Child beginners...what I should know ahead of time

[PeninaD]

I know my 6 year old twins are frustrated with their Toys 'R Us specials...they should be, the necks are bowed, and they can't stay in tune!
Anyway, I think they are ready for a better made guitar (OK, 2, if I buy just one it's big trouble) and I have a kids' guitar course to start them off with.
My presumption is to go with 1/2 or 3/4 size accoustic guitars with nylon strings for children this young. What else should I look for? (Please don't tell me Squire and Dean have kid sized electrics....they are not playing any amplified instruments yet. My bass amp is off limits to them!)
Remember, I have to get 2 of everything, and at this point there is no knowing if they will really stick with it, so I am not looking for $150 instruments!
And most importantly, is 6 too young?

[jaytee]

i dont know much but.....
i have a 7 year old who wants to play too...and i hope once we get her going she finds a lifetime of enjoyment in making music....

so is it too young? i dont think so....i once saw a 6 year old getting lessons at a music store...she looked really excited and eager to learn...
altho she WAS playing an electric.....BRAVE parents she must have....lol

i think its pretty cool to introduce your child to music early....ive seen so many 3 year olds playing violin on tv....i used to be jealous when i was a kid!

if i were you id take them to the music store and get some one on one advice
if you have a strong background in music...you might be able to teach them yourself....as for me....im looking for a pro to give mine lessons...i just wouldnt know where to start...

[cyberfret]

I know that you probably don't want to hear this.....but. I teach guitar for a living. I have taught privately for close to 20 years now. So I have had my share of 6 year olds. I will no longer take them as students, because I know that they are to young to play guitar......experience has taught me this. The youngest students I will take are 8, and better yet 9. I always get a mother that will try and convince me that their child is different.... they are smarter, more mature, have a high attention span, bigger fingers etc. But every time I have gone against my better judgment, my better judgment should have won the battle.

Though I do think that it is good to give even young kids a music education. This can be done by getting them to listen to music....clap along....dance.....march. Things like toy drums to bang. There are some really fun computer programs for kid to teach them about music. They can learn what the different instruments are, what they sound like.

The one instrument that I think very young children can take with success is piano. There is so much more that they will be able to do on a piano. A 6 year only will never be able to play chords on the guitar....other than a really easy G chord and Em. And pressing down a key on a piano is SO much easier for a 6 year old to do then place a finger on a string AND pick. Piano you press the key....one thing...and there is sound. So much more goes into the guitar at first.

After 3 years of piano, they will also have a much better background for playing guitar. And all musicians should have a basic knowledge of piano.

Maybe not the answer you were looking for, but I hope that helps.

--Shawn


PS. I did start playing guitar when I was 8 :)

[jaytee]

you know...that makes alot of sense shawn....thinking back to all my friends who were taking private music lessons when we were kids.....they all started out on piano....except for 2 of them....they were sisters....and also happened to be the daughters of the private teacher...but come to think of it...their mother started them out on accordians...which have the keys like a piano!
and man could they play...their little fingers moved so fast over the keys i couldnt focus on them...sounds like a dorky instrument...but when it came to the school talent show everybody waited for them to come out with their accordians...bigger than they were....lol

[SteelSlider]

That's some good advice Shawn.
I started when I was eight also, but I started on a ten string Hawaiian Steel Guitar. It took me about a year to learn some war dance song. That was tough.

[PeninaD]

No Shawn, your advice is exactly what I needed to hear. From your experience and perspective it is the most valuable of all.
In some ways, I guess I was thinking, yeah, they have interest in guitar (and they seem to have outgrown the toy drum, guitar, and toy keyboard already, at least in terms of too small and not enough notes), AND I want them to keep their hands off my bass (when they finally get introduced to it.)
While the girls are a bit bigger than other kids their age, and they look like they might actually end up with longer fingers than me, perhaps they are not quite co-ordinated enough for chords.
OK, I'll start banking money for a later date, and try to get more music appreciation/theory in. I'm sure they'd get a kick out of using the computer for that.
What books and software are good for little kids?

[Zero]

It must be nice to have parents who are musically inclined. I do not have any clue where i picked up any sort of musical ability, because on both sides of the family, all my relatives can do is whistle! :) (On the other hand, most of the people in my family can draw very,very well, and are accomplished artists, but i can't draw worth beans.)

I wish i had a parent who had introuduced me to music when i was a lot younger. Then maybe i would understand theory now instead of having to struggle with it. I want to learn it, but i am starting to loathe it, and that is a bad thing.

I agree that 6 is too young to have a guitar though. My friend's little brother had one (My friend got one, so he got one too.) he started out okay, learning basics, but as occasionally happens with ALL little kids, he got frustrated, and had a temper tantrum, threw his guitar across the room and stomped on it a few times, then proceded to put his foot through the amp. (Ouch! :eek: ) Needless to say, He destroyed $400 (Canadian Dollars) worth of equipment. (His parents were NOT happy.)

I find the guitar a bit frustrating sometimes, but as an older (15) person, i find i can walk away from it, and blow off steam, if i have too. A young kid doesn't usually think of that.

~Z~

P.S. I think it's great to teach your kids music at an early age. Like i said, i wish i had that benifit when i was young. (As it is, I had a whole bunch of art lessons, which my dad gave me, about 1 1/2 hours long each time, that bored me to tears, because although it helped me visualize what i wanted, and knew the techniques, i couldn't draw at all!) I suppose it helped me in the end though, because i can visualize things in my head better because of that.

[PeninaD]

Parent that is musically inclined?
No, at least not that I seem to have any talent. (and the father had NONE, not that he's been any infulence since they were 3 months old) I love to listen, but picking up the finer points of music theory, or actually playing so that I would want anyone to hear...no. But I enjoy trying to figure out the theory and my bass, and I am hoping that my kids might have an easier time of it, if that is what they want, by starting early.
My parents were the kind "We don't have the money, and it is non-sense and foolishness." Maybe it's not. If I would have developed my musical mind as a child, maybe I would have had less problems with higher math later in life, and I would have had either a great backup profession, or at least a satisfying and soothing hobby now.
I'd love for my girls to have those opportunities.

[GuitarGuillermo]

My parents can't even whistle... and my brother likes to sing Linkin Park songs in falsetto... I hope i'm an inspiration to all of you with non-musical families.

[Zero]

I seem to have gone about backwards. I learned math easier before i ever learned music. I am good at math (not bragging, stating a fact!) I just comleted grade 10 at my school, and i know more about math than people two years ahead of me. I guess that is the first clue that i would be musically inclined. Oh well, i wish i had realized this sooner, so that i could have gotten on to the guitar a lot sooner than i did.

~Z~

[bobcat]

Good luck with the kids! There is a wonderful music video series by Jim Gamble. It includes "Peer Gynt", "The Nutcracker", "Peter and the Wolf" and "Carnival of the Animals". They use puppets as the characters and the younger kids really love them! There is another video series called "Composer Specials". (Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Bach's Fight for Freedom...)These are really nice for mid to upper elementary age children. For computer software, I like "MidiSaurus" for the younger kids. Music Ace is also a really good resource. There are card games called "Crazy 8th" and "Totally Treble" that are fun for the younger kids as well. If you want to start some music theory, Bastian and Alfred publishing have piano book series that offer theory books that go along with the piano books, or they can "stand alone". (If you go with Bastian, you want the NEW Bastian series. These books are more modern looking and in color) Both of these series are excellent. If you want fun CD's for young kids, check out John Jacobson's, "Hop 'Til You Drop", "Holiday Hop 'til You Drop", "Conga in the Kitchen" and "Around the World with Me". These are books that also have sing along CD's that encourage movement exercises. There are lots of fun music appreciation items available for the young kids. I think Amazon.com and SheetMusicPlus.com have several of these items. There is a link to these sites on the front page of Cyberfret. What you don't find there, look for at FriendshipHouse.com. (As your kids get a little older, check out Marsalis on Music"! Most excellent!)