Kid's learning guitar

Tal Rules · November 2005

Thought I'd pass this along to the group and hopefully get some feedback from the group..

I have a 14 year old son who plays guitar... He started playing about 18 months ago and me and my wife started off with the premise that since I had a music degree and guitar was my principal instrument when I used to play, and also seeing that I used to teach guitar, what better economical and practical solution than for dear old Tal Sr. to teach Tal Jr the fundamentals of guitar playing....

This arrangement lasted for about 4 months... Taught the kid rudimentary music theory, Begginging chords, reading in tab's and on the scale and reading chord changes... Taught him the old blues pentatonic scales and jammed blues stuff with him. To keep his interest I taught him some old Hendrix and cream stuff as well...Even learned some of the stuff kid's are listening to to these days and taught him those tunes as well...

Very interested the first couple of months and then I noticed his interest was waning? After talking with him I got the reason... I'm not as \"cool\" as the guitar teacher his friends were going to....Got the name of the \"Cool\" teacher from him and went down to talk to him. The guy turned out to be a hell of a player and definitely had the coolness factor going for him...

Long hair, plays in heavy metal bands around town, and a martial arts instructer as well....

We talked for a while and then we started playing a few tunes together. Turns out the guy is a hell of a jazz and classical player as well. and we just had a jolly good time for about an hour... Lot of fun...

Anyway I decided to keep my son's interest up and enroll him with the \"Cool\" teacher. Kid is steadily progressing to the point where he can play \"purple Haze\" note for note as well as several chili peppers, and metallica tunes... Teacher winks at me when he gives him an old standard like \"All of Me\" and he even sneaks a little Bach to the kid when he's not noticing....

Just wondering if any of you guys have hit the \"coolness\" factor when trying to show your teenage kids something..

See Ya,
Tal

Mike B · November 2005

Two or three years ago my daughter was extolling the greatness of Blink182 and bla bla bla. She also wanted to pick up the guitar. I told her Blink182 was just another band and even me, an almost 50 something (back then) could play their stuff. If you can beat a bar chord you can play their stuff. She didn't believe me, so I listened to Adam's Song, a DGB thing, and played the opening riff and the chord progression for her, that won a few points for me. Now she doesn't remember Blink and has no intrest in playing guitar.
Personaly I believe teenage girls have a biological brain switch that turns off their brains when they turn 16. I've been told, by other parents, that they will return to human around 20 or so. I am waiting to see, I'll keep you posted.

Dobb · November 2005

Hi;

My 12 yo son started playing guitar last Christmas. I started out thinking the same thing, Ol' Dobb can teach the boy what he needs to know to get going. WRONG!!!! I found that my son was nervous and was concerned that he would let me down if he didn't play things \"right\". This made him nervous to the point that he was clearly not enjoying himself.

I decided to send him to the local music store for lessons. That didn't start off so great either. His first instructor was a Hal Leonard freak and insisted that he learn with that method. Well lets just say the boy thought Hal Leonard sucked! LOL. Anyway, we found a teacher that sounds amazingly like the one you found Tal. Now my boy is improving daily and loving it!! Now I just jam with my son, and teach him the licks he brings to me for help. Now our musical relationship is much more comfortable, and we are both happier about the situation. 8)

Just my two cents,
Peace,
Dobb.

Jesus Rules!! · November 2005

TAL; Sorry to hear your son thinks you are a geek!! Hehehe

I worked with my nephew, in the last year he has been through
Slide Tromboune (sp), Sax, Bass, Guitar. He is 15. I think the problem is he don't relly know what he wants, so he is just experimenting. Also worked with him with, Boxing, Racketball, tennis, basketball, Aikido, weight lifting, drum machine, computer mixing.... it goes on and on and on
:roll:

Well, now he likes mixing and stuff on the computer. Into rap, He is mixed and is DESPERATELY trying to get in touch with \"the dark side\"

, i.e. his black heritage. Well, I say, good for him! It is going well. we have found him a good black mentor at church to hang with a little.

I did not know there was so much christian rap out there!! Kewl! 8)

guitar3456 · November 2005

I think it depends on the spark given off as they hold the instrument. I teach my sons drums and guitar. I don't task them to play, but I give them simple instruction and let them go at their own pace. When they see me practicing..they go upstairs and start themselves. You can never force motivation. I just let them do what is natural. My older son ( now 15) really discovered new methods in drums all the while keeping rudaments and fundamentals. It's a choice to play, not a job to do it. Seems to work. Unfortunately some of us paying instructors expect quick movement. When I taught , I sent many kids away that were not mature enough to cope with regimented lesson plans. Some parents brought me 5 yr olds. I could have milked it, but I'm not that way!

thehootman · November 2005

i am 16, so might as well give you guys a perspective from the teenagers point of view.

i began to learn guitar when i was 10, mainly because i desperately wanted to learn an instrument, and guitar was the most appealing.
i simply love music, so watever i could learn i practised in earnest so i could improve.
i liked my first guitar teacher, who was into country music and ac/dc, and we got along well.
i think the most important thing in learning an instrument is that you have to want to learn, not be forced into doing it.
in the past year i have got into iron maiden, and i learnt their songs, and became 3 times better.

you wont get any better at playing guitar unless you learn more difficult songs/techniques

5 year olds shouldnt learn guitar, their hands are simply too small and they wont be motivated

this i knew, and now i can play yngwie malmsteen harmonic minor shred pretty well now, and kirk hammet stuff is easy etc.

i have the urge for constant improvement, so that helps for me to become better.

GuitarKidd · November 2005

What would be a good age to start. I have a 6 year old daughter who keeps wanting to pluck the strings and all but she is not anywhere near being able to comprehend beginning theory and even playing guitar...

Where a good place to start for someone at her age of 6. Should we go with some piano and then let he move to guitar.

ne1roc · November 2005

If you think back to when you were 14-16 years old, all you really wanted to do was play the guitar like Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Van Halen, etc. You truly don't want to know the theory and fundamentals at that age because you just want to impress people with what you can do, not what you know. Tal, its too bad your son doesn't want to learn from you with the credentials you have, he's missing out, but you are being a great dad and letting him do what is more fun for him. 8)

Hey Mike B, my daughter just turned 19 last month, she really is almost human again! Thank God!

GuitarKidd, I started lessons when I was 5 years old because I wanted to play guitar at that age. Unfortunately I had very conservative parents and they sent me to the Royal Conservatory of Music for 3 years. I could read music and play pretty good but I couldn't stand what I was learning so I quit guitar for 9 years. Today....... I haven't got a clue what I'm doing and I'm pissed that I didn't stick with it. I think your daughter is at a great age to start but somehow it's gotta be fun.

ednrg · November 2005

I think we're all going through the \"I used to be cool....I used to get chicks....what happened?\" syndrome. Every kid goes through that stage where they think their parents are embarrasing them. Yngwie's kid will be doing the same thing to him when he gets older.

D.Alexander · November 2005

This is a funny, funny thread. My son has been playing since he was 14 (17 now). I went through the whole similar story / events as y'all with your own kids. I also experienced this as a teen and rebeling against my dad who performed folk, (Jim Croche meets Capt. Kangaroo is what i remember summing it up too back then). This was obviously not too cool when metal was big back in the early 80's! I was a dumb kid and i should have taken advantage of it but i didn't realize what potential was there in the wealth of theroy that the old man could have laid on me. Now it's too late for me. I can no longer learn like the spounge i used to be, even though i want it more than ever. My son has learned more than i ever will in the few years he has played and technically and speedily, he has me licked. I want him to play live with me but he sees this as the ultimate low for himself and refuses to do it, even for half the nights earnings! I'll tell you just how impressionable kids are... he hated everything but Marilyn Manson and Munster Vane or however the name goes.... until he realized that Manson's guitarist (Twiggy i think is what he goes by) was an avid bluegrass picker, well son of a *** bluegrass was now the most freaking awesome \"purist\" forum of \"what real guitarists aspire too\" kind of playing on the freaking planet! Never mind the fact that he had heard me play \"Circle Unbroken\" for the last year and a half.

Anyways i still ask, even plee with him to play out with me but in the end you gotta give them their room.... what's the worst that could happen.... they loose interest in music and what, make a decent living for themselves doing something else?

granitehead · November 2005

For the younger (4-8yr old?) set, I think keeping a cheap electric keyboard lying around is a great way to light the musical spark. Less technical skill required to make pleasant sounds, and for teaching basic theory, it can't be beat... it's so linear. Brought home a $40 used Yamaha keyboard when my oldest daughter was 4. She's 20 now and pursuing a double major in vocal performance and music ed. at UNH. My 16 yr old started on the same keyboard when *she* was 4 and is now composing / performing her own stuff. Best $40 I ever spent.
Unfortunately, neither took the stringed instrument bait, even though there's a *lot* of them lying around...

- g

Kid's learning guitar

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