Getting the Right Guitar for Your Child
Buying a first guitar for your child can be daunting. With the wide variety of guitars available at retailers ranging from Costco to high-end music stores, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.
Here are some tips to make it easier:
Here are some tips to make it easier:
1. Don't Get the Box Store Guitar
There are a number of places to get a guitar. But as tempting as it is to throw a guitar in your cart the next time you’re at Target, keep in mind that the quality of these instruments can be pretty questionable, and in most box stores you will have to buy the guitar without ever playing it.
Guitars are musical instruments and they need to be set up and adjusted.
It is common for out-of-the-box guitars to have poor playing action or even broken strings. Not a great way to start. The same is true for large mail-order retailers.
Your community might have a music or guitar store. Visiting a dedicated music store has the following advantages:
Guitars are musical instruments and they need to be set up and adjusted.
It is common for out-of-the-box guitars to have poor playing action or even broken strings. Not a great way to start. The same is true for large mail-order retailers.
Your community might have a music or guitar store. Visiting a dedicated music store has the following advantages:
- Wider selection of sizes and styles
- The chance to try out an instrument before you buy it
- Getting the guitar properly set-up
Of course, these advantages do come with a price, with most music stores selling kids guitars for $150-$200. Before going into the store, you should have a good idea of what you want. Sales people at music stores (especially that big box guitar store) are pretty passionate about their wares and have a tendency to upsell. While higher end guitars feature details that are important to experienced players, a beginner is best served by a simple, quality instrument.
2. Get the Right Size Guitar for Your Child
In general, guitar sizing looks like this:
- 4–7-year-olds use quarter or half size guitars depending on their size
- 8-11-year-olds use three-quarter size guitars
- 11 and up use three-quarter or full sized guitar
Of course, you’re a parent, so you know age-based sizing is pretty useless. What really matters is not how old your kid is, but where the guitar sits on their body and how far they can comfortably reach with their left hand.
Sitting down, have your child rest the guitar on their right thigh with the fingerboard pointing to the left. From here they should be able to comfortably grab the top of the headstock with their left hand without straightening the arm at the elbow. With the guitar resting on your child’s leg, the top of the guitar should be at chest level without them hunching.
This guitar is too big! It sits to high on the chest and the child has to reach far with his left hand to grab the headstock.
This guitar is too small! The child has to hunch to stabilize it with his arm and the left hand can reach much farther than the headstock
This guitar is just right! The right arm is comfortably stabilizing the guitar and the left hand easily reaches the headstock.
3. Acoustic Is Better for Beginners
I am going to lose all of my cool points here, but kids don’t need electric guitars to start out.
In fact, there are a lot of reasons, beyond the cost, to start out with an acoustic guitar:
In fact, there are a lot of reasons, beyond the cost, to start out with an acoustic guitar:
- You don’t need an amp or cords-this save money and time searching messy rooms
- Electric guitars are heavy; they’re solid chunks of wood. Whether sitting or standing, a lot of children have a hard time holding them for extended periods of time.
- Acoustic guitars force you to learn good tone production techniques. When you play an acoustic guitar you are in total control of the tone. There is nowhere to hide on an acoustic guitar, you have to learn to produce a good tone.
- Starting on acoustic gives you, the parent, future leverage. “If you practice four days every week until your birthday, then we can talk about an electric guitar”
Be advised: The second you walk into the guitar store and tell them you are looking for a first guitar for your child, the sales staff will want to point you in the direction of a beginning electric guitar pack.
Don’t buy it!
These kits often have low-quality instruments, amplifiers, and accessories. You would be better off taking the money you would spend on the starter kit and spending it on a quality acoustic guitar.
One choice you do have to make with acoustic guitars is whether to get a nylon string or steel string guitar. Nylon strings are a little easier on little fingers. That being said, most kids don’t have any problem with steel strings after a few days. You should also be aware that many nylon string guitars (often called classical guitars) have a slightly different neck which may be a little harder for small hands initially. Still as long as the guitar is setup properly (more on that in the next section) either type of string is fine.
One important note: There is a significant difference in tension between nylon and steel strings, so it is not a good idea to put mismatch strings to the guitar-type.
Don’t buy it!
These kits often have low-quality instruments, amplifiers, and accessories. You would be better off taking the money you would spend on the starter kit and spending it on a quality acoustic guitar.
One choice you do have to make with acoustic guitars is whether to get a nylon string or steel string guitar. Nylon strings are a little easier on little fingers. That being said, most kids don’t have any problem with steel strings after a few days. You should also be aware that many nylon string guitars (often called classical guitars) have a slightly different neck which may be a little harder for small hands initially. Still as long as the guitar is setup properly (more on that in the next section) either type of string is fine.
One important note: There is a significant difference in tension between nylon and steel strings, so it is not a good idea to put mismatch strings to the guitar-type.
4. How About Grandma's Old Guitar?
If you look around long enough, most families have a Grandma's Guitar.
You know the one--it's in an attic or hanging on a wall as decoration, it has some rusty stings, and smells a little funny. While this could be a great opportunity to carry on a family tradition, there are some things you need to be aware of:
Size: Before you sign off on Grandma's guitar be sure to follow the sizing information above, if your child has the wrong-sized guitar, they will not get very far.
Set-up: Take the guitar to a guitar shop and have it properly set-up, if they tell you this can't be done given the condition of the instrument, believe them. The last thing you want when starting on a challenging new adventure like playing the guitar is equipment that makes it impossible to be successful.
That being said used guitars are a great option, so long as they are set up properly.
You know the one--it's in an attic or hanging on a wall as decoration, it has some rusty stings, and smells a little funny. While this could be a great opportunity to carry on a family tradition, there are some things you need to be aware of:
Size: Before you sign off on Grandma's guitar be sure to follow the sizing information above, if your child has the wrong-sized guitar, they will not get very far.
Set-up: Take the guitar to a guitar shop and have it properly set-up, if they tell you this can't be done given the condition of the instrument, believe them. The last thing you want when starting on a challenging new adventure like playing the guitar is equipment that makes it impossible to be successful.
That being said used guitars are a great option, so long as they are set up properly.
5. A Note On (Left or Right) Handedness
I am about to say something that will likely get me some hate mail:
Handedness in guitar playing is probably not a big thing.
But there are so many well-known left-handed guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, and Dick Dale, you say. That is true, but there are just as many well-known guitarists that are left-handed and play right-handed guitars: Duane Allman, Mark Knopfler, and Paul Simon.
Guitar and bass guitar are the only string instruments that seem to have this handedness distinction, probably because some of those previously mentioned southpaws are guitar gods. As you will discover over the course of our study, flexibility, strength, and agility are required in both hands to play the guitar well.
I am a lefty who plays a right-handed guitar, mainly because that was what was available to me growing up and coming from playing the cello (try finding a left-handed cello!). So I highly recommend starting “right-handed”. If you choose to go left-handed, know that you will have a much harder time finding a quality instrument and it will make learning more complicated as you will have to reverse all directions in your head.
Handedness in guitar playing is probably not a big thing.
But there are so many well-known left-handed guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, and Dick Dale, you say. That is true, but there are just as many well-known guitarists that are left-handed and play right-handed guitars: Duane Allman, Mark Knopfler, and Paul Simon.
Guitar and bass guitar are the only string instruments that seem to have this handedness distinction, probably because some of those previously mentioned southpaws are guitar gods. As you will discover over the course of our study, flexibility, strength, and agility are required in both hands to play the guitar well.
I am a lefty who plays a right-handed guitar, mainly because that was what was available to me growing up and coming from playing the cello (try finding a left-handed cello!). So I highly recommend starting “right-handed”. If you choose to go left-handed, know that you will have a much harder time finding a quality instrument and it will make learning more complicated as you will have to reverse all directions in your head.
