re: #333 MandyManners

Before you buy an inexpensive guitar, make sure it will actually tune. Some of the low end guitars aren’t actually instruments, they are more like toys.

And get an electric tuner with the guitar. It is a highly advanced ability to tune by ear. Most all people who think they can tune by ear can’t.

As for the lessons, the typical music store guy wants a longtime customer so he’ll probably start the kid off playing scales and learning the intricacies of the fretboard. Which will absolutely bore the hell out of just about any kid and most will lose interest before they get good enough to play anything. Some will stick with it, but its like pushing a rope for the folks.

I taught my own kid how to play with a single 1-hour lesson. Heres how you make all the chords. Drew them up so he could understand which fingers went where for the basic chords. Then he spent hours and hours practicing the chords and songs. Then you teach them about tablature and all the online sites for downloading easy to read instructions for harder and harder songs.

From that point on, its all about desire. The kid has to want to play. Thats why I advocate teaching chords and easy songs right off the bat. Once the kid can strum some easy chords and play some tunes they get infected with the disease and they want to play and learn more and more. Then they can dig deeper and learn about scales and playing leads.