Kid Guitars
Archive for the ‘Discount Children's Guitars’ Category
Ever since I was 11 years old I’ve had a passion for playing the guitar. While I have gone through countless instruments during my playing career, I’ve kept some of my favorite models to pass along to my children. Now that my daughter is eight, she is beginning to inquire as to when she will be allowed to pick up an instrument.
Before I impart some of my most cherished possessions, I want to be sure that they will be properly taken care of. It’s not that I don’t trust her, but I know that children’s things have a tendency to take a good deal of wear and tear. I’ve decided to give her one of my first guitars for her next birthday, although I will look into some guitar cases for kids before I hand it down.
Sometimes I feel like my parents when I carp on my children for not taking care of their things and recognizing the value of a dollar. A prime example of this is with my daughter; we bought her a guitar for Christmas and I have already found it lying around the house several times. She even had to replace several broken strings after her little brother tried the instrument
Since her grandparents gave her money for Christmas, my husband and I decided to mandate that the funds would have to be spent on a childrens guitar case. While she obviously was opposed to the idea, we know that she will be thankful when the case inevitably prolongs the life of the instrument
Exploring the Guitar beyond Rock and Roll
The electric guitar is inextricably linked to rock and roll music, and it’s really no wonder why. From the time Bob Dylan “plugged in” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, people came to associate acoustic guitars with a soothing, folksy sound and electrics with a loud, uproarious rock aesthetic. As always, there are exceptions to this rule. Chet Atkins was one of the most famous and accomplished country performers of all time, and he used the electric guitar to make his name.
Atkins practically trademarked the clean, crisp and confident country-western guitar tone that became a staple of country music. Rather than disguising his skillful playing behind a wall of distortion, Atkins put his talent out in the open for all to see. He dared his fans and competitors to emulate his playing style. It’s important to recognize that a kids electric guitar is a versatile instrument; by playing nothing but loud rock music, you’re creating unnecessary limitations.
Traditionally, guitar players have stuck to one of two schools of picking: finger picking or relying on a plastic pick. Using a pick is relatively simple, as strumming with it just requires that the guitar player lets her arms fall straight down and through the strings quickly. However, it’s not strictly necessary for guitarists to choose one form of picking over another.
By learning the art of hybrid picking, guitarists master two distinct styles and increase their versatility in the process. To do this, you must hold a flat pick between your thumb and index finger as you normally would when playing kids guitars. The other fingers should be kept loose. You can use your middle, ring and pinkie fingers to strum while keeping the flat pick firmly clenched in your hand.
Rod Stewart performed the bulk of his first American concert from behind the safety of a stack of speakers. The Band wrote a song called “Stage Fright” even as some of their members were experiencing it first hand. In short, children aren’t the only ones who deal with . Just like any other phobia, it can be overcome through practice and positive thinking.
The best remedy for stage fright is to know the material backwards and forward. That way, when the lights are dimmed and all eyes are trained on you and your childrens electric guitars, you can leave the work to your muscle memory. Problems might creep in if you are forced to think too much about what you’re doing. Try to live right in the moment without thinking about your surroundings.
Although I was a rebellious youth once in my own right, it wasn’t until having a son of my own that I realized how hard intergenerational communication can be. My old man had specific ideas about what was best for me; he wanted me to continue in the family trade as a welder. I had other plans, of course, and we resolved over time that I would be going to college to study medicine.
My son is barely 12 years old and he’s dead set on becoming a musician. Normally I would dismiss the idea as a flight of fancy – just a pipe dream like that of so many other children. But then he told me about how he doesn’t care about the fame or the fortune. He’s in it for the pure joy of playing the childrens guitar. It surprised me that he had already thought about becoming a studio musician or just touring around the country with friends. Although he might change his mind about his future career, his arguments are fairly convincing.
As any guitar player knows, the first few weeks are the toughest. It takes will, determination and discipline to keep progressing forward with the instrument when all signs point to the fact that you’re no good. In reality, not even the most naturally talented guitarist is any good after just a few sessions. There’s even some evidence to suggest that the Beatles were a lousy bar band until they put in thousands of hours of rehearsal time.
In his recent book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell studies those successful individuals who amass great wealth and fame beyond most people’s imagination. Gladwell asserts that people such as Bill Gates and the Beatles are not merely geniuses who would succeed under any circumstances. Instead, he posits that they arrived at great heights by practicing their skills for hours and hours on end. Gates spent months tinkering with computers in his garage and the Beatles played to empty barrooms in Germany for several years. This theory should serve as an inspiration for kids – convincing them not to put down their childrens guitar so soon.
Although there’s no substitute for hands-on guitar practice, students of the instrument can also benefit from listening to professional musicians. Close your eyes and try to visualize exactly what a guitarist is doing at any given moment during the song. In some cases, it’s difficult to believe that a guitar effect is the result of time-tested technique and not some studio wizardry or electronic trickery.
Such is the case with the palm mute, a subtle yet essential skill for any child trying to master kids guitars. The palm mute is all about finesse, as the picking hand should be used to muffle the strings while also playing a particular chord. The heel of the hand should rest lightly on every applicable string while the thumb and forefinger are used to pick as normal. Practice this technique carefully before bringing it out in a live performance setting.
When kids pick up an electric guitar for the first time, they often harbor unrealistic expectations. When my brother gave me his hand-me-down Fender back in the late ’80s, I wanted to be just like my heroes Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young. Little did I know that they were two of the most technically proficient ax-wielders of all time and that I would be better off just learning the basics.
Over time I learned how to execute a few of Young and Van Halen’s go-to guitar tricks, including the vibrato, the pull-off, the slide, and the hammer-on. All of these techniques and more are put on display in Van Halen’s guitar rock showcase “Eruption.” By the time I graduated high school, I had worn out my copy of Van Halen I and gone through at least three kids electric guitars.
While it’s true that strumming and picking individual notes are the most popular ingredients in any great guitar song, there are plenty of additional techniques that serve to spice up the end result. Rock and roll is at least 90 percent pageantry, and there’s no reason why a kid shouldn’t start showing off on guitar at an early age. Finger tapping is a technique that not only livens up the guitar’s sonic possibilities but adds interesting visual appeal as well.
Finger tapping can be performed on childrens electric guitars by using the fingertips from the picking hand to tap on and pull off of strings on the fretboard. As one might suspect, this technique requires accuracy, precision and authority. If the guitarist doesn’t strike the string dead-center with enough force, only a lame, muffled sound will result. Try cranking up the distortion to make the effect even more noticeable.