Aquinas, our boys have so much in common! Mine begged for lessons at 2.5 too. He loved and still loves my guitar.

We couldn't find anyone who would teach him until he hits age 5 here. He has massive hands so a 1/4 scale guitar would be just fine for him.

We looked at 2 models... A Guitarworks 1/4 scale from Richmond, VA and a Jasmine by Takamine JS141 which is 1/4. The Guitarworks was around US$100 and I think the Jasmine around $150.

At your son's age, if you don't already have a piano, consider getting a keyboard. It is great fun. The piano is a good foundation instrument and it is a ton of fun to experiment with the various programmed in instruments, rhythms, etc... And you can unplug it and stick it in a closet if your son has a tantrum like so many 3 year-olds do. Mine could be pretty mellow, but I would have been disappointed if he hurled a 1/4 scale guitar at me...

We have tried Kindermusik, Music Together, and the Suzuki Early Childhood music classes and all have been major failures for us. They all followed the same pattern... Week 1, great. By Week 3, somewhat bored. By week 6, utter frustration with repetition. My son hates repetitive instruction on something he has mastered though. Your mileage may vary. I have a child who loves loves loves music, and I kid you not, the classes made him hate it for a while. (Between each attempt, we took a minimum 3 month break before attempting a new program with new teacher. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have done any of them.)

If you do buy a drum, getting a throw pillow to fit inside it will help with volume. Great fun!

Now that he can just play the piano and sing on his own, without a teacher, he loves music again. It is cute to see him plink away at the keys and sing along in key. I think at this age it is really about love. Whatever it takes to make them enjoy it. I don't really care about technique or mastery though, I just want a happy kid.

He is finally getting his guitar this fall for his 4th birthday. This time I am going to keep it low key. If I can find a fun one-on-one teacher for him to jam with, great. Otherwise, we are just going to play at home.

I'm think we're getting the Guitarworks guitar. It has nylon strings and is supposed to have a decent sound.