Young children learning to play the guitar

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I should say that am not a parent and so I am looking for advice from parents of children that started learning to play the guitar or teachers who know about this.

Sam is a 7 year old boy in our church and he has just got his first guitar, a 3/4 steel string - not the best guitar in the world but far better than the one I started on - and he wants to learn chords so that he can play the songs we sing in church. So far, so good.

He started lessons at school this week and his teacher told his mother that he must not play a guitar with steel strings otherwise his finger joints will soon be damaged. Add to that the thing young Sam has been taught in his first lesson is picking the strings classical style which is not what young Sam wants to learn. His mother has asked me for advice.

I started when I was 9 (and I am now 60) and I have never had problems with my finger joints but I do not want to assume anything that could amount to negligence in the care of a 7 year old. I would be happy for him to have a 1 or 2 semitone detuned guitar if that makes pressing strings easier at the start but whilst I am a guitar player of many years, I am not an expert in children's anatomy.

So, what do you know? Do 7 year olds have weak finger joints? Is a steel string guitar really a problem for young hands?
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Comments

  • I started when I was 9 on a steel string acoustic with high action, 50 years in and no finger damage.  I would suggest the child be directed to a different guitar teacher.  If the childs mother has no problem with Sam learning chords so he can play along I would hope she got him a teacher that would work with him in that direction.  

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11673
    Sounds like he needs a new teacher.

    Everyone has different perceptions of what a guitar player "should" be and what they "should" know.

    However 7 year olds are sensitive and easily upset, if he wants to learn some chords to play some nice church songs, then that is what he should be allowed to do. 

    Otherwise one day he will put down that guitar and never pick up one again.
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • The youngest child I've taught was 9 years old and he had a nylon classical guitar, purely cos the strings are softer but the neck and action were so bad it made it difficult to play chords.

    For someone so young either play electric to start off with or as suggested above maybe detune a steel string guitar down to make it easier.

    I've adapted chords to simpler voicings so they can play stuff, e.g 1 finger C and G chords, so they can still do it just not the same shapes an adult, say would learn. The teacher sounds like a dick to me.
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Give him a ukulele, soft strings , low tension, easier to remember chords and easy to move onto guitar 
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  • As has been suggested, I think that's rubbish He might find the strings harder to press down on a steel string but it won't do any damage. I'm teaching a 6-year-old at the moment who's learning on a cheap acoustic (nylon string though) as he heard Smoke on the Water and wanted to learn to play it. He can do it already and hold down a D chord after 2 lessons, so all good.
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  • The teacher sounds like a dick to me.
    Yes, that  =)
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  • WhistlerWhistler Frets: 322
    edited February 2019

    Thanks, all of you. Here is little Sam with his Ashton mini guitar.

    I have discovered that the school music system here teaches only classical music, nothing from the 20th or 21st century. I am surprised.

    With his parents we have found what will probably be Sam's path: to continue at the school because it is teaching music theory and the brain-finger coordination that he will need. His parents know a chap in the church that teaches a number of children basic chords. I said I will check from time to time that Sam is learning to read music and chord diagrams and, when he knows a handful of chords and a few songs, that he is also learning chord theory (scale harmonisation) and the use of different rhythm patterns, dynamics and even silence to make sure he isn't falling between two stones and not learning all the fundamental stuff.

    I have put nylon strings and a new nut on his little acoustic guitar to keep his school teacher happy. I tied knots in the string and slotted onto them the little nipples from the old strings and that has worked a treat. It feels great with nylon strings being softer and the slim folk guitar neck making it easy to play with small hands.

    Your advice, fretboard friends, has been helpful. Thanks ever so much.
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