Do you have a metronome you could give him? If not, that’s a useful thing to buy. There are also combination tuner/metronomes available in the $20 - $30 range…
When you find out about your string options - if it turns out to be a guitar that you can string with steel strings, then a slide might be a fun accessory to pick up.
Again, if it’s a steel string and it has a pick guard, picks are an option. Beginners have to be careful not to scratch the top.
Case - it depends what he’s going to be doing with it. Agig bag is the handiest and lightest option, but it offers no protection from anything other than scratches. The compressed cardboard cases are very little protection and aren’t all that light, either. If he’s going to fly with it in the cargo, he’ll need a hard shell case.
Does he have a smartphone? I have a couple of apps for my iPhone which have both a tuner function and a metronome function (as well as a chord look-up feature).
There was a really good free guitar teacher on YouTube. Justin Sanderson? I think his name was. He teaches a lot of basics, like how to place your hands and fingers, basic chording and stuff like that.
Also, if your computer has a microphone, you can download a tuner for free. It’s called AP Tuner. (Just type it into Google, it’ll be the first hit.) That’s what I use.
Being able to tune a guitar to itself is just fine … so long as you are playing alone. It means you can pick up any guitar anywhere and make music on it.
An electronic tuner is very convenient when playing with others. It saves a lot of time when everybody can quickly get to the same tuning without a lot of comparing notes back and forth.
And yes, new strings, please. Get a couple sets; he is going to break one now and then and needs to learn how to replace them.
Ok, pictures turned out poorly, but from the links above I can see it does need nylon strings. I will take it to the local shop to buy strings and to get the guy there to show my son how to put them on.
Good to know the cardboard cases are not worth it - I will get him a soft case and see how he goes with it. He’s got a list of the links above and is happily up in his room listening and playing.
We worked on tuning it last night and it sounds pretty good for about half an hour, then starts to rapidly detune. I don’t think these strings are new, so I’m not sure what’s going on there but I suspect it’s not strung properly. Will pay the nice man to check for me.
Thanks so much for all the help, I really appreciate it. Some good tips here, especially the School of Rock links and the Justin Sandercoe link.
Note: tuners on cheaper classical guitars are notorious for slipping. Also, many folks don’t put the strings on the tuners correctly which can also lead to slippage…
When tuning a guitar to itself, one still needs a source tone. Orchestras typically tune to the principle oboist. (Who, these days, usually tunes to an electronic tuner.)
Just a throw in about teachers - I cannot recommend strongly enough getting a real live teacher who sits at arm’s reach in the same room with you for half an hour or more once a week. Books, CDs, DVDs, Videos, weblessons, etc. can all be very worthwhile tools, but there is nothing like having someone right there to tell you why it doesn’t sound right or why it doesn’t feel right.
Spoken as a guitar teacher of many years who spends a lot of time correcting the bad habits of self-taught guitarists.
Reticulating Spings thanks for the link. I’m hoping the nice man at the shop will show my son when we buy stuff there, too, but I can muddle through with this. ETA: It’s a small, local guitar shop with random people in there playing guitars all the time. I’m pretty sure that they will want to encourage the hobby, and I don’t feel to bad if I’m spending money to get him to show my son.
Le Ministre de l’au-delà I’d love to do that, but he’s at boarding school. His classes are chosen for next year, and I can’t change them - he does cantor and choir now. If he sticks with it and shows and interest, I’ll try to find him lessons during the holiday. In the meanwhile, there are kids at his school who are excellent guitarists (the do a GuitarMan comp every year) and who will probably informally help him out. This is just to get him started and see if he has an interest. I think he might, he bought the guitar with his money!
