Righto, Mum Dad & kids time.
It can sometimes be a trying time for parents faced with a potential genius mini-me wanting to learn guitar.
Or any other instrument for that matter.
I have some tips on helping you out with this below, but first here’s a distinction parents would be wise to consider carefully before they embark on any learning journey with kids.
Meet Hayden - Genius in the making.
Self motivated equals self propelled.
Encouragement is not the same as imposing your will.
When well meant wishes/dreams/desires are imposed on any child, you run a real risk of turning off a genius before they are actually ready to be turned on.
Please for the sake of the future musical genius, take real care here.
By all means introduce instruments and encourage your genius mini-me but please, be careful not to turn them off.
Better (for them) that they are always wanting more and nagging you than the other way around.
Yes, I know, it can be inconvenient and very trying but that’s why you are a parent right ;-)
Here’s some tips to help you and your beloved little musical genius.
Encourage any natural impulse to learn and explore and instrument. It’s an exploration, not necessarily a choice for life so lighten up and keep it easy for them.
Go with the flow. When they are motivated help them all you can. When they are not motivated, give them a break. Everyone needs space to move and come back to something.
Educate yourself and don’t be fooled by promises of learning an instrument overnight. It just doesn’t happen. That’s just hype and overselling and there are plenty of promises like that out there. Don’t be fooled.
Be real about the fact that learning any instrument takes practice and more practice. Allow natural development of dedication and committment. These will come with encouragement, small successes and a degree of freedom to explore. Neither of these can be forced without damaging long term results or interest in learning.
Understand that practice and coming to grips with a new instrument will have moments of huge frustration. This frustration can be one of the best fuels to propel them forward. Like any fuel it needs careful handling. Wear protective clothing and ear muffs :-)
By using your judicious encouragement (and your infinite parental wisdom) you can help them through frustrations. Don’t let their frustration become yours. It will only create a negative snowball and will more than likely run you over.
Buying a Guitar. Find one that suits the size of the child. Three quarter guitars (see photo) are a great way to start a child. There are a lot of new muscles to train so the best start is an smaller guitar. Listen for a nice sound and look for reasonable construction in the instrument. (I will expand on buying a guitar in a later post)
Buy a capo with the guitar and start learning chords on the fifth fret position. This helps untrained arms to relax more and not have to adjust suddenly to the discomfort of an outstretched arm plus the weight of the instrument itself. They are already having to deal with the strain of fingers to manage chords, so the more relief you give them at the beginning, the better.
Once they become comfortable with the chord positions higher up the neck of the guitar, move them to the third fret and then eventually down to the first position. This way the arm stretch distance increases gradually and avoids them giving up because they are trying to achieve too much at once with untrained muscles.
Don’t insist they learn music theory at the beginning. Let them have some fun by listening to songs they like and trying to copy them. This is fun and trains the ear. Encourage any songs with rhymes for small kids, they love it and it sticks with them.
Fun first, theory later. Introduce theory when they want it or they don’t realise that lack of it might be holding them back. This depends greatly on what they want to play. Simple songs don’t need much theory, if any. More complex arrangements can come later and some theory can be beneficial.
Practice these chords: C, A, G, E, D to begin with. These are the easiest shapes to finger for smaller hands. Don’t try and teach them the F chord. It’s a put off for small hands. Same with barr chords. They can come later once the body and fingers have had some training and the muscles are getting used to stretching.
It always helps if they have had some small successes to keep them motivated rather than being discouraged by trying things beyond their physical capability.
Allow them space and quiet time to practice. Make sure other family members respect this and leave them alone to their practice. Make space for a routine of practice. The best support for this is respecting their time alone.
Tread carefully with the temperament of the child. Don’t place a lot of pressure on your genius to perform for you or your dear old aunty/granny. Many geniuses are averse to this because they are sensitive souls.
You can inhibit a good thing by laying on too much pressure. It’s a turn off. They will more than likely perform when they are most comfortable with themselves and are given the freedom to offer their genius to you.
Do take your genius mini-me to live performances as often as you can. These can be a real inspiration. Variety is a great thing. I used to take my daughter to loads of live music performances. She has an amazing musical talent and is pursuing it on piano which she may not have been inspired to do otherwise. And heck, live shows are great for you too.
Remember learning to ride a bike? That’s what these kids are going through. Most established guitarists make it look easy. To begin with it’s not. Once they have some practice it will start to flow. As you know when you first started riding your bike, it takes time to get your body comfortable with things.
Now, when it comes time to get formal lessons, it’s a great idea to combine live lessons with online lessons.
Why?
Live lessons offer (hopefully) good examples and encouragement. Online a student can study anytime at all or wherever they have a computer. This can also help cut down a lot of the expenses and time costs of live lessons.
Live lessons may cost you $1000.00 per year or more. ($20 per lesson once a week) plus transport and your time etc.
You can get a full years or more online tuition for way less than $100.00. Or you can spend all day on youtube and learn anything you want for free. Some people do this, some enjoy structured tuition. It’s up to you.
For beginner lessons online, I highly recommend Jamorama. It’s very affordable and extremely well tested with over 80,000 happy students.
Click here for more info and start with some free guitar lessons
(yes, I will receive commission for this product if you buy it. However, this one actually over delivers, doesn’t over promise and it’s money back guaranteed). I have said before and I say again, I won’t risk this web sites future promoting rubbish for the sake of a sale.
Have you found this helpful ? Please do leave comments in the reply box below and stay tuned for future articles for kids and parents.
Enjoy !
Alan R
p.s. You also have 24/7 free access to a guitar tuner (and Bass guitar) plus a multi instrument tuning guide here
