How Old Should a Child Be to Begin Guitar Lessons? How Best to Start?
Posted in guitar lessons on 24. Jun, 2010
This week’s question is as follows:
Question: Our son is almost seven years old and is asking to take guitar lessons. He has loved guitars since he was three years old — he has a $30 kids’ acoustic guitar.
He loves electric guitar music and has asked to start lessons. My husband and I are assuming that kids should begin with acoustic guitar lessons and move to electric guitar later. Is that so?
Also, I wondered if, because of his young age (7), it might be smarter to start him on an instrument that is easier, so he can feel like he’s progressing. Is a ukelele a good choice?
My husband played trumpet from middle school through college. I play CDs… 
Any sound advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Answer: I have been teaching for many years. I have students that start as young as 7. Start on the acoustic and eventually he can go to an electric. (they are essentially the exact same instrument) Do not worry about difficulty. At that age they are like a sponge and will "soak up" all of the pertinent information.
The ukulele is not the same instrument. The tuning is different and the chord shapes are different. Unless he expresses an interest in it, you should stick with the guitar. Be sure to find a good local instructor who has some experience with kids this young.
The sooner you start, the sooner he will start experiencing the many advantages that music lessons offer children. It has been well documented that children who are exposed to a structured music lesson format do much better in math, reading, language skills, spatial and tactile coordination, and many other aspects of higher learning. He obviously has the desire and I encourage you to nurture that as much as possible.
In this day and age when music and extracurricular activities in schools are being cut left and right, and Game boy and Play station are quickly replacing them, you definitely owe it to yourselves and to your son to help him develop a lifelong love for music and the arts.
Good luck to you.
The ukulele is not the same instrument. The tuning is different and the chord shapes are different. Unless he expresses an interest in it, you should stick with the guitar. Be sure to find a good local instructor who has some experience with kids this young.
The sooner you start, the sooner he will start experiencing the many advantages that music lessons offer children. It has been well documented that children who are exposed to a structured music lesson format do much better in math, reading, language skills, spatial and tactile coordination, and many other aspects of higher learning. He obviously has the desire and I encourage you to nurture that as much as possible.
In this day and age when music and extracurricular activities in schools are being cut left and right, and Game boy and Play station are quickly replacing them, you definitely owe it to yourselves and to your son to help him develop a lifelong love for music and the arts.
Good luck to you.
You should absolutely start acoustic before electric, and its better to start at a young age, though any age is good age for music
. If you get lessons the teacher would suggest what to do and what is best for your son. Good Luck 
Start him ASAP, he’ll pick it up and be amazing by the time hes 12! hah
But deffinetly start with acoustic then move to electric.
7 is a perfect age to start taking lessons. I’d suggest he start on an acoustic guitar (maybe a little better one than the $30 First Act guitar, but that will do for starters). I would forget about the ukelele idea (I don’t know anybody who really wants to play one of those). He should be able to pick things up pretty quickly. I started taking lessons when I was 7 and am now teaching my 7 year old son how to play. There are good lessons books a teacher will point out to you that go very methodically through time-proven steps to teach good guitar skills. Hope he enjoys it!