I scored greatly today with an $80 kid’s guitar and case ( $45) for $25 total at a garage sale.
My son has shown interest in one every so often, and I couldn’t pass this up. He is five.
I have zero musical ability -I can carry a tune - and my husband was in the drum section in band, but would like to get a book or something to help give him the basics.
(You can tell by the way the strings attach to the headstock. Classical guitars have nylon strings and they wind onto axles that are exposed in cuts made through the headstock. Folk (usually called “acoustic”) guitars have perpendicular metal pegs that the strings are wound upon.)
What brand is the instrument?
Are the strings corroded? (If so they need to be replaced.)
Next, some advice:
DO NOT attempt to tune the guitar until you answer these questions. If you have a 3/4 size child’s guitar, standard tuning will stress the instrument’s structure destructively. (Please post measurements of the instrument’s overall length plus the body’s dimensions)
Invest in an electronic tuner. They are inexpensive and will improve not only the sound of the instrument when it is played, but also your son’s ear and his ability to detect correct musical pitch.
Look into instructional CDs before starting any lessons. Your child will be able to get some of the basics down before beginning any expensive instruction. The CDs start around $10.[sup]00[/sup] and are a bargain.
Please check in with some answers and we’ll go from there.
Maybe you should have asked for advice before buying the guitar… I would have advised getting a timpani set. They’re cooler, and I’ve never heard of a timpani player dying of a drug overdose!
You must have a mature boy – I also have a 5 year old, and if I bought him a guitar it would take about 4.2 seconds before he transformed it into a weapon, with which to beat his older brother.
To minimize the chance that your son will give up early in frustration, take it to a luthier and have it inspected and set up properly. This will ensure that it is reasonably playable. Even if it’s essentially new, don’t assume that the current set-up is OK. This may cost more than you paid for it, but it’s money well spent.
Go to a music store and ask about/look at the self-instruction books available. Since he’s five, the book will really be for you, so keep that in mind. Also ask about lessons
Shirley, five years old is a bit young to start the guitar. The manual dexterity demanded is rather challenging, compared to a keyboard or recorder. Although the Tara website says that your model is made for the age range of 4-6 years old, I’d be a bit leery unless your son shows real dedication and proclivity.
I heartily commend you for thinking about learning the guitar yourself and transmitting that knowledge to your child(ren). You will want a real guitar for that purpose. I just helped Whoopster select a Fender Squire six string steel acoustic folk guitar with gig bag, electronic tuner, instructional CD and free group lessons for all of around 200 frogskins.
If you have fantasies of learning to play the gitfiddle, go out and do it. If you are going to put your (admittedly) fine bargain instrument into the hands of your young child, you’ll need to monitor him so as to avoid it being damaged. I learned piano around that age, but the old pie-annie is hard to swat files with.
Do you have a friend that plays the guitar well? If so, bring them the instrument to examine and test. They will be able to advise you about such things as setup (per Gary T’s splendid advice) and playability. If not, confer with a professional and consider whatever money you pay to be well spent. Considering the price range you have purchased this axe at, the extra bucks merely bring you back to the original investment level, at worst.
I see no harm in the boy giving it a shot, maybe even taking some lessons. If it doesn’t pan out, you haven’t made a huge investment. If he decideds to come back to the instrument later on in life, the experience could prove valuable. I have given guitar lessons for about 3 years now, and my youngest pupil was an 8 year old girl. She worked very hard, and has become a decent player for her age. I wish that someone had exposed me to an instrument at that age. I say go for it!
Hi Shirley. Please forgive me if this is oversimplified. I don’t know where you stand in terms of musical knowledge, so I’m just starting from zero to be safe. There are two approaches to the way you can learn to play. If you think of the neck of the guitar as a keyboard (it’s sometimes easier for people to visualize it that way), you can learn the individual notes (if you hold down the string on a specific place on the neck and then pick or strum the individual string. As you move your finger up the neck of the guitar, you’re playing the individual notes as you would on a keyboard). The notes are repeated and you can play the same notes on different strings, depending on which fret you’re holding down. The good thing about a child learning to do this is that it’s easier to concentrate on holding down just one string, it helps to develop the callouses and finger strength/dexterity needed to hold the strings and to change finger position. If you have your child concentrate on “walking” his finger up the first few strings, he can start picking out the notes and making a simple tune. Or (and you can actually do this simultaneously; one approach doesn’t really rule out the other)you can visually learn where to put your fingers on the fret board while you strum all of the strings to produce specific chords. You can buy a book in any music store which will show you the chords. You can probably download them off the internet for that matter. With a small child, it might be easier to have him learn the first four strings (first meaning the highest musically, or when you’re holding the guitar, the four closest to the floor). You can retune the bottom two strings to match the chord set or just have him not strum them.) There are certain chords that are easier than others as they require less awkward hand positions and you’re required to hold down less strings to be able to produce a good sound. Picking individual notes is easier, but playing chords is more satisfying. But it does require practice and at five years old, many kids don’t have the determination to put the required time into it. The nice thing is, if he is exposed to it now and learns to pick out a few notes or tunes, even if he drops the idea for awhile, he has a basic knowledge to return to when he is ready.
I started taking piano lessons at 5 years old and I’m certainly not the only one. (I picked up the guitar when I was about 10 years old.) Keyboard is easier because you dont’ have to have the finger strength in your left hand, but guitar isn’t impossible by any means. And if, in the meantime, you learn to play, you can always show him later as you said. And maybe you’ll turn out to be the next Jimi Hendrix (or any other guitar extraordinaire of your choosing).
Also, it really, really helps if you can play some famous songs on your hi-fi for your son to listen to which he shows a musical approval of… stuff like “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison for example. Sweet pretty chord changes which can be built upon as your son’s motor skills increase.
What happens when you do this is that you can play a certain tune for your son, and the melody and tempo and phrasing will hopefully become imprinted in him at a musical level. In turn, this means he’ll know instinctively what he expects to hear and it will just be a matter of building the motor skills to acheive it. This is so much more efficient than taking lessons without a sense of direction.
Also, when you play such tunes for your son, play the sort of tunes which can be played on your son’s guitar. Don’t aim for famous electric rock songs - at least half of the success behind a famous rock guitarist lays in the equipment he’s using - AND the volume he was playing at. You won’t come close to that sort of playing for years yet.
Just go for your nice pretty Neil Young kinda tunes. Very accessible and melodic. A great entry point for your little boy.
Kids start violin lessons at 4–Paidhi-girl did, she’s been playing for two years. I took her because she had a real interest in playing music and I didn’t know where to start if I were to teach her myself. Her montesorri teacher recommended violin.
It’s true that she started out playing “no fingers” stuff, just bowing, but by five she was playing the infamous “twinkle twinkle” and at six she plays quite a lot of different songs.
I think the key would be to find a teacher who knows how to work with kids–how you’d do that beyond personal recomendation I’m not sure, but it might not be a bad idea to call around to guitar shops in the area, and check the phone book for music–instruction and place a few calls. But only if the kiddo is really interested–it’s not worth the money and time and frustration for any of you if the boy doesn’t actually want to do it. There’s no harm in letting him try, though.
I started playing guitar when I was nine. I didn’t stick with it, but I took professional lessons. It’s always encouraging to hear someone actually play something. It enhanced my appreciation for all music, and musicians in particular. Jeez…I’d walk down the highway about a mile to the music school…lugging my guitar (which was an adult guitar and damn near as big as me!) once a week through all kinds of weather. For maybe a year and a half. A fond memory indeed.
Shirley, you know me well enough where I’m confident you understand that I’m not attempting to discourage you or your son’s pursuit of the guitar.
Lots of good advice here. I’ll add one more small nugget. Young fingers are very tender and the callouses required to play guitar well take time to acquire. You may wish to investigate what are known as “silk and steel” strings. Get them in the light or extra light gauge. The external bronze or phosphor bronze windings are wrapped around a multi-strand silk core that makes the string a lot easier to pluck or strum.
Please make sure that your son learns to use a pick and also how to fingerpick as well. There is nothing that sounds quite so fine as fingerpicking a freshly strung steel string guitar. Think “harpsichord” for starters.
I have an 8 year old having lessons…first song tune he came to grips with was one he loved before he started.
The chorus of Yellow Submarine.
Dont expect too much from him, and he will surprise you. My son learnt more chords in his first few lessons than I could remember in a month. They are truly capable of amazing stuff.
Learn to love hearing tunes such as ‘Go Tell Aunt Nancy’ and ‘Home On The Range’ over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Not necessarily all the way through, and not necessarily from the beginning, but still over and over and over…