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  #1  
Old 12-01-2019, 12:27 AM
Ben M. Ben M. is offline
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Default How to teach yor child to play guitar

My daughter is 8. She loves music and has shown an interest in learning guitar. I've tried to teach a couple of friend's kids to play in the past and it didn't go great. I'm just not a very good teacher.
I'd love to hear from other parents who have taught their kids to play or instructors who have taught children.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 12-01-2019, 01:13 AM
loco gringo loco gringo is offline
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Part study, part fun.

The number one thing I wish my parents had done when I was that age is to have enrolled me in piano lessons. In my opinion, there is no better way to develop an understanding of theory that will apply to any and all instruments later.

Nothing wrong with Mel Bay method I, II, and so on. Sometimes an instructor who isn't a parent is a good idea, too.
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Old 12-01-2019, 01:23 AM
GoneTroppo GoneTroppo is offline
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My daughter is 5, and very musical. I bought her a ukulele to start with, easy size to hold, 4 nylon strings, easy chord shapes.... and the way a uke is tuned - GCEA, means that the chord shapes are like a guitars highest 4 strings (I.e a G shape on the uke is a C chord, D shape is a G, C shape is F etc).

IMHO it seems to be the perfect entry to stringed instruments for a child. My daughter is picking it up nicely. At this age it's about familiarizing the child with the instrument and keeping it fun.

All the best!
Troppo
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Old 12-01-2019, 03:57 AM
ManyMartinMan ManyMartinMan is offline
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Three chords and the truth. Honestly. Get them playing a song as quickly as you can teach them 2 or three chords. Also, if you're like me and not very patient, hire them a music teacher who specializes in children. I feel it is an ability that not everyone has. Plus, if you're not the "best" teacher for her, you might taint her appreciation for music.
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Old 12-01-2019, 08:30 AM
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TBman TBman is offline
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I've never been the teacher, but I remember being a 9 year old going to guitar lessons with this old guy as a teacher who had me learning single note songs from a guitar book (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) as opposed to the Beatles songs my friends and I were teaching ourselves from someone's big brothers song book.

The lessons didn't get far.

It was a case of ignoring the wants of the student and underestimating the student's current skill level.

The question asked was "Gee can you read the C scale and play it" instead of "How many barre chords did you teach yourself so far?" and "What songs can you play and what do you want to play?"

Moral of the story - Music theory is not necessary to learn how to play the guitar and to have fun with it. The fun keeps the student interested in the instrument.

You don't have to teach Newton's theory of gravity to have a catch with a kid.
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Old 12-01-2019, 08:53 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Just a thought since I don't have kids...but I have watched them at play.

If you hand a kid a guitar and watch what they do with it, I would suspect that we as adults could learn more from them about sheer creativity and freedom to explore than they could from us because we already know the "rules" and the "should" and are often locked into those boundaries. When somebody such as Michael Hedges comes along, I see somebody who never lost that aspect of childhood.

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Old 12-01-2019, 11:07 AM
BlueStarfish BlueStarfish is offline
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Default Look into Liberty tuning?

It took me at least 3 tries at different points in life to get through the “hard” early part of learning guitar, to the point where I could play well enough to play a song. Meaning, three chords and the truth (I/IV/V in a couple of keys at least a fourth apart so that you can pitch a song to suit your voice). I think that is the break-thru point. So I have lots of sympathy for rank beginners. It’s very difficult to train the fingers to play notes and chords.

If I had a beginning student in my family, I would probably start by trying out the Liberty Tuning approach. Google Harvey Reid and Liberty tuning. The basic idea is that, between a partial capo ($20 bucks on Amazons) and a slight tuning tweak, you end up with a string and tuning configuration where it is possible to play a good number of chords with only two fingers (first and second finger in particular). Harvey has self-published an excellent book that contains the chords, method, and a dozen songs. The chords sound good as they are full, 4/5/6 strings ringing. And two fingers make them very easy for beginners. I know it is not a “standard” approach to learning but I think that if I had this approach available to me, I would have gotten to the break-thru point first time round instead of on the third go.

Eventually your student will want / need to learn chords in standard tuning too; D and A7 are good places to start as you can play a good number of songs with just a I and V7 chord. But try out the Liberty Tuning and see what you think.

Last edited by BlueStarfish; 12-01-2019 at 02:46 PM.
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Old 12-01-2019, 02:37 PM
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I'm the dad of two teenagers. My daughter started flute at 3 and no longer plays. My son started guitar at 5 and still plays now. They both started with a local Suzuki music school. After our experience with Suzuki I wouldn't recommend it. They burned out both of my kids. The Suzuki school here was focused on trying to turn my kids into little virtuosos instead of instilling a love of music. The thing that finally clicked with my son was moving him over to a experienced, non-Suzuki teacher 1.5 years ago. They focus on learning tunes my son likes (Beatles, Elton John, some fun light jazz, etc.) which our Suzuki school here seemed dead set against for some reason. My son now sight reads the melodies in the first couple of positions and can play the chords to the tunes. My son and his teacher pretty much just play duets together all lesson. Lots of the tunes come from "The Real Books". My son is much happier.

My recommendation: find a teacher who is willing to teach them tunes they like and avoid the Suzuki method.

Last edited by Guest 33123; 12-01-2019 at 02:43 PM.
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Old 12-01-2019, 04:16 PM
Puerto Player Puerto Player is offline
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I got my son at age 7 a Zager Zad 15 (3/4 size body, short scale, but normal size neck). He still plays it to this day and he's 22. I started him off with a couple of easy 2 and 3 chord songs and had him sing too. I think the Crawdad Song was his first song. Singing helped him take his attention off off the chords and he progressed pretty well. I did make him practice for 15 minutes or so several days a week.
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Old 12-02-2019, 01:21 AM
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Pura Vida Pura Vida is offline
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I tried at that age, and neither of my kids really grabbed onto it. Guitar chords can be awkward for early learning. My daughter began learning ukulele around 9yo, and then about two years ago, she came back around to the guitar and picked it up very quickly. So, if guitar is proving difficult, try the smaller, simpler four strings of the uke as the "gateway" instrument towards a guitar.

Edit: but once she began learning, I had her using my 23.5" scale, 1-11/16" nut travel guitar, which was much more manageable for her body size. She is in 9th grade with a guitar class and weekly guitar club, and she takes that same guitar with her to high school everyday. She has a 00 12-fret for home use.
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Old 12-02-2019, 04:51 AM
JonPR JonPR is online now
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I used to teach kids in school, starting age 8 (up to a year or two ago). There was a standard curriculum to follow - basically classical guitar, reading notation, starting with picking with the fingers (index, middle) then thumb. Very simple, single line melodies. Just a few recognisable tunes they knew, nursery rhythm stuff such as Twinkle Twinkle, Aunt Rhody.

They were all OK with that, no problem learning notation. But they obiously liked it more when they could play a melody they recognised.

No chords were involved until at least a year into the class - and then just Em.

Of course, when they got a little older - or sometimes even already at age 8 - they started to want to learn pop or rock songs, and chords became more crucial. Chords are difficult for kids that young though - even with the 3/4 size nylon-strings they all used. But the rock fans liked learning riffs, even ones written before their parents were born! (Smoke on the Water was a big favourite, as was the less ancient Seven Nation Army.)

As I said, I was following a school curriculum, not choosing my own tastes, or their tastes, or the tastes of their parents. I was fully OK with allowing any of that when requested, but I did find the classical basics worked well.

In my private teaching, I have had kids of similar age, and then it's much more about discerning their tastes, which hopefully coincide with what the parents want (or are OK with). I had one 8-year-old who was perfectly OK with classical technique, working towards Grade 1. I have another who is 9 now, whose mother really wants him to study classical (and he passed his Grade 2 with distinction), but he really wants to play rock, on bass guitar no less! So the lessons are 50/50!

The main thing is to teach them to play tunes they recognise, as soon as possible. There's a huge satisfaction, a sense of pride and accomplishment, in being able to play Twinkle Twinkle. or Jingle Bells, or whatever. (The Simpsons theme and James Bond Theme also had plenty of fans, at least among the slightly more able. Also the riff from Ed Sheeran's Shape of You. But not the chords.)
The problem with chords - unless the kid is a real rock or pop fan, and demands chords - is that you can't play recognisable songs with them, even when you get skilled enough to get the chords clean and the changes working in time. A chord sequence is just a chord sequence - the simplest chord sequences could belong to 100s or 1000s of songs. It's OK if the kid sings, and just needs the guitar to accompany their singing.

So I would always suggest - certainly with 8-9-year-olds - beginning with well-known melodies, played one note at a time. They can use fingers or thumb or a pick, that doesn't really matter (unless of course you or they want to follow the classical route).
They have to own the process, that's critical. The kids who I found got on well and progressed fast were those who had real enthusiasm for it, beyond what their parents wanted (beyond even what I wanted). It didn't matter too much how much mum or dad encouraged them - although of course it helped when they did. The drive came from the child themselves.
The ones that didn't do too well were the ones with pushy parents, but who didn't care too much themselves. They might actually like playing, but if they didn't want it as much as mum or dad did, they'd gradually lose interest.
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Last edited by JonPR; 12-02-2019 at 05:05 AM.
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  #12  
Old 12-02-2019, 06:26 AM
Puerto Player Puerto Player is offline
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Yea, what JonPR said is true; have them learn "songs" they already know. I got a bunch of nursery rhymes, Christmas songs, Beatles, and other old favorites and stated him on those.
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Old 12-05-2019, 04:36 PM
tonyo tonyo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
.....

Moral of the story - Music theory is not necessary to learn how to play the guitar and to have fun with it. The fun keeps the student interested in the instrument.

...
I wish I could impress this on all the teacher who seem obsessed with teaching theory way too early. There has to be a clear short term goal, the often stated "it will make you a better player in the long run" is complete malarkey if the theory turns the student off of playing.
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