My 5yo boy is on at me about getting a guitar (or "a Qatar" as he calls it, I hope he doesn't want an Arab gulf state). I don't have a musical bone in me and don't know whether it's worth getting something decent that he could potentially progress a bit on, or a $10 uke that he can wreck and be bored with after a week or so.

What do people think? Is it realistic to think a 5 yo would potentially get into it?

Anyone know of any good apps or teaching aids for someone who doesn't know anything about it but wants to help their kid learn? Is it worth looking at "proper" lessons with a real human teacher?

Thanks!

For me, cheap/toy instruments are worse than none at all. Pay a little bit more for an ok guitar and it opens up the chance of it being enjoyed rather than constantly slipping out of tune, rediculous fret buzz etc. Bad instruments ruin the joy of music IMHO.

Id also pay for a few lessons and see if there is joy after learning the first few tunes, if there is keep going, if not, see what the wee tyke has to say and go from there. But in general, better to learn the basics properly the first time than correct bad practices later.

5 years old is too young to learn to play guitar. He won't have the fine motor skills yet. If it's too hard to make music, you can pretty much guarantee he'll get bored.

The piano is physically easy to play. You can usually find a decent piano for free if you do the moving. Tell your son he can learn guitar if he takes a year or two of lessons/practises every day.

At 5 years old he's physically going to grow out of anything you get him.

You could buy a decent ukulele. They're cheap. They're real instruments. And because they're harmony instruments he can be making music straight away. If he is making something like music then you can consider following up on teachers and better instruments.

Avoid the ones with friction tuning pegs. They're considered "authentic" but they're impossible to tune or keep in tune. You want geared tuners.

Get yourself a tuning app for your phone so you can tune it. Out of tune instruments are the greatest killer of musical enjoyment for everybody. See if the kid can learn to tune it using the app.

If you want a junior guitar (classical), I have one that you can have for nothing. Yamaha G225

It's second hand, but I have had friends play it, and in the right hands, it's very pleasant to listen to.

My parents bought it for me when I was in my first year of high school from memory, and although I enjoyed the novelty of banging out tunes, it never stuck as something I wanted to pursue.

I think if kids want to get into any musical instrument, it's worthwhile providing one.

PM me if you want it.

Regards,

Yes he would love it. Be it 5mins of fun or a lifetime player.

At 1 I started playing music around my boy, now at 2 1/2 he can play random stuff on harmonica, chopsticks on piano and strum random single notes on guitar. We flip the guitar over and he now has drums. Never to young to learn an instrument.

The only reason he learned is because he wanted to, you don't have to be good at something to enjoy it, but only practice makes you good at it. Buy him the guitar dirtyharry - even if it's a cheap one from the markets.

Maybe start him off on a 3 string guitar, a bit simpler to start with.

I complained to my Mum once that she didn't get me into music at a young age. She said "We asked you if you wanted to learn piano and you said "No" ".
Apparently I was 5 at the time.

Or snaffle this one for free, with the hope that it will be helpful. Was the choice at the time, and apparently still worthwhile.

http://www.harmonycentral.com/reviews/product/yamaha-g225-classical


Maybe I should put it on Gumtree, and make money of it, rather than potentially help a fellow SB'er?


Regards,

Rocky - you're on, thanks heaps. PM coming. And I must have something in my shed you could use.

7tim - no red thumb from me and I appreciate where you're coming from. A cheap little keyboard at some stage could be a good idea.

Thanks heaps for the input fellas, very helpful.

I bought my son and daughter a small guitar each when I think they were 5 and 7 roughly.

I was hoping to see some great prodigy emerge but neither showed any great interest. Anyway at about 14 it was a light bulb came on for my son and I used to go to sleep most nights listening to him just play and play.

It was like watch a formula one driver come racing past me compared to my limited skills.

So at 5 get them the guitar but dont push

Just see what happens and be patient

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7tim said..
5 years old is too young to learn to play guitar. He won't have the fine motor skills yet.

These kids would disagree with that.