Teaching kids to play the guitar requires a different approach than teaching adults. In addition to a different approach, children also need a guitar size that fits their body size. In this article, we will take a brief look at how to choose the right instruments for young students. However, the focus of the article is on different ways to teach kids to play guitar and some tips to help you design a child-friendly guitar course.
Choosing the right guitar
There are basically two things to consider when choosing the right instrument for a child. First, there are different sizes of guitars. Second, not every type of guitar is the best choice for young beginners.
There are basically 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full size guitars. An instrument that is too big for a child makes it difficult to learn. That’s why it’s very important to make sure your student has the right size guitar. The right guitar size depends on the child’s age and height. Check out the following guitar size chart to determine the right guitar.
In addition to guitar size, there is also the question of guitar type. First of all, you have the choice between an acoustic and an electric guitar. For a beginner, it is preferable to start with an acoustic guitar with nylon strings. They are much easier for beginners to play because they don’t hurt as much as steel strings. That’s why a steel string acoustic guitar is not a good choice for young children.
To learn more about finding the right guitar for your child, check out our Kids Guitar Buyer’s Guide. We also have a selection of the best guitars for kids.
How to play guitar for kids
Teaching guitar to kids requires a different approach than teaching adults. It has to be as easy as possible and fun. At the same time, you need to keep the child motivated. Depending on age and learning style, there are different ways to teach children to play the guitar. Below are some suggestions for your guitar lessons.
Guitar books for kids
Guitar books can be a great source of inspiration for your own guitar lessons. Looking at the outline and structure of different books will give you a good idea of how to create your own child-friendly guitar lesson plan. It’s also possible to use a book to support your guitar lessons or to recommend it as a homework book.
There are a lot of guitar books out there, and some are written specifically for kids. Here are some examples of good guitar books for kids. For most of them, you can already take a look at the summary on Amazon.
Teaching material for kids guitar lessons
For a good guitar class, you also need some handouts and printables. A handout summarizes the most important things they have learned or gives some exercises to do at home.
On KidsPlayMusic you can find some teaching materials for your lessons. For example, you can get guitar chord sheets designed especially for kids. Each chord sheet comes with an animal to color. Or get a handout that teaches guitar string names.
Blank guitar chord sheets are also very useful for young beginners. In this way you can easily exercise the finger positions on the fretboard on the paper before trying them on the guitar.
Play games with your students
When teaching guitar to kids, you need to keep your students entertained. It can sometimes be quite difficult for young children to stay focused, especially when the are still pretty young. Try to come up with some games that don’t involve actual guitar playing. For example, a memory game can be an excellent game for memorizing guitar chords and at the same time you can make the guitar lesson more interactive. Let’s say once a child has found a pair of chord, he has to demonstrate it on the guitar.
Our Teaching Materials ebook includes a memory game with guitar chords that you can print out.
Easy guitar songs for kids
You can find on our site a nice selection of easy nursery rhymes where you can download the chords version, tabs and sheet music for free. Nursery rhymes are great for beginners and young children because they usually already know the lyrics really well. In addition, many nursery rhymes are easy to learn on the guitar. We have also created an ebook of the most popular nursery rhymes, with an illustration of each song for children to color.
