How to teach a kid to play the guitar
November 23, 2015 7:46 AM Subscribe
I need some advice on teaching a 10 year old kid to play the guitar. Complications ensue: he's not my kid, and I'm not a professional teacher. Lengthy stuff after the fold:
There's a Kid who lives in my neighborhood - about 10 years old - who comes around knocking on doors offering to rake leaves, help out with small chores to make a few bucks. That's how my wife and I met him. We are a couple in our early 40s with no children. He's a nice kid. Polite, fairly bright it seems, and has a pretty good work ethic for a 10 year old.
The Kid is from a fairly poor family; it took us a little while to figure it out, but he's part of a six-kid family that we anonymously adopted last Christmas; he doesn't know about that and I'd prefer he doesn't know. Anyway...
He comes by about two weeks ago, asking my wife if he can rake leaves and happens to see a number of my guitars in the living room as he's standing on the porch. He starts asking my wife questions about playing, and she gets the distinct sense that he really wants to learn. She tells him, "I'll talk to Mr. Thistledown."
She tells me about this later, and I'm not real thrilled about it. At all. For reasons that I will not go into here, but I tell her I'll think about it.
So this Saturday while I'm working on the house, there's a knock at the door and the Kid is there and tells me that he came over to play guitar with me. This was awkward. I hadn't agreed to anything yet, and it's clear to me that my wife's "I'll talk to Mr. Thistledown" translated to "Yes, my husband will give you guitar lessons," to his 10-year-old ears.
So. I tell him that I didn't realize we were set up for this and his face just....falls. And I realize that despite my reluctance, I don't want to let him down. So we talk for a little bit about schedules, and we set up a time for us to meet next Saturday. I tell him that I need to talk to his mom about this, which he's not wild about - "she doesn't care," he says, but I'm not going to spend time with someone else's kid without them knowing about it. My wife knows someone in their building and is trying to arrange some contact so I can get mom's blessing on this. I'm not going to charge them for the lessons. And I'm willing to invest the time if he's willing to practice.
For the time being, I'm going to buy a small-scale guitar he can handle - a full-sized body and neck are too large for him. I plan to record the lessons, both for his practice and my reference later.
I'm not a guitar teacher. I know a bunch of chords and some scales, played keyboards/piano in a few bands over the years, but I'm not much more than a hobbyist.
I guess we're going to feel our way along and if I can figure out what he wants to do, maybe I can help him get somewhere he wants to go. Are there any laws of primacy or anything in teaching a kid guitar for the first time? I read this thread and this other thread and there are some good nuggets - I'd sure appreciate anything guitar specific.
Further thoughts about this....there's a socioeconomic gap here that I want to be sensitive to. I realize that this a blind spot for me and I would like to handle it correctly.
He's a good kid, I think. I'd like to help him out. Just want to do right by him.
There's a Kid who lives in my neighborhood - about 10 years old - who comes around knocking on doors offering to rake leaves, help out with small chores to make a few bucks. That's how my wife and I met him. We are a couple in our early 40s with no children. He's a nice kid. Polite, fairly bright it seems, and has a pretty good work ethic for a 10 year old.
The Kid is from a fairly poor family; it took us a little while to figure it out, but he's part of a six-kid family that we anonymously adopted last Christmas; he doesn't know about that and I'd prefer he doesn't know. Anyway...
He comes by about two weeks ago, asking my wife if he can rake leaves and happens to see a number of my guitars in the living room as he's standing on the porch. He starts asking my wife questions about playing, and she gets the distinct sense that he really wants to learn. She tells him, "I'll talk to Mr. Thistledown."
She tells me about this later, and I'm not real thrilled about it. At all. For reasons that I will not go into here, but I tell her I'll think about it.
So this Saturday while I'm working on the house, there's a knock at the door and the Kid is there and tells me that he came over to play guitar with me. This was awkward. I hadn't agreed to anything yet, and it's clear to me that my wife's "I'll talk to Mr. Thistledown" translated to "Yes, my husband will give you guitar lessons," to his 10-year-old ears.
So. I tell him that I didn't realize we were set up for this and his face just....falls. And I realize that despite my reluctance, I don't want to let him down. So we talk for a little bit about schedules, and we set up a time for us to meet next Saturday. I tell him that I need to talk to his mom about this, which he's not wild about - "she doesn't care," he says, but I'm not going to spend time with someone else's kid without them knowing about it. My wife knows someone in their building and is trying to arrange some contact so I can get mom's blessing on this. I'm not going to charge them for the lessons. And I'm willing to invest the time if he's willing to practice.
For the time being, I'm going to buy a small-scale guitar he can handle - a full-sized body and neck are too large for him. I plan to record the lessons, both for his practice and my reference later.
I'm not a guitar teacher. I know a bunch of chords and some scales, played keyboards/piano in a few bands over the years, but I'm not much more than a hobbyist.
I guess we're going to feel our way along and if I can figure out what he wants to do, maybe I can help him get somewhere he wants to go. Are there any laws of primacy or anything in teaching a kid guitar for the first time? I read this thread and this other thread and there are some good nuggets - I'd sure appreciate anything guitar specific.
Further thoughts about this....there's a socioeconomic gap here that I want to be sensitive to. I realize that this a blind spot for me and I would like to handle it correctly.
He's a good kid, I think. I'd like to help him out. Just want to do right by him.
Also as soon as he gets a few basic things down, encourage him to make up songs if that appeals to him. Too many lessons focus on learning other people's stuff by rote. Mix it up! G-C-D and maybe A - that's like 80% of rock and pop songs right there.
posted by freecellwizard at 8:13 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by freecellwizard at 8:13 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I come from a family of self-taught (and pretty damn good) guitarists. Some ideas:
- Could you pay for lessons for him and they just be around for, like, practice and jamming?
- IMO any self-taught guitarist needs to have a good background in those who came before — Django Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones. Think "School of Rock". There should be an syllabus — maybe you can show him some YouTube videos or make a playlist for him? This will also help you get an idea of what kind of music he's currently into, and maybe open some new doors up for him.
- Stop when it stops being fun — for him.
posted by Brittanie at 8:17 AM on November 23, 2015
- Could you pay for lessons for him and they just be around for, like, practice and jamming?
- IMO any self-taught guitarist needs to have a good background in those who came before — Django Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones. Think "School of Rock". There should be an syllabus — maybe you can show him some YouTube videos or make a playlist for him? This will also help you get an idea of what kind of music he's currently into, and maybe open some new doors up for him.
- Stop when it stops being fun — for him.
posted by Brittanie at 8:17 AM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: I hang out with a guy who teaches guitar at a music school environment, and the thing I've gotten from his rants is that most of his teenage students don't really know why they're there. In that sense, having a kid who is begging you for music is a huge advantage over being Suburban-Skyler's Tuesday afternoon activity.
They might like listening to music, but they can't necessarily identify what part of a song is a guitar playing (vs a bass riff, or even vs the piano part), and may not have a good idea of what it means to learn a song - the guitar chords, the melody riff, do they want to sing or not, and how to judge if a song is going to sound "incomplete" even after they've learned it.
With kids especially, maybe they don't know or maybe they're painfully shy but they might not even admit to liking music - maybe their parents have the radio on, but they can't name a song they like, or a band they like, and it's hard even finding out if they'd rather play a Taylor Swift cover, or classic rock, or the Beatles, or a recognizable melody song like Christmas carols or kids camp songs. Hard to know what they'd even recognize.
OR, especially in the situation you describe, maybe he really just wants to hang out with an adult who'll talk to him one on one and let him touch a real musical instrument like he's only ever seen on music videos.
I'd start out by just talking to him, playing (sections of) songs you know, as wide a variety of styles as you're comfortable with, and finding out why he was so excited to learn some guitar.
posted by aimedwander at 8:18 AM on November 23, 2015
They might like listening to music, but they can't necessarily identify what part of a song is a guitar playing (vs a bass riff, or even vs the piano part), and may not have a good idea of what it means to learn a song - the guitar chords, the melody riff, do they want to sing or not, and how to judge if a song is going to sound "incomplete" even after they've learned it.
With kids especially, maybe they don't know or maybe they're painfully shy but they might not even admit to liking music - maybe their parents have the radio on, but they can't name a song they like, or a band they like, and it's hard even finding out if they'd rather play a Taylor Swift cover, or classic rock, or the Beatles, or a recognizable melody song like Christmas carols or kids camp songs. Hard to know what they'd even recognize.
OR, especially in the situation you describe, maybe he really just wants to hang out with an adult who'll talk to him one on one and let him touch a real musical instrument like he's only ever seen on music videos.
I'd start out by just talking to him, playing (sections of) songs you know, as wide a variety of styles as you're comfortable with, and finding out why he was so excited to learn some guitar.
posted by aimedwander at 8:18 AM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: What you're doing is a good thing, and he'll remember it. He seems very self-directed, which is a plus. Whether he'll stick to guitar, who knows at that age. All you can do is try to show him what you know and then if he wants to go beyond that, try to find him someone else to take him further.
If you think food scarcity might be a problem for him, you might consider feeding him a small snack before each lesson; it's hard to concentrate when you're hungry.
posted by emjaybee at 8:24 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you think food scarcity might be a problem for him, you might consider feeding him a small snack before each lesson; it's hard to concentrate when you're hungry.
posted by emjaybee at 8:24 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: No advice on the guitar, but to add on to emjaybee's suggestion about a snack, maybe when you talk to his mom find out if he has any nut allergies? Because you like to leave a bowl of mixed nuts out for nibbling on, and want to put it away if it's a danger to him. (And then if it's not, nuts are a great snack to just always have on hand for dipping into casually.)
posted by current resident at 8:40 AM on November 23, 2015
posted by current resident at 8:40 AM on November 23, 2015
I started taking guitar lessons when I was 11. I rented a full-size classical guitar from the music school, which had a wider neck but nylon strings. My teacher told me to stay away from steel string guitars until I was a bit older and had stronger hands, because making chords took more work building up calluses hurt more on a steel-string guitar. So that is something to think about if you're looking for a guitar for him. My teacher also started me on the Hal Leonard Guitar Method books, which aren't expensive and teach you about both chords and reading music, which I think is a useful skill.
posted by colfax at 8:44 AM on November 23, 2015
posted by colfax at 8:44 AM on November 23, 2015
My suggestions:
- Good musicians are defined more by their "ear" then their fingers. Include regular singing and listening.
- Think like a children's librarian--your job is to find the material that gets him hooked.
(Source: just an amateur musician with opinions; take them with a grain of salt.)
posted by bfields at 8:52 AM on November 23, 2015
- Good musicians are defined more by their "ear" then their fingers. Include regular singing and listening.
- Think like a children's librarian--your job is to find the material that gets him hooked.
(Source: just an amateur musician with opinions; take them with a grain of salt.)
posted by bfields at 8:52 AM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: I'm not a guitar teacher. I know a bunch of chords and some scales, played keyboards/piano in a few bands over the years, but I'm not much more than a hobbyist.
Friend, you have a student who knows less than you knocking on your door, and two guitars.
You are a guitar teacher.
I have two bits of advice:
1. Bruce Emery's Skeptical Guitarist books.
2. Teach songs first, then theory.
There are a lot of guitar books, tapes, etc. available -- now more than ever. I really like Bruce Emery's "Skeptical Guitarist" and "Guitar from Scratch" books. He includes many examples from familiar and popular songs, rather than generic stuff like "Lightly Row".
But don't show the books to your protege. Use them as a guide to developing and presenting the 'curriculum'. Emery has already worked out a successful sequence and 'chunk size' for lessons, so I'd use his books (or your favourites) to decide what to teach and when. Maybe photocopy a page at a time, or better, put together a page of take-home exercises.
Something I do for adult absolute beginners is say "name a song you want to learn how to play, and we'll work toward that". Yeah, he'll need to know how to tune the guitar and change the strings and all that. And sure, understanding the circle of filth and scales and modes is necessary. But a beginner can lose interest pretty fast if it's all drudgery with no end in sight -- or without even a mile-marker.
One way to get there is the way I -- and probably you -- and many other self-taught guitarists got there. We started by wanting to know how to play specific songs. Along the way we learned the theory behind the chords and riffs that later allowed us to recognize similarities and generalize to other tunes (and we hope, to innovate away from the familiar).
I 'discovered' the suspended 4th chord by trying to understand the song "Pinball Wizard". Figuring that out opened the door to a million other things. Still, just as someboneheadsless contemplative musicians refer to the 7+9 chord as "The Hendrix Chord" or "The Purple Haze Chord", I (silently) think of the sus4 as the "The Pinball Wizard Chord".
So find out what song or songs he imagines himself playing. If it's based on I-IV-V or I-vi-IV-V, you're both in luck. If it's something a little too advanced, maybe learn bits of it at a time and also show some structurally simpler toons.
Success breeds success, so try to define some achievable goals for early on and build on those.
Also, if he drifts away, do not despair. Learning to play is challenging and I'm sure there's a lot of other things going on. He'll still have what you gave him, and one day may come back to it.
The world needs people who love and understand music -- even a little bit --more than it does another guitar god.
Good on ya, mate.
posted by Herodios at 9:35 AM on November 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
Friend, you have a student who knows less than you knocking on your door, and two guitars.
You are a guitar teacher.
I have two bits of advice:
1. Bruce Emery's Skeptical Guitarist books.
2. Teach songs first, then theory.
There are a lot of guitar books, tapes, etc. available -- now more than ever. I really like Bruce Emery's "Skeptical Guitarist" and "Guitar from Scratch" books. He includes many examples from familiar and popular songs, rather than generic stuff like "Lightly Row".
But don't show the books to your protege. Use them as a guide to developing and presenting the 'curriculum'. Emery has already worked out a successful sequence and 'chunk size' for lessons, so I'd use his books (or your favourites) to decide what to teach and when. Maybe photocopy a page at a time, or better, put together a page of take-home exercises.
Something I do for adult absolute beginners is say "name a song you want to learn how to play, and we'll work toward that". Yeah, he'll need to know how to tune the guitar and change the strings and all that. And sure, understanding the circle of filth and scales and modes is necessary. But a beginner can lose interest pretty fast if it's all drudgery with no end in sight -- or without even a mile-marker.
One way to get there is the way I -- and probably you -- and many other self-taught guitarists got there. We started by wanting to know how to play specific songs. Along the way we learned the theory behind the chords and riffs that later allowed us to recognize similarities and generalize to other tunes (and we hope, to innovate away from the familiar).
I 'discovered' the suspended 4th chord by trying to understand the song "Pinball Wizard". Figuring that out opened the door to a million other things. Still, just as some
So find out what song or songs he imagines himself playing. If it's based on I-IV-V or I-vi-IV-V, you're both in luck. If it's something a little too advanced, maybe learn bits of it at a time and also show some structurally simpler toons.
Success breeds success, so try to define some achievable goals for early on and build on those.
Also, if he drifts away, do not despair. Learning to play is challenging and I'm sure there's a lot of other things going on. He'll still have what you gave him, and one day may come back to it.
The world needs people who love and understand music -- even a little bit --more than it does another guitar god.
Good on ya, mate.
posted by Herodios at 9:35 AM on November 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Here is the site I used when starting to teach myself guitar: http://www.justinguitar.com
It's been recommended a few other times here on the green.
I picked it up as an adult but here is what I would have done differently and what I would change for a 10-year-old. Some of this I'm taking straight from the website linked above.
1. Start with chords A, D, and E. Use a slightly non-traditional figuring where the index finger is on the G string. This lets you use the index finger as an "anchor" so you can switch between those three chords without having to take your index finger off the strings.
2. I'd also start to establish some kind of warm-up routine. Something simple like holding a chord, picking out each note, strumming the chord, then picking out each note again making sure that each string rings out clear. Do that for every chord that he knows. Add in scales later.
3. Then have him practice switching between each set of two chords (A to E and back, A to D, and E to D) one strum per beat/chord. Do it to a metronome at a slow speed. When he can go a full minute without missing a beat, speed it up a few notches and go through the whole thing again (one minute for each chord combination). Give him that to practice every day for as long as his fingers will let him for your next lesson.
When I did this, the goal was to just go as fast as you could for a minute and not paying attention to the beat and that worked. Keeping a rhythm while doing it would have been better.
Another idea would be to find a simple song that uses those three chords and have him play that really slowly and speed that up the same way.
Either of those should be the fastest route to actually playing a song that he might recognize which I think is the most sure-fire way to get him hooked and commit to practicing.
4. Explain the deal with calluses. Let him poke at your fingertips and feel just how thick those pads are. Let him know, in no uncertain terms that when he starts out it's going to hurt and that he needs to practice every day both to get better at practicing and to develop those calluses.
5. Along those same lines, I'd go with a classical guitar to start off. The nylon strings will be easier on his fingers and his hand might not be strong enough to finger chords on a steel string guitar. You can often find 3/4 Squier strats for cheap used on craigslist that get cast off when someone's kid decides to stop trying to learn the instrument. Since you can get away with some pretty narrow gauge strings on an electric, it might make a good starter guitar too or as the next step if he likes it (and full size used squier strats are a good, decent quality instrument that you can often find in abundance as well). Equipment costs might end up being a barrier for him at some point so some advice about what to look for and how to find decent instruments cheap. I've bought quite a few guitars used on craigslist that I was later able to sell for just about what I paid for it (sometimes a little more). And he should have a luthier setup any guitar he buys. Hopefully you can do some of the setup for him, I've never had much success working on my own guitars.
6. Reinforce that the solution to every problem you could ever possibly have playing the guitar is "more practice". But the nice about it is rule that "if it sounds good you are using the correct technique" (that's what my teacher told me anyway).
Once he has started to pick it up and can pick up simple songs that use the three chords he knows, then you can add in C and G, some commonly used minor chords (Am, Em, and Dm were the 1st I learned), 7th chords, and so on. And I'd sprinkle in some scales at this point.
In general, your job isn't really to practice with him but to relate the information that he'll need to practice effectively until your next lesson. Something that has helped me a lot is some of the music theory stuff that I wish I would have started on earlier (like, not long after I could play a couple of simple songs). Like, knowing that songs are usually put together in a key and that learning the key really well would make learning any song in that key pretty easy. That sort of thing also goes along well with developing his ear. If I can identify a couple of notes in a song but can't quite here another one, knowing the key it's in give me a tool to figure out what that note probably is. Same thing with chord progressions and also how chord progressions relate to the key.
Knowing that stuff gives me the motivation to practice the really basic and boring stuff because I can see how that builds the foundation to do the fun stuff (playing an actual song).
The first time that he is able to play a song and play it WITH someone will probably be the exact moment that he gets hooked on guitar. If that happens and you see it, it may well be the moment that gets you hooked on teaching guitar too.
I know you're kind of getting roped into doing this but it's a really great thing you're doing. Thanks!
posted by VTX at 9:55 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's been recommended a few other times here on the green.
I picked it up as an adult but here is what I would have done differently and what I would change for a 10-year-old. Some of this I'm taking straight from the website linked above.
1. Start with chords A, D, and E. Use a slightly non-traditional figuring where the index finger is on the G string. This lets you use the index finger as an "anchor" so you can switch between those three chords without having to take your index finger off the strings.
2. I'd also start to establish some kind of warm-up routine. Something simple like holding a chord, picking out each note, strumming the chord, then picking out each note again making sure that each string rings out clear. Do that for every chord that he knows. Add in scales later.
3. Then have him practice switching between each set of two chords (A to E and back, A to D, and E to D) one strum per beat/chord. Do it to a metronome at a slow speed. When he can go a full minute without missing a beat, speed it up a few notches and go through the whole thing again (one minute for each chord combination). Give him that to practice every day for as long as his fingers will let him for your next lesson.
When I did this, the goal was to just go as fast as you could for a minute and not paying attention to the beat and that worked. Keeping a rhythm while doing it would have been better.
Another idea would be to find a simple song that uses those three chords and have him play that really slowly and speed that up the same way.
Either of those should be the fastest route to actually playing a song that he might recognize which I think is the most sure-fire way to get him hooked and commit to practicing.
4. Explain the deal with calluses. Let him poke at your fingertips and feel just how thick those pads are. Let him know, in no uncertain terms that when he starts out it's going to hurt and that he needs to practice every day both to get better at practicing and to develop those calluses.
5. Along those same lines, I'd go with a classical guitar to start off. The nylon strings will be easier on his fingers and his hand might not be strong enough to finger chords on a steel string guitar. You can often find 3/4 Squier strats for cheap used on craigslist that get cast off when someone's kid decides to stop trying to learn the instrument. Since you can get away with some pretty narrow gauge strings on an electric, it might make a good starter guitar too or as the next step if he likes it (and full size used squier strats are a good, decent quality instrument that you can often find in abundance as well). Equipment costs might end up being a barrier for him at some point so some advice about what to look for and how to find decent instruments cheap. I've bought quite a few guitars used on craigslist that I was later able to sell for just about what I paid for it (sometimes a little more). And he should have a luthier setup any guitar he buys. Hopefully you can do some of the setup for him, I've never had much success working on my own guitars.
6. Reinforce that the solution to every problem you could ever possibly have playing the guitar is "more practice". But the nice about it is rule that "if it sounds good you are using the correct technique" (that's what my teacher told me anyway).
Once he has started to pick it up and can pick up simple songs that use the three chords he knows, then you can add in C and G, some commonly used minor chords (Am, Em, and Dm were the 1st I learned), 7th chords, and so on. And I'd sprinkle in some scales at this point.
In general, your job isn't really to practice with him but to relate the information that he'll need to practice effectively until your next lesson. Something that has helped me a lot is some of the music theory stuff that I wish I would have started on earlier (like, not long after I could play a couple of simple songs). Like, knowing that songs are usually put together in a key and that learning the key really well would make learning any song in that key pretty easy. That sort of thing also goes along well with developing his ear. If I can identify a couple of notes in a song but can't quite here another one, knowing the key it's in give me a tool to figure out what that note probably is. Same thing with chord progressions and also how chord progressions relate to the key.
Knowing that stuff gives me the motivation to practice the really basic and boring stuff because I can see how that builds the foundation to do the fun stuff (playing an actual song).
The first time that he is able to play a song and play it WITH someone will probably be the exact moment that he gets hooked on guitar. If that happens and you see it, it may well be the moment that gets you hooked on teaching guitar too.
I know you're kind of getting roped into doing this but it's a really great thing you're doing. Thanks!
posted by VTX at 9:55 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, a 10yo should have a full size guitar. All my 10-11yo students have full size guitars (except one), and they can handle them just fine.
You can Google 100's of sources yourself to back me up here.
posted by TinWhistle at 10:19 AM on November 23, 2015
You can Google 100's of sources yourself to back me up here.
posted by TinWhistle at 10:19 AM on November 23, 2015
Response by poster: All - I really appreciate all the answers I'm getting here - thank you.
To a couple of points...
emjaybee and current resident - good tips about a snack. I don't know if food scarcity is an issue for him or not. I'm a little bit concerned about that path, but I think it's a good idea anyway.
I think on the first lesson I'll focus on what Herodios was saying about what he wants to learn, and explore where he wants to go with it. I don't even know what kinds of music he likes. I'll worry about what kind of guitar to get him later...he might be able to use one of mine (I've an Ovation he likely could handle, come to think of it.)
Finally - VTX I have the Justinguitar books and was planning on using them to build lessons for him if the direction goes that way.
I figure I'm going to just guide him more than anything else, at least at first.
posted by Thistledown at 10:39 AM on November 23, 2015
To a couple of points...
emjaybee and current resident - good tips about a snack. I don't know if food scarcity is an issue for him or not. I'm a little bit concerned about that path, but I think it's a good idea anyway.
I think on the first lesson I'll focus on what Herodios was saying about what he wants to learn, and explore where he wants to go with it. I don't even know what kinds of music he likes. I'll worry about what kind of guitar to get him later...he might be able to use one of mine (I've an Ovation he likely could handle, come to think of it.)
Finally - VTX I have the Justinguitar books and was planning on using them to build lessons for him if the direction goes that way.
I figure I'm going to just guide him more than anything else, at least at first.
posted by Thistledown at 10:39 AM on November 23, 2015
Ask him what music he listens to, and listen to some of it with him. If he literally likes gangsta rap, suck it down and give it 5-10 minutes. What does he like about this music? What makes it work for him? That will help you tailor his lessons.
posted by disconnect at 12:05 PM on November 23, 2015
posted by disconnect at 12:05 PM on November 23, 2015
My kids (11 and 16) both play guitar pretty well and this is how they learned, and how I learned as well. When I was 12 years old, I got a Beatles chord book that had the boxes that showed how to play basic open chords. I liked the Beatles so I just went through book at my own pace and chose easy songs like Rocky Racoon, etc. and took it from there.
I still like the Beatles and so did my kids when they were younger so I also broke out the Beatles book with chord box charts and showed the kids how to form basic chords. Part of it they worked out on their own, part of it was us playing two guitars together on favorite songs and me offering tips, etc. When my son was 8 or 9, he would sit for hours figuring out songs and then come and play them for me. My daughter learned few Beatles songs and then got herself a Taylor Swift chord book, etc.
We would often sit and I'd say this is what a major chord sounds like compared to a minor, etc. and I'd then test them for fun.
No, they never learned to properly read music but mostly taught themselves with a bit of guidance from me here and there and the three of us can still sit down and have good fun playing songs together.
Maybe not for everyone but that's how we did it.
posted by gfrobe at 12:41 PM on November 23, 2015
I still like the Beatles and so did my kids when they were younger so I also broke out the Beatles book with chord box charts and showed the kids how to form basic chords. Part of it they worked out on their own, part of it was us playing two guitars together on favorite songs and me offering tips, etc. When my son was 8 or 9, he would sit for hours figuring out songs and then come and play them for me. My daughter learned few Beatles songs and then got herself a Taylor Swift chord book, etc.
We would often sit and I'd say this is what a major chord sounds like compared to a minor, etc. and I'd then test them for fun.
No, they never learned to properly read music but mostly taught themselves with a bit of guidance from me here and there and the three of us can still sit down and have good fun playing songs together.
Maybe not for everyone but that's how we did it.
posted by gfrobe at 12:41 PM on November 23, 2015
Best answer: I think it's important to talk to his mom. Like you say, you want to establish that she's okay with her kid being at your house. You also want to establish that you're okay with your/his guitar being at his house.
If this takes off and the kid wants to play a lot, obviously he needs his own guitar to practice on. You're talking about buying a smaller guitar for him; is that a gift? a loan? a loan that you're assuming will turn into a gift if all goes well? Something you give him right away or only let him take home after a couple of lessons?
A socioeconomic gap can just mean this kid can't afford lessons, or sometimes is a code word for a bad living situation on top of that, I'm not sure what you meant, or maybe you don't know for sure either. What if kid's guitar is smashed in an argument, or pawned by parents or older sibling? What if kid decides he doesn't want to play so much and just stops showing up, kid and guitar vanish - are you upset, or is that basically part of your plan?
I'm not saying don't give/loan this kid an instrument, I'm saying to map out how you'll feel in a bunch of worst-case scenarios and kind of include those possibilities in your mental plan. You could have backup plans like keeping the guitar at your house for a while until you get a feel for his family, or maybe just talking with his mom is enough.
posted by aimedwander at 12:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
If this takes off and the kid wants to play a lot, obviously he needs his own guitar to practice on. You're talking about buying a smaller guitar for him; is that a gift? a loan? a loan that you're assuming will turn into a gift if all goes well? Something you give him right away or only let him take home after a couple of lessons?
A socioeconomic gap can just mean this kid can't afford lessons, or sometimes is a code word for a bad living situation on top of that, I'm not sure what you meant, or maybe you don't know for sure either. What if kid's guitar is smashed in an argument, or pawned by parents or older sibling? What if kid decides he doesn't want to play so much and just stops showing up, kid and guitar vanish - are you upset, or is that basically part of your plan?
I'm not saying don't give/loan this kid an instrument, I'm saying to map out how you'll feel in a bunch of worst-case scenarios and kind of include those possibilities in your mental plan. You could have backup plans like keeping the guitar at your house for a while until you get a feel for his family, or maybe just talking with his mom is enough.
posted by aimedwander at 12:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
If he has a game system at home then you might consider getting him Rocksmith (http://rocksmith.ubi.com/rocksmith/en-us/home/). My husband got my 8-year old a smaller version of a standard electric guitar. You hook the instrument up to the game system/game and it teaches you chords etc. using current music and a game style format. He'll be using a real instrument and can learn at his own pace. My husband is usually nearby to step in if he has questions or sometimes they play together but it's been a low risk way to see how serious he is about progressing to actual lessons.
posted by victoriab at 6:35 PM on November 23, 2015
posted by victoriab at 6:35 PM on November 23, 2015
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* For the size issue, how about just a capo to start with? If the issue is hand size, further up the neck might be easier. Also, if you have electrics they tend to be way easier to fret.
* The starting chord shapes are a pain, but for small/weak hands barre chords are even worse so focus on songs containing the easier shapes (D, G, C) and avoid stuff like the B barre :)
* See what kind of music he likes. I had to learn more Green Day than I ever wanted to keep the kids interested (well, that dates me ...).
* Open tunings can also be a fun way to make nice sounds before you master everything.
* If you have a bass, that might work too. Single notes are easier than chords.
The main thing is that this kid seems to be looking for a role model and adult male mentor. Make sure that if you take this on, you are consistent and don't leave the kid out to dry. You may also get a lot out of it. I had to re-learn some theory stuff and think a lot about how and why stuff works in order to teach it, and it helped my playing too!!
Good luck, and good for you for doing this.
posted by freecellwizard at 8:11 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]