Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school DS2.7 asked for guitar lessons

Just sent you a PM. Rock on!

Right back at you, and reply sent! You're awesome, Liz.

We bought my son a used electric drum set with smart integration into Garage Band on his Mac. He absolutely loves creating music on Garage Band and adding his own drums.

One note: electric drum sets upstairs will still wake you up on a Saturday morning - but instead of a loud, banging noise, it feels like you're having a personal earthquake as the ceiling and walls vibrate rhythmically.

Great tip! Thanks Lisa.

We'll have to be careful with the neighbours, though because it's a loft, maybe we should make it Saturday night drumming instead of morning and invite the neighbours over for drinks to compensate them.

Finding a good instrument isn't as simple as brand names. I've got three guitars of my own, all second-hand, no-name brands. And they all sound good. I've also seen some really, really bad ones, including DD's starter guitar, and one for a neighborhood kid. That kid's sister had a Walmart special with Disney princesses on it, and that one is pretty good.

You've got to play it to evaluate it. You have to hear that it stays in tune as you move down the fretboard, but not buzzing, and feel that the action is consistent, and easy enough for small fingers.

Depending on the instrument, you may be able to adjust some things to fix these problems. But some you can't, as in the aforementioned mini-electrics with no truss rod. Classical guitars don't usually offer anything to adjust except the tuning, so what you hear is what you get. And any instrument you pick up off the rack at a decent music store should already be set up properly, so you should be testing it at its best.

For small children I definitely recommend a classical guitar, because the nylon strinfs are so much softer, and their fingers are so much more sensitive. My DD doesn't practice long on her acoustic-electric because of it, but she'll jam on my classical guitar (which is absurdly huge for her) and lay her head against it with a look of pure bliss.

And as HK said, the small classical guitars get very poor resonance.

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.

Reading your post reminded me of how much one of my sons LOVED the guitar at that age. We bought a cheap one for him, and he literally dragged it all over the house with him and played with it for months and months. It is in our family picture from his three year old birthday, as it went everywhere (in the house) with him at that age.

He was attending a music class then, and the instructor said that they couldn't teach children guitar until around five or six, because they just didn't have the correct hand size and strength. By the time he was five, he was no longer interested.

SAHM, that's uncanny! Our boys really do share many interests!

You've given me many good suggestions and BTDT insights. I know I'll be returning to your post several times. Thank you so much for commenting, particularly with specific guitar models.

We've found a group class that "works" for DS, from the perspective that he has a young friend with him and he is learning social skills alongside music, although I sense he's starting to outgrow the format, as the gap between his interests and those of age-peers is widening. With an October birthday, he's the youngest in his class, but even that doesn't mean much anymore. We might be able to eke out another year, but I'm hoping at that point we'll transition to individual instruction anyway.

We had another mind-meld over the keyboards-- we have a little Casio model that DS received for his second Christmas. I deliberately chose it because the keys are smaller than piano keys and require less force to activate, which has been friendly for small hands. I'd love to bring home my upright piano, which is currently at my parents' house, but our loft is so tiny (<1,000sqft!) that we would have to get rid of DS' current play nook (which itself is small--maybe 25sqft) to accommodate it. I'll have to measure to see if it could even fit up the stairs, because we had to hoist our queen mattress up into the loft. Urban living...yeeesh!

If I had another 100sqft, I'd fill it with a drum set and piano. Our home is already over-ridden with bookshelves and cooking equipment.

momoftwins, I think that just emphasizes the need to supply children with an outlet when it's relevant and interesting. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm thinking that even if lessons aren't tenable right now, it might be worthwhile to get a guitar for experimentation anyway, for the reasons you suggest.

Musical instruments, cooking, various experiments...

AND October birthdays! :-)