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What is the right age to start to play guitar?


Doth

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Last Easter, I visited my brother's family. My brother has two kids, his son is five and his daughter is three. I brought my Epi Boneyard Les Paul with a micro cube, and my USA Ovation Legacy 12 string. The electric is always fun, but he really liked the sound of the acoustic.

 

I had him sit with me and taught him how to strum and I worked the chords for him. He had great rhythm and kept time fairly well. Of course, it wasn't any fancy strum pattern, but he did well.

 

His birthday is coming up, and I called him to get an idea of what he wanted. He said that he remembered sitting with me and playing guitar, so he wanted either a guitar or a drum set (imagine how mad my brother would be if I bought drums!).

 

So, I went off to the local guitar shop to check out the acoustics, specifically looking for a small scale Epi, but I couldn't find one. I ended up with a 1/2 scale Applause with the composite back, should stand up well to abuse. Later in the weekend, I was speaking with my mother-in-law and she said it was crazy to buy him a guitar for his sixth birthday, that he is too young to learn.

 

I learned guitar when I was 19 (almost 20 years ago), so I might not have the right perspective. But I was curious what everyone else thought is a good age to learn guitar.

 

Doth

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By all means, buy him the guitar! You said he is musical and he loved playing your guitar. 6 is definitely not too young, in fact people learn quicker and easier at a young age than later in life. And I've heard of kids who improved in school because the logic and structure they learned in music helped them understand math better!

 

I would suggest though that he gets some good lessons to go with that guitar. ](*,)

 

Oh and speaking of young... Mozart composed his first work at age 5. He played the harpsichord at age 3 and a year later he could play violin too.

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give it to him. both my boys are taken lessons for instruments. 5 and 7 years old. there are a lot of great instructors out there, who have great patience with kids. both boys love it and are doing very well.

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I think the proper age is determined by the child and their willingness to learn. My daughter is 6 and shows interest in the intruments, but I cant get her to really do the learning part for more than about 3 minutes. So, in my case, she's not quite old enough to spend good money for a guitar.

Of course, that didnt stop me from giving her one of my old guitars to play around with until the time is right.

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Agree with above. Appropriate age is the age when they show interest or at least willingness to learn to play. If they don't want to play, forcing them to do so may be counter productive. OTOH, don't not start them just 'cause you think they're too young. JMO.

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He said that he remembered sitting with me and playing guitar' date=' so he wanted either a guitar or a drum set (imagine how mad my brother would be if I bought drums!).

 

...Later in the weekend, I was speaking with my mother-in-law and she said it was crazy to buy him a guitar for his sixth birthday, that he is too young to learn.

 

I learned guitar when I was 19 (almost 20 years ago), so I might not have the right perspective. But I was curious what everyone else thought is a good age to learn guitar.

 

Doth[/quote']

 

No, he's not too young. The biggest problem will be attention span, not learning.

(if she think he can't figure it out, sit them both in front of a computer and see who can do what) :-s

 

I wanted to learn guitar many years ago, but my parents were of the "no noisemakers like that in the house"

Then I moved out, got distracted with (life) and pretty much lost the idea in the depths.

 

But 20+ years later, the bug bit me again, and I'm wishing I would have started soon after I left home.

 

I bought my GF's daughter (at daughters request) an electric @ 11y.o.

 

Like her, he may play for a while, then not touch it for months, then decide to start again. More than once.

 

In that regard, I would say to you not to get too disappointed if/when he puts it down for a while for another distraction. (It drove me insane for a while, but I got over it)

 

But, Her interest was rekindled as she has heard me improve.

 

Drums? Let him try RockBand first ](*,)

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I think Beethoven started playing piano at 4.

 

IMHO it is never too early as long as the child is having fun with it.

 

Skills learned at an early age really help an adult.

 

I say go for it, and make sure that he has a teacher or coach that keeps it fun for him. Speed learning is not nearly as important at that age as keeping the interest up is. After all, they call it playing music for a reason.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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I don't know about guitar as whole, but I AM a psychologist and a martial arts instructor.

 

I advise parents that anything 5 years and above is acceptable. There are anolamies, but this tends to be the rule. Children are still gaining and learning a lot of motor functions at that age... still trying to put things together and really get a feel for performing actions without consciously thinking about it. Does the child become easily frustrated or downhearted if they don't get something right off the bat? Tons of positive reinforcement at that age is a MUST.

 

The other major factor is keeping one's attention. It is definitely much harder for children to focus. I've found that in my instruction it helps to do something flashy or something really grand in their eyes. It helps to get that WOW!! factor going. From there, set little goals at a time that they can accomplish with a touch of practice, and that really helps to keep their attention and keeps them excited and wanting to learn something new.

 

I think your nephew is at just about the right age to begin. He's working with a clean slate for a brain (so to speak), and doesn't already have preconceived notions or bad habits to contend with, as I'm afraid will be the case for me as I begin my first set of guitar lessons next week.

 

Just my two cents. To coin Dennis Miller, "But that's just MY opinion, I could be wrong." :)

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I do agree with everyone to a certain point. If your brother's son WANTS to learn to play guitar, it is never to early. However, as a general rule I don't give lessons to kids younger than 10. I'm sure to get blasted for this, but this is why.

 

I have given a lot of kids lessons throughout the years. The main reason I say 10 is because all of the kids I have given lessons to in the 5-8 year range have lost interest fairly quickly and quit practicing. They started out with good intentions but realized there is more to being a rock star than buying a guitar and amp. This can be frustrating on both the student and the teacher. The student wants to learn new material, but they don't know what has been taught them in previous lessons well enough to progress. As a teacher it is also frustrating. I feel guilty taking money to teach someone that I know is really not benefiting from the lessons. Parents ask how their child is doing, and I can't lie. At a certain point I have to tell them that I can tell that their child isn't practicing, and without practicing lessons do no good. Lessons today aren't cheap either.

 

No doubt there are prodigies. But Beethoven's and Tommy Emmanuel's are few and far between. Again, if your grand daughter really wants to learn, then go for it by all means. However, if it is something you want for her it may not work out as well as you hope. The students that I have taught that have been successful were the ones that really had a desire to play guitar, not their parent's desire. I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic.

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