Kid Guitars
Posts Tagged ‘guitars for children’
Helping to cultivate your child’s interests
It is my belief that one of the very most important aspects of encouraging children in any type of pursuit is to have worthy leaders to emulate. When my kids have shown interest in something, I have always encouraged them to look to leaders for inspiration and motivation. So when my young son picked up the electric guitar, I suggested that he listen to some of the pioneers.
We were both excited when we shopped around looking at various types of guitars for children. I will admit that I was a little nervous about the noise he would be creating. Luckily he developed an appreciation for the same guitarists that I love—not the heavy metal thrashers that I have never really cared for! In just a few months he has developed in to quite a good guitarist, I am so proud!!
In today’s tough economic times, many states are forced to make budget cuts, and school budgets are unfortunately part of those cuts. One of the first programs that are often cut in schools is the music program. Most people believe music education as expendable and not important compared to math, science, history and English, but the benefits of music education are more valuable than most people realize. Studies show multiple benefit of music education for children, (i.e. early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning and helps develop spatial intelligence). Studies also show that kids who study the arts do better on standardized tests, like the SAT, and achieve higher grades in high school overall.
If your child’s music program has been cut or reduced and they don’t have an opportunity to learn how to play an instrument in school, you will have to be proactive in order to ensure that your child still gets a musical education. You might decide to invest in a fun instrument that’s easy to learn how to play, like a guitar. There are plenty of guitars for children available to fit your child’s needs such as kids acoustic guitars and even electric guitars for kids. Kids can learn from group or individual instruction or can take lessons online. Your child will delight in his or her ability to play music on the guitar, and will reap the benefits of a musical education that they might not have access to at school.
While there’s no substitute for actual practice time when learning to play guitar, a beginning musician can also benefit from listening to professional guitarists. A good exercise for a beginner guitarist is to close their eyes and try and visualize exactly how a guitarist is playing their instrument at any given moment during the song. While listening to a piece of music it can be hard to believe that certain guitar effects are the result of time-tested techniques and not the result of some sort of studio wizardly or electronic trickery.
The palm mute, is a very subtle but yet essential skill for kids trying to master the guitar. It probably goes without saying but a child should not start with a full sized guitar and there are many different variations of guitars for children in which to choose. Finesse is very important when utilizing the palm mute because the picking hand needs to be used to muffle the strings while playing a particular chord simultaneously. The heel of the hand should rest lightly on every applicable string while the thumb and forefinger are used to pick as normal. This technique requires a lot of practice but is quite doable and will certainly add to a guitarist’ repertoire of skills.
Learning To Play The Kid’s Guitar With Both Hands
As a parent in today’s times, guitars for children come in many shapes and sizes giving parents much to choose from. 
When children are just learning to play guitar, many kids have a hard time focusing on what to do with both hands while playing. The ability to multitask effectively comes with practice; in the beginning, it’s best to tell children not to strum. Your child’s attention will be focused on fingering the fretboard.
The role of the right hand is slightly more complicated than that and more important than it might appear. In addition to strumming, the right hand needs to operate as a sort of metronome, keeping time with each upward and downward strum on the strings. If this motion stops for any length of time during the course of a chord change, all timing will be thrown off.
Ever since I was 8 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 own son is eleven, he is beginning to ask me when he will be able to play and what type of instrument will he be allowed to play? I think that I have the ‘perfect’ kids guitar for my boy! This guitar has stood the test of time despite all the variety of guitars for children available today.
Before I impart one of my most cherished possessions, I want to be sure that it will be properly taken care of. It’s not that I don’t trust my son, but I know that children’s things have a tendency to take a good deal of wear and tear so I’ve decided to also look into some guitar cases for kids before I hand it down
Playing acoustic and electric guitar has been an American pastime for many years. Our family has enjoyed the guitar for several generations and so it is no surprise that our young daughter has requested an acoustic guitar for Christmas. I am very happy and because she is only six years old we have begun looking at guitars for children online. I am sure we will not have too much difficulty since we have many contacts in our area who will point us in the direction of some good kids acoustic guitars. I believe we have something pretty much picked out and we will probably have to special order it in order to have it arrive by Christmas day!
My father played both guitar and banjo while I was a growing up. Both my brother and I have played guitar throughout our lives and now my nephew plays acoustic and electric guitar in a band. My brother played lead guitar in a really ‘hot’ band back in the day! I am happy that my daughter wants to play and I believe that it will inspire me even more to play. I am very excited for Christmas!
Christmas day seems far away but will be here before we know it and we need to be ready with gifts and cards for our loved ones including the right amount of toys for our son. We are thinking of getting him an acoustic guitar as he is fascinated with this instrument like his Daddy. We know how much he enjoys talking about guitars in general and so we have started looking at acoustic guitars for children. We have bookmarked some great websites on the internet and know that we need to order soon. We also want to purchase some learn to play guitar DVD’s and books that seem like they would be very helpful for him.
Every year we rack our brains for the perfect gifts that we know our loved ones and son will really love. I think that overall we do pretty well and I really think a childrens acoustic guitar will be a hit! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2011!
Giving up the guitar has always been one of my biggest regrets in life. I started playing the instrument in junior high school and kept going right up through college, when life got in the way. My first job out of college was so demanding that I had to budget my free time very carefully. In order to spend time with my fiancée, the guitar-playing habit had to go. Fortunately, I have the chance to reconnect with my precious guitar vicariously through my son.
He just turned 11 and has been clamoring for an electric guitar for several months now. With Christmas right around the corner, there is no question about what present to get him; all I have to do is look at guitars for children suitable for a beginner. After mulling over the advantages of electric vs. acoustic models, I have decided to get him a kids electric guitar. Most of his favorite bands play electric, so I believe he will be more motivated if he can emulate his heroes, I look forward to his reaction on Christmas day!!
Halloween Is today and my kid wants to be none other than a ‘rocker’ for trick or treat tonight. This is really not a surprise since being a ‘Rock God’ has been on his radar for some time now. Last spring we began talking about guitars for children knowing that our son would just ‘keel over and die’ if he got a childrens electric guitar for his birthday. Not surprisingly, I don’t think he has ever been happier about any other gift he’s ever received from us!! We are able to use his guitar playing as leverage to get him to complete other chores such as completing homework assignments and keeping his room clean.
We will allow him to dress as a ‘rocker’ tonight provided that he bring the guitar only to one or two homes, (people that are dear friends of ours). This will be exciting for him as he will give both my husband and I and his grandparents a little concert in his full garb after he is done trick or treating! Happy Halloween everyone!
My daughter has been a musical enthusiast before she could talk. She would bang on the side of her crib in a very succinct rhythm as a toddler and then as she got older would tap the table and make an attempt to strum a book or a magazine or even a tennis racquet! When she turned seven I knew what we had to get her for his birthday, a kids electric guitar! My husband, (having witnessed her musical ability since birth), was in immediate agreement! We had fun looking at all the guitars for children available online!
My daughter’s birthday was quite a success. She is in heaven andLOVES this particular kids guitar and would play morning, noon and night if we let her! We want to support her interests and I don’t know if being a musician is her future per se but I am glad that she is enjoying it so much right now!