Guitar for children: size, ropes and first songs

How old can a child learn guitar?

Around 6 or 7 years old, many children have the strength on their fingers, the co-ordination and patience necessary to start with guitar. Before that age they can, but their small hands get tired quickly by pressuring their strings, and usually best work with matching the instrument with matching and singing and rhythm.

Signs that's ready:

• He wants to play and care about his guitars at his place, at his school or at his videos.
• It can keep an eye on an activity that's been guided for 20 to 30 minutes.
• He's got the power to press a string up his face and have his note sound clear.

What guitar size your child needs

The children's guitars come in fractional sizes. That table is an orientation and what it commands is how the child feels with the instrument in his or her hands.

The proof in person

• Sitting, with his feet standing on his floor or at his banquet, his guitar should not cover his face or force him to tighten his face.
• The right arm rests on the box and his hand gets to his guitar's mouth with no effort.
• The left hand reaches first with his elbow a little bent.

If your child's between two sizes, it's best to have his or her best. More details about how to choose your first acoustic guitar.

Why start with nylon strings

Classical guitars wear nylon strings, softer and with less tension and with less metal strings with acoustic guitars of folk or pop. For a child, that translates into less pain in the yolks, a warmer sound and less desire to surrender in the first few weeks.

• Check the height of the ropes. If they are far apart from the diapason, we have to press more strongly. A luthier can put it down with a simple setting, and it's about best investments in an economic guitar.
• Avoid toy guitars with metal stringsThey are often difficult to tuning and they hurt their fingers.
• He's changing his strings When they sound opaque or they don't hold tuning, old strings make bad even a good guitar. We explain how to [how to change guitar strings]](/blog/como-cambiar-las-cuerdas-de-la-guitarra).

The mast of a classical guitar is somewhat more widely felt than that of a metal acoustic. In sizes 1 / 2 and 3 / 4 that's rarely a problem. And if later your child wants to get into metal strings or an electrical guitar, the base that he built will serve him as well.

Fingers, fingernails and pain: what's normal

The first few weeks, the yolks of the left hand feel sensitive, sometimes with string marks. It's normal: with practice a firmer skin forms, the famous "callytes." What's unusual is a strong, sharp pain or that goes on the following day.

• Shortcuts, from 10 to 15 minutes, with pauses while fingers get used to them.
• To press just so that the note sounds clear, close to the frast and not in the middle of the box.
• The left thumb behind the mast, relaxed, without squeezing as a clamp.
• Fingers with a short left hand, otherwise the yolks do not get well with the string.
• Loose shoulder and wrist: if your child tightens his or her jaw or puts his or her shoulder up, it's time to pause.

The first songs: from a string to the first chords

Children have been needing to play real music from an early age, even if that's simple.

1. Melodies on one or two strings. "Star, where are you?" "Happy Birthday" or a viler, note by note.
2. Simplified arrangements. A minor's or Do's one or two finger versions with his thumb scattering down.
3. Two chord songs. Roundabout as "The chicks say" are accompanied with only two chords, and that's the first great accomplishment.
4. First complete chords. My minor, The minor, Ree, Sol and Do open the door to a great many songs.
5. Rage with rhythm. Simple patterns from bottom and up and later, rhythms as a ballast or a bamboo.

Let your son propose songs: one of his favorite series, one that they sing at school, one that sounds at home. Teacher can simplify them to his level. Chords are explained in [basic guitar chords for beginners]](/blog/acordes-basicos-de-guitarra-para-principiantes).

How to accompany practice at home

• You put up with something at first. A child cannot tuning only in the first few months with [guitar tuning]](/herramientas/afinador/guitarra) That place takes a few minutes.
• Let the guitar be seenwith a support or hung onto the wall, but not with a box in the closet.
• Play together. You and your son are singing and scattering: that's the most fun way to practice chord changes.
• One goal per sessionA chord change, a song fragment or a scrag.
• He's asking instead of redressing everything. "What did the teacher of his right hand say to you?" works better than signalling every mistake.

Internet videos are a good complement but a teacher sees posture, guitar size and hands habits that no video fixes. If you are looking for one, in [acoustic guitar classes]](/clases/guitarra-acustica) Find how to get started.

Frequently asked questions