Article: Choosing A Guitar For My Child – What Size Is Right?
Choosing a Guitar for My Child – What size is right?
It’s great to hear that your child is interested in learning the guitar. Now getting the right size guitar to help them stay enthusiastic about learning. Making sure it’s comfortable for when they play so they can have lots of fun!
Deciding which guitar is right for your child
When choosing a guitar, it’s not the age of your son or daughter that matters. It’s actually how tall your child is.
To figure out how to measure what size of guitar is required for them. Take a look at the video below with Darryl our Guitar teacher. He will show you what the right size guitar is suitable for your child:
Because you need to measure up the size of the guitar. It is best if the guitars are there in real life so you can compare it to your child to make sure it’s right for them. You can also make sure the guitar you are getting isn’t too heavy for them as well.
If you live in London, feel free to come by our school and we can work out what the best size guitar is for your child.
The most popular guitar for kids, around 6-10 year olds is the ¾ classical guitar.
It is a light very portable guitar. Very inexpensive for them to start with. They also have nylon strings that are easy for them to play as well.
If your child loves rock music and lots of pop music which include electric guitar parts. They can actually start on an electric guitar as long they are tall enough.
I wouldn’t recommend getting a ¾ size electric guitar as they will grow out of it quickly. Even at age 7-8, many children can use a full size electric guitar.
The key factor to know whether your child will be able to use any guitar comfortable is whether they can reach along all of the next. And also be able to lean over the guitar comfortably to strum the strings.
If you get them a full size electric guitar means the guitar can potentially last them to adulthood.
Electric guitars are actually quieter so you have more peace and quiet when they practise at home for hours at a time!
Or you can plug them in, and they can feel like proper rock stars rocking out on their electric guitar.
The reason why a child can use a full size electric guitar but not a full size acoustic is because the body of the electric guitar is much thinner. As seen in the image below:
It depends on what your child wants to play on the guitar and size fits them that is the most important thing. A good quality guitar will also help the guitar stays in tune. Children often have a hard time knowing how to tune their guitars. Having one that doesn’t go out of tune when they strum at it really hard for half an hour is very useful.
I hope you have found this article helpful. Once you have the appropriate guitar for your child, I recommend getting a great guitar teacher that will help fill your child with enthusiasm for learning the guitar.
About author: Darryl is a guitar teacher from London, England. He is passionate about teaching children guitar and providing the fun kids guitar lessons in London that they enjoy and make lots of progress in.