Playing the guitar could be a fulfilling and enjoyable hobby for your kids. With the right guitar lessons for kids, the guitar can become a satisfying outlet for their creativity and outlet for music.
From time immemorial, people have always used guitars to express their feelings and personality. If you have been wondering how you can teach your child guitar, you will find this article helpful. You will learn a few things about guitar lessons for kids.
The beauty of learning guitar is that it’s affordable and straightforward. Needless to say, you don’t have to break the bank before you can register your child for a guitar lesson.
Most kids often get incomparable satisfaction and excitement whenever they are learning to play guitar. When your kids play guitar, they tend to be calmer. It also gives them creative satisfaction.
Things To Know Before Your Child Starts Guitar Lessons For Kids
Playing Guitar Requires Dexterity
Playing guitar is a continuous process that requires skill. Your kids need to develop their fine motor skills and hand strength before they can start playing guitar. And how fast they can master these skills sometimes depend on the age they start learning.
For instance, it takes nimble fingers to switch chords on guitar strings. And your kids may not be able to develop the skill needed to perform the task until they are eight or nine years old. So, it’s advisable to allow your child to get to eight or nine years before they start attending guitar lessons for kids. It makes the whole learning process more comfortable.
Improving on Guitar Requires Patience and Frequent Practice
Let me clarify something here; most parents get it wrong at this stage. No kids learn to play guitar automatically. It takes patience and frequent practice. And it will be unfair on your child if you are pressuring him/her to learn fast.
Allow me to digress a little. My friend (Jessica) once told me that her son’s guitar learning space is slow. She said the boy has been learning guitar for a month and still can’t play well. I advised her to stop pressuring the boy. Otherwise, he will lose interest. Guess what happened? She left the boy alone; within three months, his guitar playing skill was perfect.
So, if you want your kids to improve on their guitar playing skills, ensure they practice frequently. Even if they lose interest, try to encourage them.
It’s Pointless to Force Your Kids to Learn Guitar
Playing guitar comes with interest, never force your kids to learn. Otherwise, they could lose interest. This reminds me of a childhood memory. When I was eight, my mom signed me up for guitar lessons. I was excited initially, but after the first few lessons, I lost interest. My excuses were – the guitar lesson was too hard, my teacher was annoying. I wasn’t learning any song I like, my guitar was too big, blah, blah, blah.
Well, my mom spent a fortune acquiring a new guitar for me. So, she forced me to keep the lessons up for another year. Those were some of the most boring sessions of my life. It’s not because the sessions were boring, but it’s because I lacked interest. And immediately, when I had the opportunity; I quilted the classes.
But when I was in high school, I started developing a new passion for the instrument. So, I started the lessons again, and the whole process was a lot easier. Do you know why? It’s simple; I was interested.
You don’t have to force a child to learn an instrument like a guitar. If he/she has passion, help them grow their passion. But if they aren’t interested, encourage them; over time, they will develop an interest in playing the instrument.
Before you sign up your child for guitar lessons for kids, he/she must fulfill the following requirements;
#1. Your Child Should Be At Least Eight Years Old
It’s a known fact that most parents want to enroll their kids for guitar lessons at an early age. But any child below the age of eight may be too young to benefit from any guitar lesson.
I earlier mentioned that playing the guitar requires skill and concentration. But most kids below the age of eight find it difficult to provide both dexterity and concentration.
#2. Your Child Displays Sufficient Hand Dexterity
If your kids haven’t developed their fine motor skills, learning guitar will be a bit difficult for them. However, when they play guitar continuously, they tend to build their fine motor skill.
#3. Your Child Can Maintain Focus
If your kid doesn’t know how to maintain focus, learning guitar may not be easy. In my opinion, any child that can’t maintain a 15-minute daily focus on guitar learning isn’t ready to learn. So, you should wait for your child to develop a sense of focus before enrolling them in formal guitar lessons for kids.
#4. Your Child Shows Interest In the Instrument
Your kid doesn’t need to learn to play guitar. If they show significant interest, it’s your job to help them develop the passion further and enroll them for guitar lessons. However, if they aren’t interested, don’t try to force it on them.
Get them Ready for Guitar Lessons Later.
Your kids may not be interested in guitar lessons at a tender age, don’t give up on them just yet. You can still make the instrument part of their lives, but not in a formal setting. Allow them to appreciate the instrument on their own by doing any of the following;
- Play the guitar with them. Whenever you want to play guitar in your free time, engage your kids on their terms. If possible, play them some excellent children’s songs that they know. Over time, they will start developing interest in the instrument. They may even want to strum the guitar while you play it sometimes. Don’t hesitate, allow them to play.
- Have a designated guitar for your kids. If you have a guitar set aside for your kids to play with, it may help them develop a passion for the instrument. There are a ton of great guitars for toddlers.
- Provide Positive Feedback on What They Play—generally, kids like positive feedback and approval from their parents. So, whenever you hear them play guitar, correct them mildly while giving them positive feedback. This approach will invigorate them to keep playing.
Free Guitar Lessons For Kids
If you are signing up your kid for guitar lessons for the first time, it’s advisable to start with the free lessons. There are several platforms online and offline where your kids can start their guitar lessons for free. However, once you observe their level of commitment and interest, you can advance to a paid platform or get a guitar teacher to teach them at home.
So, here are some platforms with free guitar lessons for kids. These platforms are top-rated and provide a fun way for your kids to learn guitar effortlessly.
GUITARLESSONS.COM
Guitarlessons.com is one of the platforms your child can learn free guitar lessons. Their lessons are in video forms. The platform also has a beginner section that’s designed to teach kids without previous guitar experience.
If your child is through with all the lessons in the beginner section, he/she can proceed to the advance to the Rhythm guitar lessons, Lead guitar lessons, or Blues guitar lessons depending on their area of interest.
Justin Guitar (Justinguitar.com)
Justin Guitar is another top-notch platform where you can get free guitar lessons for kids. Interestingly, the platform has over 750 free guitar lessons and over 500 free song tutorials. Also, the platform has a library section for instructions on topics like; ear training, theory, technique, songwriting, etc.
Students of the Justin Guitar Platform often rate it as the best guitar instruction platform online. The platform is entirely free, making learning guitar accessible to everyone, including; the poor, the shy, and those with busy schedules.
Worship Tutorials (worshiptutorials.com)
Worship tutorials is another exceptional platform where your child can get free guitar lessons. It’s a beginner’s course that focuses on guitar basics like rhythm and strumming, timing, learning chords, and learning full songs.
When your children register on this platform, they have 17 different guitar lessons for kids to progress through at their own space.
ANDY Guitar (andyguitar.co.uk)
Andy Guitar is a free guitar learning platform that your kids will find interesting. The learning process is interactive and fun. Your kid could spend more than the expected learning time on this platform and still be attentive.
Furthermore, the website features hundreds of free guitar lessons, including; beginner’s course, strumming tutorial, song tutorials, etc. again, the platform provides answers to some of the frequently asked questions about learning guitars.
Here’s one thing that’s unique about the ANDY Guitar learning platform. It’s 100% free and allows you to create a separate account that you can use to track your progress level, log what you learn, and possibly download free resources.
5 Minute Guitar Lessons is one of the best platforms to get fun guitar lessons for kids. It’s a YouTube channel where your kids can learn the basics of playing guitar from short, exciting videos. The videos aren’t more than 5 minutes each, and your kids will find them interesting. After all, they don’t have to spend several minutes watching a boring video lesson.
The YouTube channel has several short videos for beginners, kids, and several popular songs tutorial.
Create an Amazon Prime Account
Amazon prime is another easy way to access free guitar lessons for kids. All you need do is create an account, and you will have a free 30-day trial. During this trial period, you can access different resources your child can use to learn the guitar. Some of the guitar learning resources you will have access to on Amazon Prime are;
The beginner guitar course is one of the lessons you will have access to during your 30 days free trial on Amazon prime. The course has ten different lessons that cover everything your kids need to know about playing guitar. Your kids will learn about the guitar’s anatomy, strings names, chords, scales, rifles, fingerstyle, etc.
Other courses you can have access to during your 30 days free trial on Amazon prime are;
Learn how to play acoustic guitars for beginners, learn how to play blues guitar for beginners, advance guitar, Advancing guitar, etc.
Monster Chords
The monster chord is arguably the best guitar learning app for kids. The app is unique as it uses a bedtime storytelling approach to teach your kids how to play guitar. It’s a fun, affordable, and easy way to learn the instrument.
When your kid is learning with Monster Chords using the Bedtime storytelling approach, they tend to be inspired to put in more effort.
Unlike the tedious approach used by most guitar learning platforms and apps, Monster Chords turns the lessons into a game that keeps your child coming back for more lessons. This will invariably make developing their guitar playing skill entertaining and effortless.
While the Monster chords is a paid app, it has a trail run which your kid can learn with. But if your child is serious with the learning activity, you can decide to upgrade to a paid version. Here’s the link to download the app.
How to Prepare Your Kids for the First Guitar Lesson
Before you sign up your child for any guitar lessons for kids, you have to teach them some guitar basics. The essence of this is to make the entire learning process more comfortable and less boring to them. So, here’s how to prepare your kids for their first guitar lesson;
Teach them how to get the guitar in tune
Before your child starts his guitar lessons, teach him how to tune a guitar. Ensure that they develop the habit of tuning the guitar every day before they play. It will make the guitar sound better and encourage your kids to play more.
Teach them how to read chord charts
Gradually teach your kids how to read chord charts because they will use the chart to explain how to play different chords to songs during their lessons.
Teach them to read guitar tabs
If you can, teach your kids how to read guitar tabs. Their guitar instructor will use guitar tabs to illustrate how to play single notes using guitars.
Playing guitar is fun, and your kids will love it.
