7 Guitar Tips for Beginners that Will Help Your Kid to Get Started
Are you looking for an in-depth article on guitar tips for beginners that will help your kid to get started with learning guitar? If yes, then you have just landed on the right page. Teaching guitar playing to kids could be daunting but if you know the right way, it would become a little easier. Want to know the ways? You got it!
This very article is all about beginner guitar tips, you will find everything you need to know about teaching guitar to a kid. Keep patience and just go through it, you will end up loving it. So without any further ado, let’s get started with the tips!
7 Guitar Tips for Beginners
Before you start giving your kid guitar lessons, there are a few things that you got to consider first. The very first thing to consider is the age of your kid. Kids age above 9 or 10 years is perfect but younger kids also do learn to play guitar.
That being said, it could be very tough to teach kids under 8 years. And then make sure your kid is interested in guitar. If your kid is not comfortable with it, do not force, you will never be able to teach.
Choosing the guitar
If your kid is under 8 years, then a ukulele would be perfect. Kids above 8 would be comfortable with a small-sized guitar. There are different sized guitars and ukulele available in the market. Not only sizes there are different types of guitars as well Spanish, classic, etc. Have a look at this https://www.mitoolbuy.com/best-classical-guitars/
Do not pick a size that will give your kid a hard time to hold it. Their hands will be small so choose a size according to that, otherwise won’t be able to play it. Here are sizing according to the age.
1\4 Size for 4-6 years old kids.
½ size for 6-9 years old kids.
¾ size for 9 to 11 years old.
For kids above 12 years, a standard-sized guitar would be perfect.
Accessories
Buy a guitar with all the needed accessories such as Metronome, tuner, extra set of strings, and pick. Purchase a couple of picks instead of one or two and choose colorful picks that your kids might like. And get a strap as well, if it doesn’t come with the guitar.
The right way of holding
Before you teach your kid guitar lessons, teach him or her to hold the guitar appropriately. Pick a spot in your home that you kid like and let him or her sit in a chair. You go behind the kit and show him the right way.
If your kid is a lefty, then the right hand should be on the fretboard and left hand on the body. And vice versa. It will take a little time but within a few days he or she should get it.
Strings
Normally there are six strings on a guitar and each has a name. The strings are aligned as such E A D G B A (from the top string). Now teach your kids these names in funnier way so that they would be able to remember.
Elephant
And
Donkey’s
Grow
Big
Ears
Isn’t it fun?
Strumming Pattern
There are a lot of strumming patterns depends on the rhythm. But there are some basics that every beginner learns at first. The very basic one is,
Down
Up
Down
Up
The down-up strumming pattern is the most easiest and this strumming pattern will help you to adapt other patterns as well.
Tuning
The guitar should always be in tune. Anything wrong with the tuning can ruin everything. So bring a tuner and teach your kid to tune a guitar. There are small devices in the market and these can help greatly. Everything is shown in the display.
Chords
Now time to step into the main and the tough phase. Chords are the way you hold the strings on the fretboard. There are different cords used according to the songs. The basic chords are C A D E B F G. But there is a lot of complexity, there are minor cords, majors, and sharps as well.
Learning the chords will take some time but when the basic chords are learned, your kid should be able to play some songs, there are a hell lot of songs which can be covered by four easy chords. Allow your kids to play these songs, it will push them to go forward.
And most importantly, when holding the chords the fingers might hurt a bit at the beginning but it will be okay with time.
Conclusion
This is not all, there are a lot of guitar tips for beginners. These are just the basics that will help your kid to get started. Hope it helps and all the best!