Kid Guitars
Archive for October, 2009
Those who don’t know any better might associate the word “slur” with the incoherent ramblings of someone who’s had too much to drink. To the seasoned musician, however, the word has an entirely different connotation. Slurring is a technique used by classical guitar players; it’s basically the same as what an electric guitarist would call hammer-ons and pull-offs.
The technique can be performed easily on kids guitars; like anything else, it just requires some practice to perfect. To perform a hammer-on, the fretting fingers should be holding a note after a single pick. Then, without a second pick, a few fingers are used to slap out the next note on a higher fret. Pull-offs are achieved by literally pulling a few fretting fingers off the fretboard to reveal a lower note that’s already being held by a single finger.
“I don’t want to work, I just want to bang on the drums all day!” If there is any song verse that sums up my son’s approach to life any better, I want to see it! Kevin, my ten year old son has expressed an interest in the drums for many years. He started his “career’ early when we purchased a toy drum for him when he was just three years old. When he wore this out, we bought him another one! When Kevin turned nine last year we stepped it up a notch and bought him a kids drum set. He just LOVES this and we have to monitor his practice time so the rest of the family can have some sanity!
As a concerned parent I have been very pleased with the quality of kids instruments that I have been able to find online. We saw many well made and affordable kids drum sets that seemed perfect for Kevin. So once Kevin wears out his current drum set, we will have plenty more to choose from!
As the saying goes, someone’s trash is another one’s treasure. Nothing could hold more truth than this statement about our family. My son Jacob seems to most to be the perfect child. He gets good grades, is popular in school and is a star athlete. He has never had a strong interest in the arts. Genevieve is somewhat shy and awkward around others. She struggles to be a good student and is a HUGE fan of the arts and you will probably never find Genevieve on a sports team. Jacob and Genevieve are SO different that it is very difficult for them to find common ground. As a parent it hasn’t always been easy to convince either one that their sibling does have legitimate hobbies and interests.
As we get closer to Christmas, I again will be shopping for very different Christmas gifts for my family. Jacob will want more games for his Xbox and Gen will want things that will help her “budding” music career. She loves country music and has let me know that she would like acoustic guitar lessons and wants me to buy her a kids acoustic guitar. So I will begin pricing some quality kids guitars! I guess as a parent having well adjusted, happy kids is the best you can hope for!
Plucking a guitar is the sort of precise, deliberate activity that looks incredibly simple when a professional does it. That owes to hours and hours of practice, of course, and it would behoove a child to learn the ins and outs of plucking technique. While many musical terms come from the Italians, the applicable plucking terms we’ll learn today are actually drawn from Spanish flamenco style.
First is the rest stroke, or apoyando, which requires that the finger first plucks a childrens guitar string before resting the string immediately above it. The other widely used plucking technique is the straightforward free stroke, or tirando, which requires a simple pluck and nothing more. Plucking should be performed in one fluid motion, beginning with the fleshy part of the fingertip and allowing the string to bend slightly as one brushes through with the nail.
I am a concerned father and a single parent. I love my children immensely and would do anything to see them smile. It’s been hard at times as my kids don’t have a mother in their lives but we all care enough about each other to see anything through. My daughter Olivia suffers from depression. I believe that she has inherited this from both her mother and I. I have been in my own therapy off and on throughout the years and recently found a good competent therapist for Olivia. At a recent session that included Olivia and myself the therapist recommended that Olivia pursue a hobby as part of her treatment. I have been trying to get Olivia to do this for years but I think she is now more receptive to the idea since her therapist suggested it as well.
Olivia knows that my therapy has often been music as I have played acoustic and electric guitar in various bands and solo acts over the years. I can’t believe we never thought of this before but Olivia also seems to have inherited my interest in the guitar. She just informed me that she would like to play the guitar as a hobby like me. I am thrilled and will begin looking specifically at guitars for children. Olivia says she wants to play the kids electric guitar and I believe she may have a secret fantasy of becoming the next Hannah Montana. So, it looks like I will try to focus on electric guitars for children. Wish me luck!
Even before a drummer tunes his percussive instrument or even acquires a drum set in the first place, it’s possible for her to practice. That’s because quality drumming calls for proper playing posture. Children can benefit from the pesky advice their mothers and fathers are always giving them at the dinner table: “Sit up straight.” Playing with a slouch puts a drummer at a rhythmic disadvantage, and it can even cause harm to the lower back over time.
In fact, the dinner table is the perfect place to practice this critical drumming technique. Before the child receives a set of kids drums, tell her to straighten her back and pretend that her knife and fork are the drum sticks. Just make sure that she doesn’t start striking the fine china with said sticks. You can also encourage her to watch drummers in music videos and stage performances; they almost always demonstrate perfect posture.
My friend Bobby got the coolest birthday gift! He is my best friend and we hang out most days after school. He got a new guitar. Now he is letting me play and I love it! I just told my parents about it and they say not this year, we can’t afford it. Bobby says that his parents got it somewhere on sale. My mom says that I need to forget about it because it’s not going to happen, I’m not going to get a guitar.
I just came home from Bobby’s house. We were playing the guitar and then Bobby went online and found the website that his parents bought the guitar from. I hope that my parents will change their minds and see that guitars for children are not that expensive. I guess I’ll have to save my allowance because if I really want a kids guitar, I’ll have to be the one to get it!
I am so glad that there are programs and schools out there that encourage children to explore musical instruments and learn self discipline. What is even better is that now there are many different types of kids instruments available. I was talking to my good friend Kent who has kids. He has gotten them started early in their musical careers. Kent’s oldest daughter now plays violin and just competed at the state level. Kent says that his younger son Sam wants to play the electric guitar. Kent told me about an unbelievable selection of kids electric guitars in stores and online. He said that right now he is pricing guitars for Sam and is in search of the perfect kids electric guitar.
I am not a parent but I do love children. I am fortunate to have nieces and nephews and seeing what Kent has done for his kids inspires me to want to help my nieces and nephews. My nephew Scott seems to really like the drums and I may talk to his parents about getting him a kids drum set. I think kids instruments are a better Christmas gift than some of the electronics kids get today. Children today need more outlets to explore their creativity
Christmas and Hanukkah are around the corner and our family celebrates both. Our kids of course love it because it means all the more gifts for them. We tend to spoil our kids during the holiday season and despite the economy, this year is no exception. We don’t necessarily buy less, we just buy smarter. Our 2 sons Gregory and Chad LOVE rock music and are huge fans of the Jonas Brothers! We support this interest and even want to help them pursue their budding music career! Of course they are both saying that they want to be lead singers playing lead guitar. They don’t seem to understand that you can’t have all chiefs and no Indians,
I do look forward to shopping this year. I must confess that I have always “secretly” wanted to be a rock star so I am looking forward to “living vicariously” through my boys. As we look for electric guitars for kids, I may also want to search for my own. Who knows, maybe there is a rock band in our family’s future! My wife and my boys however might not share this fantasy but a man can always dream!
I said to my nine year old daughter Rebecca “what do you want from Santa Claus this year?” I expected her to say Barbie dolls, Webkinz, an MP3 player, but no she said that she wanted a guitar. I thought “ Wow! I wasn’t expecting that!” My husband and I have always loved acoustic and classical guitar music and so I guess this isn’t a “total” stretch for us. So if Rebecca decides to follow this interest further then this might be something that the whole family can share.
So now my husband and I are going to begin to search for beginner acoustic guitars. I think that this will be a fun venture for us and I really can’t wait for Santa to give this special gift and put a smile on Rebecca’s face. I think we will also look for a childrens guitar case so Rebecca can feel like a real professional with her acoustic guitar!