How To Teach Guitar To Your Child

I have been playing guitar since I was a small boy.  Over the years I have found myself motivated greatly and greatly discouraged as well.  Due to these highs and lows I have developed my own theory on how to teach guitar to children and I would like to share these details with you in this post.

When I was eight years old I took my first music lessons.  I can remember that the guitar cost $25 and the lessons were $2.00 for 30 minutes.  Times sure have changed since then…at least as far as prices are concerned.  Anyway, the teacher started us off with a simple song book to teach us various notes and fingerings.  I can remember that the first song was a rendition of “twinkle twinkle little star”.  Anyway we did this over and over again til I was bored out of my mind.  I didn’t like this song to begin with and I sure didn’t like it after this class was over…

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You see, I didn’t care to play this song, and that was the problem.  The reason I wanted to play guitar was because the Beatles were popular and I heard a lot of songs on the radio that I loved and wanted to play.  “Twinkle twinkle little star” soon killed my desire…  I soon quit those lessons and my guitar was soon sitting in the corner of the bedroom.

When I was eighteen I discovered the world of chords.  With three simple chords I could play almost any song I wanted.  Not perfectly or like the Beatles mind you…but good enough to strum along.  This was what I was looking for all these years…a simple way to do the songs I loved so much.

Now that I’m a father I can add something new to the equation.  This is the importance of involvement.  Whether science lessons for first grade or learning an instrument or “whatever”…children love to have mommy and daddy involved.  So, the key to teaching your child to play guitar when they are younger is to give them an inexpensive one to play with.  As they grow older give them a bit more expensive one and teach them some chords.  Then, while they are playing the chords, you can fill in the lead and accompanying work.  They will soon get the feeling “Look mom, I’m playing in a real band”.  This can become every addictive and will fuel their interest in further development in this area.

I hope that you liked this post and found it very informative.  It is important to not kill the spirit of your child and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” can sure do it…

Tags: learning guitar, teaching children

Category: learn guitar