Guitar lessons for children.

If your child is musical it is great to get them involved in music lessons at a young age. But it can also be daunting to send a very young child to individual lessons, and it puts them under a certain amount of pressure with the attention of the teacher solely focused on them. Group lessons can be a lot less intimidating for a young child and can be a great way to get them interested in formal music education.

Some instruments lend themselves well to a group lesson and the guitar is of those instruments. It is practical to have a number of students in the same room with guitars. Spatially this is not always possible with some instruments. It is also practical to have the sound of many guitars at one time – again, not always a possibility with larger and louder instruments. The other good thing about the guitar is that they come in smaller sizes for children, as do other stringed instruments. This is hugely beneficial when a child is very young, or indeed with a child who is quite small.

The format of most guitar lessons involves the teacher demonstrating the hand positions to the students, with the teacher generally seated beside or in front of the teacher. It is a very interactive lesson as the teacher can converse with the students when playing – something that can’t be done with woodwind lessons for instance! The guitar is also relatively easy to begin to get a sound out of. Most people can strum a guitar an instantly hear a chord. By learning a few basic chords the student is quickly able to strum along and even accompany a basis song. While this is only a very basic step on the road to learning the guitar, being able to get good clear sounds right from the beginning of your lessons is very encouraging for children. Many other instruments take a considerable length of time to be able to successfully get even basic sounds from, so the immediacy of the guitar is certainly a major plus where children are concerned.

Have a look at music schools in your area and see if they offer group tuition for children. If not, perhaps you could get a few of your children’s friends together to form a small group. Music teachers are usually highly flexible and will always be keen to see young children taking up an instrument. Ask if they would consider taking a group and negotiate a suitable rate. You may find that it is far cheaper to enroll in a group class and this will then allow your child to try it out and decide if this is the instrument for them.

Find out a bit about the music teacher before you sign up. Check they are experienced in dealing with both beginners and with children. See if you child could meet the teacher in advance so they feel happy about going for the lessons. Hopefully this will be the start of a great musical adventure for your child!

HelenElizabeth is an Irish writer available for proofreading, editing, and general writing work.