Teaching guitar to a 4 year old

ShayK1

Hey,

I'm just wondering if anybody has any experience or advice on teaching guitar to young kids?
I want to teach my 4 year old nephew but I don't know where to start.

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OK-Cancel-Apply

On and off I show my nephew (7) a few things on guitar. He really wants to learn. I show him open chords mainly. For a 4 year old I'd say start with playing different notes on a single string and work him up to a simple single-stringed tune.

CountingCrows

How about a simple riff like Nirvana - Come As You Are

Fingers Mcginty

Is 4 not a wee bit too young?

Nulty

4 is too young but if the kid has an interest in music, at that age, rhythm is the place to start. I've been trying to teach my nephew (7) some stuff but his attention span and determination are pretty weak. One break through I had recently was strumming patterns on muted strings. They're easy to learn, not so loud and fun for him.

ShayK1

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

On and off I show my nephew (7) a few things on guitar. He really wants to learn. I show him open chords mainly. For a 4 year old I'd say start with playing different notes on a single string and work him up to a simple single-stringed tune.

Any suggestions on single string tunes?
The first one that comes into my head is the White Stripes....

Blackhorse Slim

ShayK1 wrote: »

Any suggestions on single string tunes?
The first one that comes into my head is the White Stripes....

My son who is 9 started playing at 8, his favourite riff is Smoke on teh Water. I started him on a one-string version, and when he had that down I showed him ho to play it on two strings.

jaylynch1111

I think 4 is too young, i would say 6/7 would be better

dochara

A musical 4-year old should be able to play a G chord by pressing third finger on the 1st string G (3rd fret) and strumming top 4 strings (D, G, B, G).

Put some masking tape on 5th and 6th strings to deaden them but try and show him/her how to miss them.

Later, he/she will learn how to play the full G chord.

rOBeRt frETt

The Best thing to teach a child would be how to sing intervals using the guitar to acomapany. - Start with Jaws la -la, la -la all the way to somewhere over the rainbow - la- la. This way the child may preserve their perfect pitch. - a G chord - why?

rOBeRt frETt

jaylynch1111 wrote: »

I think 4 is too young, i would say 6/7 would be better

Why? - would you allow a 4 year old to paint? - I teaching my daughter rhythm by clapping and intervals by singing (imitating the piano). She's 10 months old and Loves it.

dochara

rOBeRt frETt wrote: »

a G chord - why?

Because it's the only chord one can play on a EADGBE tuned guitar with one finger. Do you know of any other one?

dochara

rOBeRt frETt wrote: »

. . . preserve their perfect pitch

"preserve" perfect pitch? What percentage of children are born with perfect pitch to preserve?

rOBeRt frETt

you can play many chords with One finger - using two open strings!!
why would you start at such an advanced level - and what good would knowing how to play a G chord have? - none, except you could say- I thought a 4 year old how to play a G chord....with some masking tape

rOBeRt frETt

dochara wrote: »

"preserve" perfect pitch? What percentage of children are born with perfect pitch to preserve?

- well none, as everyone knows, perfect pitch is handed down by God himself to very select humans who make a jump in evolution.

or - we are all born with perfect pitch and some people preserve it.

or your possibly right about all the points your making- who knows?

dochara

rOBeRt frETt wrote: »

you can play many chords with One finger - using two open strings!!
why would you start at such an advanced level - and what good would knowing how to play a G chord have? - none, except you could say- I thought a 4 year old how to play a G chord....with some masking tape

I don't have to explain the whys or wherefores - it's the only 4-string chord that one can play with one finger.

I charge for lessons.

kawaii

rOBeRt frETt wrote: »

- well none, as everyone knows, perfect pitch is handed down by God himself to very select humans who make a jump in evolution.

or - we are all born with perfect pitch and some people preserve it.

or your possibly right about all the points your making- who knows?

I think you're right (think I read the same thing somewhere) - people with perfect pitch are like people who can wiggle their ears.

Aligator Farmer

dochara wrote: »

I don't have to explain the whys or wherefores - it's the only 4-string chord that one can play with one finger.

I charge for lessons.

Hmm, how about E minor?
D string 2nd fret, G, B and E strings open

twowheelsonly

Aligator Farmer wrote: »

Hmm, how about E minor?
D string 2nd fret, G, B and E strings open

So which one would be better to learn?

E minor or G Major? Hmmm... Let me think about that one.

IMO 4 is not too young to learn. Awkward maybe but not insumountable. At that stage it's about teaching a sense of rhythm and feeling for the music. I have a 5 yr old niece who's had a 'baby' guitar since last Christmas and she never puts it down. She plays all one string stuff shown to her by her older siblings and she's not too bad for the size of her!!! That can't be a bad thing in fairness.

Aligator Farmer

G major for happy Kids
E minor for sullen ones
;-)

Anyway, as you say, much easier to teach kids melodies they recognise rather than chords.
Nice to hear your kids are having fun with a guitar.

rOBeRt frETt

Start with some easy Beatles stuff...........Like so ->

odonopenmic

dochara wrote: »

"preserve" perfect pitch? What percentage of children are born with perfect pitch to preserve?

Actually they reckon we're all born with it in order to learn language but then lose it once we do that.

jay-susman

I used to teach a good few 4 and 5 year olds and usually their hands were way to small and they had almost zero attention.
If you want him to learn you need to make it fun for him and give him a reason to want to keep going, maybe prizes for getting stuff right or something like that.
Tunes on one string are probably your best bet too, i used that after chords were an epic fail:p!
Try and pick one thing that you want him to learn and do that every time you teach and add something else every second week or so to keep his interest up. But at that age it's just constant repetition that will get to learn things.
I found that keeping it interesting was the hardest part.
Good luck!

stevemcf

Regardless of age why not start with Twinkle Little Star or something like that. The most important thing is you play something TOGETHER rather than asking him to do it alone. That's the fun in teaching.
Steve