Learning to play the guitar
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Didn't read your post and you basically gave the same message I did :thumbsup: (perhaps better :-D )
V.
(MQOTD rules and previous solutions)
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No not me, I'm too old. But my son wished for a guitar for his birthday, and we obliged. It's an el cheapo, in case the interest won't last, but still a real acoustic junior sized guitar. Now I'd like some tips on resources on how to learn playing the guitar, aimed for kids. All other hints are of course welcome as well, especially about tuning. I've tuned it like a full sized guitar, but I don't know if that's correct.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Get a good guitar tuner and use it regularly. There's nothing more disheartening than playing something and it doesn't sound right, just because the tuning is off slightly. And lessons, definitely lessons. You want someone who is looking to see that his technique isn't causing problems. For instance, getting the hand position right for fretting chords takes some practice. The angle you hold your hand has a real effect on how clean your chords are.
This space for rent
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No not me, I'm too old. But my son wished for a guitar for his birthday, and we obliged. It's an el cheapo, in case the interest won't last, but still a real acoustic junior sized guitar. Now I'd like some tips on resources on how to learn playing the guitar, aimed for kids. All other hints are of course welcome as well, especially about tuning. I've tuned it like a full sized guitar, but I don't know if that's correct.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
No not me, I'm too old. But my son wished for a guitar for his birthday, and we obliged. It's an el cheapo, in case the interest won't last, but still a real acoustic junior sized guitar. Now I'd like some tips on resources on how to learn playing the guitar, aimed for kids. All other hints are of course welcome as well, especially about tuning. I've tuned it like a full sized guitar, but I don't know if that's correct.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Get a tuner (there's Apps that are pretty good if you have phones or tablets to hand)and keep it in tune. Teach him to tune it 'manually' (standard tuning fret the low E on fret 5 and it should be the same as the next string (A) played open, etc. I would encourage a good teacher - be fussy and insist he just learns to play with no theory - it can take a bit of time to be able to knock out anything even halfway reasonable, so concentrating on that first is paramount for kids. Also a teacher enforces practice (although when I finally got my first guitar when I was about 14, I played until my fingers bled - couldn't keep me off it!) Learn Tabs not Music (unless he wants to go the classical route) There are loads of guitar tabs online Guitar Tab Pro is cheap and has millions of tabs - I'd recommend finding some simple ones of tunes he knows and might want to play and helping him learn them (or asking his teacher to help) Learning tunes he wants to play is much better than learning tunes the teacher might think he wants to play. If he practices his fingers will hurt. Keep practicing, they'll harden up. I really like rockSmith - plug in a real guitar and play like Guitar Hero. It actually does teach you to play - although I'm not sure what it would be like for a complete beginner. Don't let him give up. My sister and I gave up piano lessons. My brother didn't. He now earns more than all of us put together, and works doing what he loves - playing music. I wish my parents had forced me to continue (although at the time I really REALLY didn't!) Tuning - you should be fine with standard tuning on a small guitar - it means the strings will be looser and so less painful - great for a beginner. Finally, get him an electric, amp and effects pedals as soon as possible :)
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