

 

musically try to show/play her as much different music as possible and we listen it together..

blues and jazz, classical music, hiphop, rock, metal, techno, pop, country and western (note the blues brothers quote ) etc...

talking about what music this and that is, who it is who wrote it and who plays it etc.

 

we still use cd's and cd player and selecting the music in morning for breakfast became a ritual. we select the music we want to hear and its not just something which happens in the background on spotify....

 

this helps to make my kids interested in music generell, once they really show interest in playing an instrument we will see how we will do the next steps

[Chordite]

At that age I didn't have an interest beyond playing Over the sea to skye on the black notes of grandmas piano.

My sisters mostly played the recorder and I think that is the normal level to pitch at at that age. Unless she is exceptional I would say guitar is simply too demanding for a seven year old.

A nice little yamaha keyboard is the route I would go for now.

I think the fingering of guitars is way to much until maybe 10 which is when the social thing with school bands and stuff begins to kick in and the fingers have the stamina.

Singing into hairbrushes is a good indicator that the time is right

[Mikeo]

I have no children, but there are a few smaller sized acoustic guitars out there that are not total junk and worth looking at.

 

The Little Martin with a 23" scale and the Taylor GS mini with it's 23.5" scale. I have both here at the house. I like the GS Mini's better. Plus they make great travel camping guitars.

 

You can load em up with light gauge strings.

 

With kids, you are gonna get 5-10 minutes attention span.

 

I'd try to make it a daily 5-10 minutes.

 

 

I recently saw an old friend of mine at a funeral. He started to take guitar lessons when he was 8 years old. He ended up breaking his arm and never went back to it. His son picked up the trumpet in school and then worked his way to the guitar.

 

My buddy started taking lessons at the age of 50 years old, with his son.

 

Another thing I thought about is not tuning the guitar to 440, but tune it below 440 which should ease the tension on the strings a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mikeo]

Just a little side note.

 

The Rickenbacker 325 is a cool guitar, 21" scale. I have tried it and it's so small. I have a 350V63. They have a small neck that is pretty slick

 

You always wanted a Rickenbacker and a hand wired Vox amp.

 

 

 

 

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[Verne Andru]

As a parent and a teacher I offer the following.

 

The very first thing to understand is that teaching is 110% motivation - what you teach is secondary if they can't be motivated. That means don't tell them what they should play on. If she wants a certain type of instrument, in this case an acoustic, then that is what motivates her. Trying to convince her otherwise will only get her frustrated and lose motivation. There are many smaller acoustic guitars being made today although I would recommend staying away from Godin family including Art & Lutherier and Simon & Patrick for no customer support based on my recent experiences.

 

Get the instrument setup so it plays well for HER. This isn't about you or what you think is best, it's about her desire to do something that you have the honor of facilitating, not dictating.

 

Don't burden her with theory. Find a tune she loves and help her learn to play it using whatever method works - ear, tab, notation, whatever. I learned on Gloria - 3 cowboy chords that even Bill Murray can play (that's what he played at the opening of a Crossroads concert). It's easy and makes you feel like a genius.

 

Your focus should be on getting her so hooked on HER drive and desire that it becomes HER passion.

 

This isn't about you. Music is a very personal form of expression - keep her fed and watered in an environment that encourages risk-taking and is non-judgemental.

 

And don't get angry if she loses interest and walks away from it after a time. People learn in "waves" and the down-time is probably more important than the up-time as it is when the deep learning takes place and they are getting ready to take another run at it. It may take weeks, months, days, years, decades or never. It's personal for her and she needs to run on her own clock otherwise you're just force-feeding her and turning it into a bad experience for everybody.

 

Keep it fun. Keep it about her. Enjoy the experience.

[t_e_l_e]

oh and what i forgot to mention, she has an uke if she wants to try, and as a lefty i hendrixed a righty dano dc59, but they are not comfy that way, so i un-hendrixed it again, tuned it in open G and its waiting in a stand together with a small slide, if she gets interest, or her little brother (currently 3), who wants it first can have it

[Etienne Rambert]

My daughter, who's about to turn seven, has suddenly decided music and musical instruments are cool. I blame the corrupting influence of 'American Girl' dolls, as my daughter has the one that's a country singer. (And a bunch of her accessories too, but that's a topic for another post...)

 

She wants an acoustic ('cause that's what 'Tenney' plays) but I want to steer here towards an electric guitar because I think the thinner strings will be easier and less frustrating to learn on. So, obvious choices are the ubiquitous mini-strats or maybe an Ibanez Mikro.

 

She'll be turning seven next month; I've tried teaching her some stuff on ukulele, and GEEEZ it's hard! The short attention span is a big issue, after five minutes or so, she's bored and wants to do something else. I was just gratified I could get her to play a one-finger C chord on the uke. I'm having to constantly - like every time she plays - remind her how to hold her hand and fingers around the neck. "Thumb goes here...not flat against the neck! CURL your fingers! Like this..." and so on.

 

She knows the very basics of counting time. She knows notes have letter names but doesn't understand anything about chords or scales.

 

If you tried to teach your child to play guitar, whether by yourself or with lessons from a non-parent instructor, I'd like to hear your experience about it and any recommendations you might have. Thanks.

 

I have experience w/ 2 kids who learned.

 

i think there are two ways to go here. Neither way includes an elec guitar.

Play along - see if she has the drive & talent to continue or do what parents

do in the Far East, force lessons on her.

 

ADVICE:

 

1. Don’t steer. Buy her what she wants.

 

2. After she loses interest - IF she loses interest —

 

3. Steer her into learning keyboards (pianos, keys, synths).

 

4. IF you do steer her to electrics — show her some videos of the Surfrajettes.

She might dig that.

 

MY EXPERIENCE:

 

1. It is VERY difficult to find a good piano teacher.

 

2. We started one kid on piano w/ a typical by-the-numbers teacher. He got bored.

 

3. We dropped lessons. Later on - he taught himself (like I did) both keyboards & guitars.

 

4. Daughter is a natural singer & player. That’s a real gift.

 

5. She could be a hell of a performer if she weren’t so shy.

[DeepEnd]

Frankly, I wouldn't bother. Until/unless she develops something resembling an attention span it will be an exercise in frustration. I'll agree with Etienne Rambert and say "don't steer." She'll like a guitar better if it's one she wants. Heck, I originally wanted to learn mandolin because a character in a book I read played one and it sounded cool. Mom started me on ukulele because she already had one so no money wasted. I was in my teens at the time. BTW, acoustic strings come in 10's and most decent guitars can be set up for them. The result will be a guitar that's reasonably easy to play and still acoustic. The Epiphone Pro 1 ships with 9's, which is a bit much, plus it's too large for a young kid.

[Mr.Grumpy]

Thanks for all the great replies. I'm a "multi-instrument" guy, so there's plenty of instruments in the house to explore - guitars, basses, keyboards. The little diva already owns a ukulele and a kid-sized drum kit. I've also got a cheap Yamaha home keyboard that's she's played with too. She only wants to play acoustic because that's what her doll "Tenney" plays. (She's a teen girl country singer in the mold of T. Swift)

 

I'm trying to steer her to electric for learning because a mini-strat is going to be cheaper than a short-scale acoustic, and probably easier to re-sell when the time comes. I'd probably put on lighter-guage strings and tune the thing up. My goal would be to train her to learn some open chords and develop finger dexterity. Once she's learned to play, the hand strength will develop over time that will let her play an acoustic. Attention span IS an issue, but it's improving rapidly. So I'm hopeful I can teach her something over the summer, even if it's in ten minute sessions.

 

We know of at least one piano teacher in our neighborhood, she's an older Russian lady. I don't think my daughter would have much fun learning classical piano at this age.