Advice on a first guitar for a 5 year old please

black

hi peeps

please could somebody advise me on a good first guitar to get for my 5 year old boy for Christmas? Am not too worried about price within reason, main concern is that it's something that's actually playable i.e. He can make some sounds on it and it has the ability to be tuned.

thanks
will

pintspiller

A uke?

olafgarten

The Squier Mini Strat is good, unless you want an acoustic?

robgilmo

I just picked up a 3/4 strat for my wee girl, I have yet to run it through an amp, I have to buy one first.

It seems solid enough, tremolo needed tightening up to help stop it drifting out of tune. One thing, because of the shorter neck getting the thing to play in tune requires thicker strings, search my posts for a thread I started a few days ago.

nickb_boy

You should check out Loog guitars.  Only 3 strings and easy on the hand for young ones, but can actually be tuned and used as a proper instrument.
My 5 year old really enjoyed the fact he made it with me and took pride in seeing it come together.  Plus when he goes to bed it's pretty fun to mess about on!

sixstringsam

If you're looking for nylon strings (easier on the fingers) then I can recommend a 1/2 sized Jose Ribera for £100ish.  not the cheapest but good build quality, sound and intonation on the couple that I've seen

Alnico

I got given a full size dreadnought at age 8.

I always say the same thing with kids, give them a normal Telecaster and let them grow into it.
The struggle of playing it at first is seminal and important.

If you must, get them a mini-silly thing but do let them loose on a full size guitar as early as possible. You will be amazed at what they can do with it.

Just my experience and opinion.
It often doesn't fit.

Best of luck with what you do get him.

ICBM

Half size classical, and have it properly set up with better quality hard tension strings - with the short scale they won't feel too stiff, especially if the nut is cut correctly. The strings make a big difference and the stock ones will almost always be crap. You'll need to do this yourself or pay someone to, you won't get one with a factory setup like that (although I've never played the Jose Ribera model mentioned earlier, maybe they are...).

Rave

I was a tiny 8 year old when I started playing on a Hagstrom Futurama and a Les Paul copy. I'm glad my folks didn't buy me a tiny guitar!!

capo4th

A Uke for 25 quid is perfect no dramas when they use it as a weapon.

Aged 5 hand size and fingers work with the uke.

My son aged 7 has now graduated to a Squier mini strat a few months ago for his 7th birthday.

When when he is 9 he wants a candy red custom shop relic Tele....

mgaw

I bought a wee classical a few months ago, got it from Germany after much researching, apparently they take the quality of childrens guitars seriously, i paid £200 for this and it is an absolute belter, great playability out of the box, great sound good volume well impressed.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/hopf_junior_ii_super.htm

I would have no hesitation recommending it to anyone

dindude

I think the Loog looks like a great option for a 5 year old. The problem with a classical is if he's wanting something that looks a bit more like an electric he could be dissapointed and put off, I know I was, and even my 6 month old son, whilst not bothered at all by my acoustics, lights up as soon as I bring out anything with a custom colour and lots of chrome on it (good lad).

The Squier mini Strat looks pretty good but is trying to do too much, don't need three pickups and a trem, just need something that looks cool and stays in tune.

I'd Loog it for a year or two, then get a Squier Mustang if he takes to it, a real guitar but compact enough. Bypass the classical bit unless he really wants to be playing classical guitar. Just my humble opinion, and obviously I've given it no thought at all regarding my own Son! (maybe I should start a thread, recommend me a guitar for a 6 month old baby).

Ravenous

Whatever small instrument you get him - if later he "grows out" of it and goes to a full size instrument, do not get rid of the little one. Forget it in the loft for 20-30 years.

One Xmas he'll thank you for it (and you'll save yourself some money!)

Sassafras

I started on a full size classical. Didn't much like it because of the wide, flat fretboard and the plinky/plonky sound of nylon strings.
Then I got an Eko Ranger 12 strung with 6 strings. Things went much better with that. Started learning far more effectively and faster.
Anyway, that's my experience FWIW.

Modellista

Sassafras said:

I started on a full size classical. Didn't much like it because of the wide, flat fretboard and the plinky/plonky sound of nylon strings.
Then I got an Eko Ranger 12 strung with 6 strings. Things went much better with that. Started learning far more effectively and faster.
Anyway, that's my experience FWIW.

I agree with this, it seems the default learning instrument of the cheapo classical is the worst instrument to encourage new players.  Massively wide neck and crap tone.

The Loogs look cool.  My son, who's nearly five, regularly picks up my travel guitarlele and gives it strum.  I'd think about a Loog, but my concern would be the three strings.  Why not learn as you mean to go on?

olafgarten

modellista said:

Sassafras said:

I started on a full size classical. Didn't much like it because of the wide, flat fretboard and the plinky/plonky sound of nylon strings.
Then I got an Eko Ranger 12 strung with 6 strings. Things went much better with that. Started learning far more effectively and faster.
Anyway, that's my experience FWIW.

I agree with this, it seems the default learning instrument of the cheapo classical is the worst instrument to encourage new players.  Massively wide neck and crap tone.

The Loogs look cool.  My son, who's nearly five, regularly picks up my travel guitarlele and gives it strum.  I'd think about a Loog, but my concern would be the three strings.  Why not learn as you mean to go on?

I think 3 strings is a good idea because of the narrower neck. 

Sesh

have you seen the Harley Benton MS60 from Thomann? 24" scale and 41mm width neck so a bit easier for small hands. Still massive for a 5 year old though.

capo4th

Guitarlele by Yamaha are in Costco for £40 real nice quality for the money

guitars4you

ICBM said:

Half size classical, and have it properly set up with better quality hard tension strings - with the short scale they won't feel too stiff, especially if the nut is cut correctly. The strings make a big difference and the stock ones will almost always be crap. You'll need to do this yourself or pay someone to, you won't get one with a factory setup like that (although I've never played the Jose Ribera model mentioned earlier, maybe they are...).

100% agree with this - narrow top nut width so ok for a 5 year old to handle - easy on the fingers - fine to learn simple rudiments of chord shapes and first few notes - can move on as and when they improve and grow - at this stage forget an electric guitar - learn the rudiments and then you can move on to electric when ready - benefit to mum/dad is less initial outlay - benefit to the kid is hands and fingers can handle this 1/2 size guitar

black

Thanks very much to everyone for the replies - what a great forum this is.

the loog is super cool and I know he would love it but the three strings puts me off a bit.

I am liking the look of the guitarlele, and there is a Costco only 5 miles down the road from us so that could be a winner. Will try and go tomorrow and have a look.

thanks again!
will

robgilmo

That still looks like quite a wide neck.