Learning to play music instruments is one of the best ways of building your child’s confidence, patience, discipline, and time management skills. A guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments among kids and this is mainly because its fun and they all want to be like their favorite rock stars. There are different types of guitars and it’s important that you choose the right one for your kid. Acoustic guitars, for example, are some of the best for training kids and you will get a wide variety to choose from. Before getting into the basics of playing the guitar, it’s important for you to ensure that your child is at the right age which is usually 8 years and above and has the right guitar for his or her age.
The following are five easy ways your child can learn how to play the guitar:
#5 – Play Your Favorite Songs
Contrary to popular belief, children don’t want to learn the guitar so they can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. They want to be rock stars and play real songs like Ed Sheeran and Linkin Park. If your child likes rock, let them try to play rock. If slow songs are their favorite, let them play RnB. The idea here is to make guitar learning fun and exciting.
#4 – Practice
Your child can learn to play the guitar from a personal coach, YouTube videos or even online lessons. However, it’s only through daily practice that your child can actually internalize everything there is to learn about the guitar. The more your kid practices, the more he or she will get the hang of it. Ensure that your child takes at least 15 minutes every day to practice what he or she has learned that week.
#3 – Learn The Universal Strumming Pattern
One of the most confusing things about playing guitar is strumming. Beginners normally learn one pattern with one song and then it doesn’t work with another song leaving them confused. In order to avoid this, what your child needs is to learn a universal strumming way that works with every song. A child has a very fresh brain that is able to keep things long-term so if they learn a universal strumming pattern, they can use it for a long time to create new rhythms and music easily.
#2 – Learning The Stepping-Stone Chords
Most guitars instructors teach a standard way of learning the chords which is a very complicated process for kids. If a child notices that something is too difficult, they give up on it. The stepping-stone chords are ideal for your child as they are very easy. Some are so easy that your child can be able to play them even with just one or two fingers!
#1 – Using Mnemonics
There are a number of strings in a guitar and they all have a different sound. Your child needs to have an easy way of remembering the strings in order to avoid confusion. The best way is to use mnemonics such as ‘Elephants and Donkeys Got Big Ears’ to remember the strings EADGBE. You can also use ‘Big Cats Eat Fish’ to remember which notes don’t have flats or sharps between them.