Guitar and guitar lessons for DD10

[Dominus]

The thing I have against music store lessons is that the instructors are there to get paid and will take your money and not really care if your kid wants to play or is willing to put in the time and effort to succeed. The private instructor usually values their time and talent to a point where they won't waste either on a student who lacks the drive to succeed. I play in a local band and have discontinued lessons due to lack of student participation. But I can afford to be picky about students since it's not my day job. You see what I'm saying? If it were my day job, I'd just take the parents money and be happy. Not all music store instructors are bad, but they will happily take your money whether your kid is cut out to be a musician or not.

 

[kacaju]

well it also depends on the instructors at each music store. Our instructors all have *real jobs* and do this on the side.

*added*
Bottom line, like anything, you need to check out places and talk to the owners of the stores before you sign up. I had been looking into many places and most of them were all studio type places that were Art/music studios. I was not looking for that. I did not want to pay huge fees for 16 weeks of lessons and then have a recital to go listen to everyone elses kid play.

 

[Purseval]

At 10 years old your kid doesn't have long fingers. My son started playing at 8 and he's going to be 22 now. His biggest problem as a beginner was playing chords, not because he wasn't motivated but because his fingers weren't long enough to reach the strings. Get your kid a child's guitar or what's known as a travel guitar. It has a smaller neck and les space between the frets. My son's first guitar ws a Baby Taylor. Martin also makes a guitar called a Backpack. Let him grow into his music and he'll be a lot less frustrated.

Since so many kids give up it's also easy to find good beginner guitars on craigslist.

 

[LilMamiBella]

I paid $115 for the butterfly "daisy rock" guitar off ebay with free shipping. Its a great guitar and a pretty good brand name.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Hi:
We just purchased a Fender for our son (13). It came in a beginners kit for $354.00 including the carrying case and amp. Actually, it was a bass guitar but we did not find that the local music store tried to upsell at all. They asked what his experience level was and showed us a few options. We made the decision with no pressure. He did start lessons with them at $92 a month for 30 minute classes once per week and loves it!

Another advantage to buying it at a good store is the ability to trade it in for a better model as your child progresses!

 

[mrodgers]

One more advantage of buying from a music store. Setup. Every guitar will need setup (setting the string height, setting intonation, which is making sure the open A string is tuned to A also at the 12th fret and everywhere else an A occurs.) Chances are, a guitar taken down off the rack at a music store is already set up, or else the set up will cost nothing. A cheap junk guitar will definitely need setup (and may not even be able to be setup) and even a guitar purchased online from a reputable site, Guitarcenter.com or musiciansfriend.com or similar, will probably need a setup. Not sure if you would have trouble getting a shop to give you a setup on a cheapie, and most certainly it's going to cost you additional money of around $60 I would think (now that cheap $100 guitar plus $60 setup isn't quite as cheap, is it.)

My wife, who knows nothing about guitars, bought mine from a shop. She said she was thinking of buying the cheap POS electric guitar you can find at Target for $200. The guy told her it would be nothing but trouble (I confirmed through guitar community sources on the web as well) and pulled a $200 guitar off his rack and told her this is what she wanted. It's been 11 months and I still absolutely love it. Certainly not as good as a $400 Mexican Stratocastor or a $1000 Fender, but it plays really really really well and sounds pretty darn fantastic with my fingers doing the work.

 

[Dominus]

A basic set up should never cost $60. I play 5-string bass and the set up at the best luthier in Houston is only $35. That's with me providing new strings. My advice is to buy as good of an instrument as you can afford. If you can afford $300, you should spend it, but make sure you get the most for the $300. As a musician I've helped people buy quality used instruments, thus saving them a lot of money. So my advice is always to find someone in the know (not someone trying to sell you something) and get them to help, even if it's only to provide you some knowledge. A mom and pop music store charged my wife $30 for a set of strings she had bought for me, that they only charge me $20 for. Not all are like that, but a lot of places make their living off less than knowledgeable consumers. The best victims are often parents with an open wallet for their kids. Before you make a purchase, at least google the item to see reviews. Or maybe ask on a musician's forum (I almost can't recommend the forums, so take it was some salt).

 

[ChickieToo]

My DD11 (almost 12) started taking lessons about 2.5 years ago. She has both an electric and an acoustic.

I think you have to get both components correct for your DD to have a good experience.

First, the guitar. We bought the acoustic from the Guitar Center, which I believe is a chain, with the advice of the guitar teacher. There are lots of mom and pop stores to purchase from, but we wanted to go somewhere with a big selection of both used and new. This worked for us.

She ended up with a Yamaha that has a built in tuner and it is a 7/8 scale (I think that is what it is called). It is slightly smaller and thinner than a full-sized guitar but much larger than a "child's" guitar. I think it cost around $200 new. The people at the Guitar Center were very helpful. They didn't try to upsell me, and they gave me the pros and cons of every guitar she liked. They played every guitar we were interested in so we could hear the sound difference. And her teacher thinks it was a great choice. Another brand they told me that is good to learn on is an Ibanez. I think Daisy Rock, mentioned by a pp, is the brand Miley Cyrus plays. My daughter has her eye on one, but she can't get it until she practices more (more on that later).

Another pp mentioned the Line 6 brand of amps for the electric. We have one too. It also costs about $100, but it sounds great. This is the brand DD's instructor has in his studio--though he has a much bigger, better, pricier one! Again, the Guitar Center had a lot of new and used to choose from and they plugged a guitar into every one that we were interested in and played so we could hear it. To be honest I forget the name of the other brand that we almost chose, but it was in the same price range.

The teacher is the 2nd component. You need to make sure it is a good fit, and he or she will teach her the things she wants to play. DD's instructor has played since he was 11 or 12 and has a degree in music from Berkley in Mass. which is a pretty prestigious music school. He has toured with bands and currently still plays in a band on the weekends. He's in his mid 40's and is an awesome guitarist. I sit in on the lessons just so I can hear him play. He has a great ear, and when my daughter tells him she wants to play a song he's never heard of, he looks it up on youtube, listens to it once or twice, then writes down the chords for her and they are off to the races.

As far as the actual lessons go, my daughter's teacher is really cool in that he teaches from the Mel Bay books (which have been standard guitar lesson books for decades), but he also teaches songs at the same time, so it isn't boring. Right from the beginning he taught her Green Day--now Good Riddance is a staple in her repertoire. She also plays Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Colby Callait.

Her teacher believes that it is important to learn to read music and believes it makes for a better musician. She likes the chords and songs better, for sure, but she knows her scales and can sight read.

Our only frustration is that she doesn't practice enough, but loves it and doesn't want to give it up. She would be just awesome if she practiced more.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[momxx5]

At our "house of music" my boys have 4 guitars between all them. One bass and others electric.

The first one every purchased was at Guitar Center....they will run Christmas specials, etc. ...even Black Friday Sales. We purchased a starter kit which included everything needed in one box to start playing.

All of my boys have taken strings in elementary school, band in middle school (sax and precussion) and now band in high school so they can read music. One of my sons plays drums.
Sadly we could never afford lessons, however with their love of music and ability to read music they often print music off internet and teach themselves....they play everything for Aerosmith to U2, Queen to Earth Wind & Fire.

I love listening to them work together and learn new songs.

So, I highly suggest getting a starter kit, either Fender Squire or Epiphone for around $200-250.

If she loves it and wants more, you'll be upgrading guitars, then amps and on and on.

If you are well versed in instruments pawn shops are great sources for awesome deals.

 

[momxx5]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-...ic-Electric-Guitar-Pack-103865994-i1168181.gc


We have an Ibanez starter.....this one is right at $200 for everything she'll need.

 

[luvlife]

"We have an Ibanez starter.....this one is right at $200 for everything she'll need. "

I just want to thank you all so much for all of your help, I never expected so much great advice

 

[luvlife]

My DD11 (almost 12) started taking lessons about 2.5 years ago. She has both an electric and an acoustic.

I think you have to get both components correct for your DD to have a good experience.

First, the guitar. We bought the acoustic from the Guitar Center, which I believe is a chain, with the advice of the guitar teacher. There are lots of mom and pop stores to purchase from, but we wanted to go somewhere with a big selection of both used and new. This worked for us.

She ended up with a Yamaha that has a built in tuner and it is a 7/8 scale (I think that is what it is called). It is slightly smaller and thinner than a full-sized guitar but much larger than a "child's" guitar. I think it cost around $200 new. The people at the Guitar Center were very helpful. They didn't try to upsell me, and they gave me the pros and cons of every guitar she liked. They played every guitar we were interested in so we could hear the sound difference. And her teacher thinks it was a great choice. Another brand they told me that is good to learn on is an Ibanez. I think Daisy Rock, mentioned by a pp, is the brand Miley Cyrus plays. My daughter has her eye on one, but she can't get it until she practices more (more on that later).

Another pp mentioned the Line 6 brand of amps for the electric. We have one too. It also costs about $100, but it sounds great. This is the brand DD's instructor has in his studio--though he has a much bigger, better, pricier one! Again, the Guitar Center had a lot of new and used to choose from and they plugged a guitar into every one that we were interested in and played so we could hear it. To be honest I forget the name of the other brand that we almost chose, but it was in the same price range.

The teacher is the 2nd component. You need to make sure it is a good fit, and he or she will teach her the things she wants to play. DD's instructor has played since he was 11 or 12 and has a degree in music from Berkley in Mass. which is a pretty prestigious music school. He has toured with bands and currently still plays in a band on the weekends. He's in his mid 40's and is an awesome guitarist. I sit in on the lessons just so I can hear him play. He has a great ear, and when my daughter tells him she wants to play a song he's never heard of, he looks it up on youtube, listens to it once or twice, then writes down the chords for her and they are off to the races.

As far as the actual lessons go, my daughter's teacher is really cool in that he teaches from the Mel Bay books (which have been standard guitar lesson books for decades), but he also teaches songs at the same time, so it isn't boring. Right from the beginning he taught her Green Day--now Good Riddance is a staple in her repertoire. She also plays Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Colby Callait.

Her teacher believes that it is important to learn to read music and believes it makes for a better musician. She likes the chords and songs better, for sure, but she knows her scales and can sight read.

Our only frustration is that she doesn't practice enough, but loves it and doesn't want to give it up. She would be just awesome if she practiced more.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

This sounds great! I was wondering, I notice you live in CT, you wouldn't happen to live close to RI would you? I live in Westerly, RI which borders CT and the teacher that you found sounds great!

I would love to contact him if it's not far. I know CT is pretty big, just wishing is all

 

[luvlife]

My DD11 (almost 12) started taking lessons about 2.5 years ago. She has both an electric and an acoustic.

I think you have to get both components correct for your DD to have a good experience.

First, the guitar. We bought the acoustic from the Guitar Center, which I believe is a chain, with the advice of the guitar teacher. There are lots of mom and pop stores to purchase from, but we wanted to go somewhere with a big selection of both used and new. This worked for us.

She ended up with a Yamaha that has a built in tuner and it is a 7/8 scale (I think that is what it is called). It is slightly smaller and thinner than a full-sized guitar but much larger than a "child's" guitar. I think it cost around $200 new. The people at the Guitar Center were very helpful. They didn't try to upsell me, and they gave me the pros and cons of every guitar she liked. They played every guitar we were interested in so we could hear the sound difference. And her teacher thinks it was a great choice. Another brand they told me that is good to learn on is an Ibanez. I think Daisy Rock, mentioned by a pp, is the brand Miley Cyrus plays. My daughter has her eye on one, but she can't get it until she practices more (more on that later).

Another pp mentioned the Line 6 brand of amps for the electric. We have one too. It also costs about $100, but it sounds great. This is the brand DD's instructor has in his studio--though he has a much bigger, better, pricier one! Again, the Guitar Center had a lot of new and used to choose from and they plugged a guitar into every one that we were interested in and played so we could hear it. To be honest I forget the name of the other brand that we almost chose, but it was in the same price range.

The teacher is the 2nd component. You need to make sure it is a good fit, and he or she will teach her the things she wants to play. DD's instructor has played since he was 11 or 12 and has a degree in music from Berkley in Mass. which is a pretty prestigious music school. He has toured with bands and currently still plays in a band on the weekends. He's in his mid 40's and is an awesome guitarist. I sit in on the lessons just so I can hear him play. He has a great ear, and when my daughter tells him she wants to play a song he's never heard of, he looks it up on youtube, listens to it once or twice, then writes down the chords for her and they are off to the races.

As far as the actual lessons go, my daughter's teacher is really cool in that he teaches from the Mel Bay books (which have been standard guitar lesson books for decades), but he also teaches songs at the same time, so it isn't boring. Right from the beginning he taught her Green Day--now Good Riddance is a staple in her repertoire. She also plays Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Colby Callait.

Her teacher believes that it is important to learn to read music and believes it makes for a better musician. She likes the chords and songs better, for sure, but she knows her scales and can sight read.

Our only frustration is that she doesn't practice enough, but loves it and doesn't want to give it up. She would be just awesome if she practiced more.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I'm sorry, I believe your daughter had the acoustic guitar before the electric? My daughter also wants an acoustic but from what I've read I'm a little concerned it's harder to learn on rather than an electric? Did your daughter want the acoustic first and was it hard for her to pick up?

TIA, sorry for all the questions

 

[mrodgers]

It is harder to learn on an acoustic. The strings are thicker, the action (height of the strings) is usually a bit higher, etc.

Initially it isn't much different. It is more difficult to hold the strings down when learning the chords, but a little later is when it becomes more difficult. There are chords called Barre chords and that is where you have to hold all 6 strings down at one of the frets with the side of your index finger, then finger your other 3 on strings individually to make a chord. Doing this on an acoustic for a beginner is very difficult and frustrating. Barre chords are all about technique of holding the strings down more than strength, but on an acoustic, a beginner will get frustrated because it seems to take a lot of strength to do it.

I didn't mess around with my acoustic much for 5 years, it was off and on. I was at the point of trying to learn barre chords, and yes it was frustrating. I couldn't get the barre chords to ring out for anything. Then I got my electric. The first thing I did was try a barre chord on Christmas day. Such a piece of cake. It does take some strength, but that strength comes from technique. It is much easier to learn the technique on the easier electric that after a few days, I was easily also able to play barre chords on my acoustic without even thinking about it.

Though it is more difficult to learn on an acoustic, I and may others feel the learning is better. The strength in your hand and fingers increase at a greater rate because of the difficulty than it does with an electric. Starting with acoustic, changing to electric is a breeze. Learning with electric then switching to acoustic there is still a difficulty factor.

Remember, an electric also needs an amp, so there is another expense. There are plenty of $100 low wattage amps out there though. Line6 was mentioned. Peavey is another good brand that has a $100 amp. I have a Crate. These will all be in the 15 watt range. They are good enough for home practice and messing around. Usually the first thing to upgrade though if they get seriously into the guitar is the amp.

More expense for the electric is effects pedals. With effects pedals, you can modify the sound of the guitar playing. You don't get into effects until you've played for a while. I still don't have any effects. Some of the inexpensive $100 amps have effects int them as well, but what the pedals do is allow the guitarist to switch them on and off easily with your feet while playing as opposed to having to move through presets and switches on the amp controls. Effects don't come into play for a while though, so it's not an up front cost. Pedals are good future gifts though for birthdays and Christmas (around $50-80 for different individual effects pedals or as expensive as you want for multi-effect pedals.)

 

[mjkacmom]

DH has been playing for years, and we have quite the guitar collection. I believe lessons are important, as does DH. He didn't learn to read music until college (minored in it), and regretted it (he could play by ear). We started dd14 in piano when she was 7, but unfortunately, she inherited DH's gift, and wouldn't learn to read music (because she can play anything by ear - she actually has a program with her $1000 keyboard that, when hooked to her laptop, can print out music that she plays, so if someone can find sheet music, they'll have her listen, play, and print). Music is a language - a musician should be able to look at a sheet of music, and hear it. DH can do it now, and hopefully dd will decide to learn it someday.

 

[ChickieToo]

I'm sorry, I believe your daughter had the acoustic guitar before the electric? My daughter also wants an acoustic but from what I've read I'm a little concerned it's harder to learn on rather than an electric? Did your daughter want the acoustic first and was it hard for her to pick up?

TIA, sorry for all the questions

We actually bought the electric first in one of those bundles that a lot of the stores put together. The guitar is fine, but the amp is little and didn't sound very good, so I think that was discouraging. She wanted an acoustic, so that's when we went to the Guitar Center and got the 7/8 size Yamaha.

My husband, good guy that he is, comes from a family that believes cheap stuff from Walmart is just as good as the specialty stuff, and though he isn't really cheap by nature in many areas, sometimes he falls back into this when he doesn't have the first-hand knowledge on a topic. So he bought her an electric bundle from Walmart for around $200. Clearly the bundles from the other specialty places have nicer guitars for just a little more money. My family is just the opposite: when you want a bike, you go to a bike store, when you want an instrument you go to a music store! That's why I took over and went to some small mom and pops and ended up at the Guitar Center for the selection. She switched over to the acoustic at that point and primarily played that for about a year. We went back to the Guitar Center and got the good amp, and now she switched back to the electric for lessons and goes between them.

As a pp said, I think a good rule of thumb is to buy the best you can afford that will do the job. DD is an only child and I would have easily spent more on the acoustic, but for a first guitar, I didn't think it was necessary. I just knew that the $69 special wasn't going to do it.

It is true, the electric has easier action and is a little easier to play. My observation is that whenever she learns something first on the acoustic and then plays it on the electric, it's better on the electric. However, conversely, when something sounds good on the electric, she doesn't always play it as well on the acoustic because it is harder to play. Two and one half years later this is still true. Like the pp mentioned some of the chords can be tough and their hands are too small to sufficiently reach across the frets. Again, this is where the slightly smaller guitar comes in handy. A lot of it is technique, and being able to make the chord changes. In turn, a lot of that is just practice.

We live in Guilford, CT down on the shoreline, about an hours' drive from you. (my daughter went to goalie camp this summer in Stonington, and let me just say it wasn't fun making that drive every day. I even got a ticket around exit 80!). To find a teacher, I would say to just ask around at the school, from people around town. I'm sure you will come up with an instructor who meets your needs.

Let me know if I can answer anything else.

 

[crisi]

I'm sorry, I believe your daughter had the acoustic guitar before the electric? My daughter also wants an acoustic but from what I've read I'm a little concerned it's harder to learn on rather than an electric? Did your daughter want the acoustic first and was it hard for her to pick up?

TIA, sorry for all the questions

It takes some effort to get sound from a guitar, and that effort is going to build up callouses on your fingers - i.e. it will physically hurt to learn to play.

It will hurt less with an electric guitar because you just don't have to work as hard physically to get noise from it.

So if you think this MIGHT stick, I'd go electric - the chances of her not giving up are greater. If she is really motivated to learn and tends to stick with things, acoustic. My son has a kid's Yamaha (electric) that has been a pretty good beginner guitar. His fingers have started to outgrow it (he is 12) and we'll probably get him a better guitar soonish.

There are lots of used musical instruments on the market - most people don't stick with it. That should tell you two things - you can get a bargain used (but you might want to take a knowledgeable friend with you shopping) and you don't want to spend a ton on a first guitar.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

This is my DD's guitar http://media.hsn.com/esteban-rock-o...m00016|1042&prev=hp!sf!1042&ccm=m|m00016|1042

She loves it! She plays in her band at school.

And hopefully she will start private lessons at the beginning of the year.

 

[ChickieToo]

I'm sorry, I believe your daughter had the acoustic guitar before the electric? My daughter also wants an acoustic but from what I've read I'm a little concerned it's harder to learn on rather than an electric? Did your daughter want the acoustic first and was it hard for her to pick up?

TIA, sorry for all the questions

I need to correct myself. The guitar my daughter has is:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Yamaha-APX500-Thinline-Acoustic-Electric-Cutaway-103923660-i1167053.gc

It was closer to $300. Sorry about the mix-up, but I still think it has worked out well for her, and was the right guitar to learn on as it has a nice sound, it was a good size for her, and she hasn't outgrown it.