So, I recently became a father and it has taken over my life. Life got excessively busy well before she was born, but now that we are five weeks in, I am slowly getting back into normal life again, sleep and all that.
Being a firm believer that music education and learning to play an instrument is important, I look forward to sharing the experience with her eventually. Obviously she is way too young right now, but at what age do you start and how?
I know there are children learning violin as young as two. Would that be crazy for guitar? Better to start on a different instrument like piano first, like Eddie Van Halen? Am I crazy for already thinking about this?
Congratulations, AtrumKithara.
Two might be a little young for guitar, but not too young to start developing the interest in music. Piano, or a small keyboard, would be great. About 3-4 possibly a small acoustic if you can find one that fingers easy, just to get them used to strings. In the meantime, playing music and singing to them is a great thing.
All depends on the individual child and how you approach it. I'm sure you'll do fine...
Thanks, Joom.
I wonder if it would be better to start with something like a ukulele for the size and simplicity, along with the nylon strings being soft and easy on the fingers. Might be a good excuse to get or build myself one and start learning. Never to early for me to learn things that can help my daughter. ;D
Uke would be perfect, AK. Just something they can manage for size, pluck, and get used to holding the neck. The rest will come. Then, at 4-6 (depending on their size), you hand them something like this:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/squier-mini-strat-electric-guitar?tandt_rdir=1&nN=true
And really get started. By then, their curiosity will be peaked and they'll be ready. The hard part is keeping them focused on the basics at first (scales, etc.), but again it depends on the interest built beforehand.
Another thing that helps is a beat box of some kind for them to play with when listening to music. Small bongo, or just about anything they can bang out a beat on. Helps build rhythm and timing, and gives them a better feel for it when using an instrument...