Is My Child Ready to Learn Guitar?
Parents often ask what is the right age to start learning guitar? Is my child ready? While it would be great to just give an age and be done with it, we all know, kids don’t develop that way. They are changing every day and what is developmentally appropriate for one child may not be appropriate for another child born on the same day. So doing an evaluation of the individual child is key. Here are the few key developmental factors we need to see to know your child is ready to start learning guitar.
Fine Motor Skills
Sometimes people wonder if a kid is "big enough" to play guitar. However, the key physical factor is not size, it's actually fine motor skills. Specifically, the ability to intentionally touch a finger to the thumb in each hand. Say, “touch your pointer finger to your thumb, now the middle, now the ring, now the pinky”. The fingers should mostly move on their own, but a little sympathetic movement in other fingers is normal, especially since the ring finger and pinky share a tendon.
The important thing here is that they can intentionally select and move a finger without just clamping open and closed all of the fingers. If your child can do this, they are ready for the mechanics of playing a guitar.
It’s worth pointing out that this is a developmental skill, meaning that if your child doesn’t nail it the first time, that doesn’t really mean anything about their future as a musician. You can turn this into a game and watch them develop the skill over time.
The important thing here is that they can intentionally select and move a finger without just clamping open and closed all of the fingers. If your child can do this, they are ready for the mechanics of playing a guitar.
It’s worth pointing out that this is a developmental skill, meaning that if your child doesn’t nail it the first time, that doesn’t really mean anything about their future as a musician. You can turn this into a game and watch them develop the skill over time.
Strength
Kids also need to be able to press and hold down the strings with their left hand fingers. This is the most important factor influencing their ability to get a good tone.
To test this simple have them hold a playing card between their middle finger and thumb. Try to pull the card away from them, not snatch it like your life depends on it, but pull with intention and count 1,2,3. If your child can retain resistance for three seconds, they have the strength to get a note out cleanly.
To test this simple have them hold a playing card between their middle finger and thumb. Try to pull the card away from them, not snatch it like your life depends on it, but pull with intention and count 1,2,3. If your child can retain resistance for three seconds, they have the strength to get a note out cleanly.
Attention Span and Working Memory
We also want to ensure that your child has the attention span required to progress without getting frustrated. We are most interested in working memory. To learn techniques and songs, students need to be able to hold a few things in their mind and focus their attention in short bursts. Early lessons in Awesome Guitar for Kids are designed to keep the number of things kids have to keep in their mind at one time very low.
To see if your child has the attention span required you can play the following little game:
To see if your child has the attention span required you can play the following little game:
- Begin with the finger test above.
- Move your fingers in a seemingly mixed-up order, say- middle finger then ring finger then middle finger again- and ask your child to repeat what you just did.
- Add an additional step, say-middle finger, ring finger, middle finger, pointer finger.
- Keep going until they make a mistake or you reach seven.
If you child can consistently get to five in this game they are good to go.
Symbolic Awareness
As your child is learning to play an instrument, some form of symbolic notation will be introduced. Here’s the good news, music notation is actually much simpler and more concrete than written language. So the notion that kids need to be able to read before the start an instrument is false. What matters is that the child has an awareness of symbols and that they communicate information.
To find out if your child is ready for this, just ask them to identify different types of signs around town: stop sign, yield, crosswalk. If your child is able to understand and point those out, they can begin some form of musical notation.
To find out if your child is ready for this, just ask them to identify different types of signs around town: stop sign, yield, crosswalk. If your child is able to understand and point those out, they can begin some form of musical notation.
Physical Size
I have seen on some websites where teachers recommend students not start when they are “too small” because the guitar won’t fit them. This is completely backwards.
We fit the guitar to the child, not the child to the guitar.
Guitars come in sizes to fit virtually all young guitarists, so the size of your child should not influence your decision to start an instrument. Check out our sizing guide to make sure that you get the right instrument for your child.
We fit the guitar to the child, not the child to the guitar.
Guitars come in sizes to fit virtually all young guitarists, so the size of your child should not influence your decision to start an instrument. Check out our sizing guide to make sure that you get the right instrument for your child.
Check the Method
If your child is able to complete all of the above tasks, they are ready to start learning guitar!
But keep in mind that the way in which your child will be learning has a huge impact on their success. As we saw above there are a number of physical and cognitive skills needed to learn the guitar, and while kids will develop these through their study, it is vitally important to have a guitar method that accounts for the fact that these skills are developing. Guitar methods that have unrealistic expectations of a child's working memory, fine motor skills, and symbolic awareness will only lead to frustration. I designed the Awesome Guitar for Kids method after discovering that I couldn’t quite find a guitar method that really worked for young beginners.
But keep in mind that the way in which your child will be learning has a huge impact on their success. As we saw above there are a number of physical and cognitive skills needed to learn the guitar, and while kids will develop these through their study, it is vitally important to have a guitar method that accounts for the fact that these skills are developing. Guitar methods that have unrealistic expectations of a child's working memory, fine motor skills, and symbolic awareness will only lead to frustration. I designed the Awesome Guitar for Kids method after discovering that I couldn’t quite find a guitar method that really worked for young beginners.
Your Role as Parent
As a parent, you will play a vital role in the process. In fact, I recommend that parents attend lessons with children up until the age of eight, since my assumption is that they will be the ones supporting the student as they practice at home. You are also the keeper of positive vibes. So if you do the assessment above, and find that they are not ready. Don’t fret, your child is literally developing every single day. You can come back to various tasks and check in on their development, but you don’t need to design some guitar-ready training plan. This all will come in time. The worst thing you can do is introduce a lot of expectations and anxiety around learning an instrument. I know this is hard advice to follow, but I’ve seen with my own kids that with some of these developmental things it’s just a matter of time.
