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How young to start?


r2dhart

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Posted

I can't believe that this hasn't been asked before but I came up with nothing when I tried to search.

 

So, what's considered the minimum age to start a kid playing guitar? I have a five and a half year old who has been after me to play since before she could even pronounce the word (definitely my kid) and she is absolutely certain that Santa is going to leave an axe under the tree this year (I'm hoping he leaves two!). It's the first thing on her list and she's pretty specific about what she wants.

 

"A guitar with a hole in it (accoustic) and pretty art around the hole (rosette)"

 

I don't expect her to study it seriously. She's a smart kid (obviously, she wants to play guitar) but she's not quite ready for music theory. My biggest concern is that I don't want her to injure her hands or cause them not to devlop properly.

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Posted

My suggestion is that either you get her a guitar AND lessons, or you wait until she's 10 or so. If you just get her a guitar and she isn't taught how to play, she'll just pass it off as a toy and will probably not come back to the instrument. If you do get her the lessons though, it could start a lifetime of playing guitar.

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Posted

Oprank612,

 

I take it you don't think she's too young.

 

Actually I was planning to teach her myself. I've been playing for about seven years and my basics are pretty good. I've taught a couple of neighborhood kids and a coworkers kid, but the youngest was 11. I figured there was no harm in teaching them at 8 or 9, but I am a little concerned that 5 is too young.

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Posted

Maybe start with a nylon string just because it would be easier on the fingers. See if they make one with a narrow fingerboard. And of course a pretty rosette! Whatever you do, don't get one of those 3/4 size steel string guitars. I started on one of those and the strings were so tight and high off the fretboard it was practically unplayable.

 

I wouldn't worry about teaching a five year old theory, unless she wants to learn that stuff. Teach her whatever she wants to learn - nothing but fun stuff.

 

I really have no idea what the earliest age would be. It's not like her hand might instantly curl up into some odd shape and never recover. If she's uncomfortable she'll probably tell you. It doesn't seem to hurt their hands to sit with an X-box controller for hours on end.

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Posted

Originally posted by Little Dreamer

It doesn't seem to hurt their hands to sit with an X-box controller for hours on end.

 

Good point! I have to ration the Gamecube at our house otherwise she'd wind up like me.:D

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Posted

 

Originally posted by r2dhart

Oprank612,


I've taught a couple of neighborhood kids and a coworkers kid, but the youngest was 11. I figured there was no harm in teaching them at 8 or 9, but I am a little concerned that 5 is too young.

 

 

 

I'd stay away from young kids - including boys - unless the parents are in the same room at all times. A guy just got out of 16 years in jail on a false child rape charge.

 

On a lighter note, kids start piano and violin that young, so it wouldn't hurt to give her a kid-sized axe to play with. I wouldn't expect too much, though. Teach her some simple songs and then have Play Along With Daddy sessions. If it's fun now, she may stick with it when she's old enough to start woodshedding.

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Posted

 

Originally posted by bassmantele

I'd stay away from young kids - including boys - unless the parents are in the same room at all times. A guy just got out of 16 years in jail on a false child rape charge.

 

 

I coach my daughters soccer team as well and the rule they drill into our heads is, "never leave a child alone, but never be alone with a child". It's hard to believe our world has come to this.

 

 


Teach her some simple songs and then have Play Along With Daddy sessions.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. A little Farmer in the Dell and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to get her started.

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Posted

+1 for the nylon string. And they do make 1/2 and 3/4 size nylon string guitars...I'd get her the 1/2 size now, then a 3/4 size in a few years.

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Posted

If the motivation is there, then yeah, get your five-year-old a guitar! Just make sure it's her motivation--and be prepared for it to be a passing phase. I get parents bringing in their toddlers regularly, hoping they'll be virtuosos. Hasn't happened yet...just me regularly asking, "So did you practice this?"

 

Small guitar = important. Nylon strings? Sure, though I prefer light gauge electrics, which are thin enough to fret more easily.

 

And you other gloom & doomers are freaking me out with these "stay away from young kids" comments! :rolleyes: I teach 40-50 students a week with no problems. Then again, I teach at two different stores and hand out orientation papers recommending the parents sit in on the lessons at any time. Maybe I should get some liability insurance in case a false accusation hits me? :confused:

 

On a freaky note, there was another teacher in my store years ago, old guy, specialized in teaching young kids (I even took a class when I was a whippersnapper). Everyone loved this guy. Then I pick up the local paper and see him on the front page, busted by the Feds for having kiddie porn in his home. Far as I know, he was never accused or busted for doing anything beyond that, but parents of the students were rightfully freaked.

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Posted

My concern is with the hypersensitive paranoid nutcase parents who see a pervert behind every tree. Once you're accused, insurance won't stop people from assuming where there's smoke, there's fire.

Having said that, tens of thousands of adults work with children every day and have not problem, but anyone who works for any kind of instutition - schools, boy scouts, sport leagues - gets the same kind of instructions the soccer coach above did. If you don't put yourself in a questionable situation - no matter how innocent in fact - you're far less likely to have problems. Personally, the only children I generallly talk to when I leave the house are babies in their mother's arms.

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