Originally Posted by Lixarto
+1
Let him learn a few of these - should be easy to find an easy version of some of the above that he can start with.
I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!!!
This
The "Everyone should start on a cheesegrater acoustic" myth is one of my pet hates.
Conventional wisdom amongst tutors I've been in contact with is that most children have developed the necessary manual coordination and the mental skills to handle basic musical abstract concepts by the age of 8. I once taught a 7 year old who seemed advanced for his years and he got on OK, but other 5 & 6 year olds I've tried with couldn't count to 4 and couldn't grasp the idea of whichever string you fret your notes on is the string you pluck ... neither had they any idea that you need to practice at stuff to make it work.
Full size classical guitars are certainly too big for children, but 1/2 or 3/4 size aren't, and these instruments are cheap enough to get them started until you're sure they'll stick with it. The nylon strings may also be considered by some to be a more gentle introduction to the guitar for young fingers than steel strings; finding smaller scale electrics is possible, but I've seen more kids with adult sized Fender copies having difficulty getting their tiny hands around it.
Some parents actually like the idea of getting them to do grade 1 classical with the carrot of an electric guitar if they pass - at least they will have acquired some idea of how music works, and some idea of how to read it.
[rant]
One of my pet hates is kids with cheap Strat copies. Why (oh why) is it always Strats? Lousy crappy single coil pickups and wang bars that'll do anything but allow you to play in tune. Even cheap Gibbo copies can be made to play (and stay) in tune, and a cheap humbucker will always sound far better than a cheap sc even when put through a nasty little solid state practice amp (with a "powerful" 10W output into an 8" speaker). [/rant]
He who laughs last ... is still using a slow modem
at that age, enthusiasm to learn is 99% of the battle.
nuff said
......"Bertie is pretty much a zen master..................."
Some good advice so far.
I have taught kids from around that age. A few things to remember.
1/ Don't expect too much from them , it may be that they get bored with it after three months , leave them be and they may drift back to playing later.
2/ Bearing 1/ above don't spend a fortune.
3/ Kids have a very short attention span and need to be taught in a way that get through to them. Most kids today are used to "instant gratification" . Playing a guitar is not instant so they have to get it somewhere to keep thier interest up. I have used several techniques over the years for this.
4/ re 3/ above. Decide carefully about how they will be taught. Do not force them to do classical if they want to learn rock. Most schools do have fairly good tutors., but not always .
As to instruments , a 7 year old can be a variety of sizes . A fairly tall child with longer fingers might cope with a full size instrument. A smaller child will need a 3/4 , but beware they may grow quickly out it...
My own daughter did not take lessons from me or anyone else , but she lived with instruments in the house. She now has her own guitar (she is 18) , regular gigs and is signed with a management company and starting to record. She taught herself in the main ( she sometimes comes and asks for a chord when she is writing her songs "hey dad give me a jazz chord that fits here").
no worries
Generally you can start girls a little earlier than boys (attention span thing).
My Daughter started violin at age 4 and now is studying for grade 7 at the age of 13
(also grade 5 piano and grade 6 flute).
My son 7 does have great difficulty with attention span when it comes to the guitar, but
he's been having drum lessons for over a year now and is doing well (but won't practice).
As to instruments. I gave my son a cheap electric 1/2size. Big mistake it will not stay in tune at all
no matter how much I've modified it (decent tuners/decent bridge), however a 1/2 size nylon will stay in tune
so if you can get one with a peizo bridge he can still plug it into an amp and get some sort of distorted noise,
he won't care if it doesn't sounds like a 62 Fender strat into a 54 Fender Twin ;o)
from a benefiting-in-the-future point of view, an acoustic is probably better, he'll have a stronger fretting hand when he moves onto an electric, and if he gets good classical training with the acoustic he'll get invaluable theory skills etc that come with that, all of which will put him in a good position to start rock guitar. A bit late now i know, but y'know
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