How to Buy the Right Guitar for Your Child

So your child has decided that he or she wants to learn how to play the guitar - an instrument in which you have little to no expertise. Musical instruments can be very costly, and in order to maximize their effectiveness as a learning tool, they need to be durable and long-lasting. This is especially true when choosing a musical instrument for a child, who may be more prone to drop it, knick it, ding it or otherwise treat it carelessly. Like most string instruments, the guitar is particularly prone to accidents because of its irregular and bottom-heavy shape, making it even more accident-prone for the average child. You also want to make sure you're getting full quality for your money's worth - this guitar needs to be in it for the long hall if you're going to go through all the trouble of finding an instructor and incessantly nagging... I mean... encouraging your child to practice.

Essentially, if you're going to plunk down a hundred dollars or more for a guitar, you want to know that it's a keeper. Here are a few things to ask yourself when shopping for your child's new instrument.

What Kind of Guitar is Best for the Music My Child Wants to Play?

In simplified terms, there are three basic types of guitars: electric, electric-acoustic, and acoustic. Modern music buffs are probably most familiar with electric guitars, since they are the kind that most guitarists use in playing modern music. Electric guitars come in a dizzying array of choices. They all have steel strings. They come in every color of the rainbow, and while most are made of lacquered solid wood, they come in a wide variety of materials, too. They come in solid-body, which are guitars with no holes in the body cavity. These tend to be quite heavy - too heavy for young children to play while standing. This is an important factor to keep in mind when purchasing a guitar for a child, because the eccentric designs of some electric hard-body guitars make it difficult to play them in a sitting position (those cool V-shaped guitars that K.I.S.S. members play, for example, will slide right off your lap).

Hollow-body guitars are the kind that many jazz and blues guitarists play, which are modified electro-acoustic guitars. They have far fewer cosmetic variations than the solid bodies, but the main difference is in the way the guitar produces sound. Both a solid body and a hollow body guitar require a connection to an amplifier, or a special guitar-speaker, but because hollow-body guitars use their entire body cavities to vibrate and produce sound, they tend to have a richer and smoother tone than solid-body guitars, hence why jazz and blues guitarists prefer them. The downside is that one simply cannot properly "rock out" with a hollow-body guitar the way one can with a hard-body guitar - the hollow body cavity can produce feedback issues when connected to a cranked-up amplifier. Hollow-body guitars are, of course, much lighter than their solid-body counterparts.

An electric-acoustic guitar is simply an acoustic guitar with a pick-up, that is, an attachment that allows its sound to be picked up by an amplifier. Unplugged, these guitars sound indistinguishable from an ordinary acoustic guitar. Plugged in, they're just louder than usual. Electric-acoustic guitars are most often used in folk-rock, bluegrass, country music and many modern ballads, as well as experimental classical music. One main difference between an electric-acoustic guitar and an ordinary acoustic guitar is that the electric-acoustic guitar is typically fitted with steel strings like its purely electric counterparts, whereas the acoustic guitar typically has nylon strings. This results in a slightly "brighter" acoustic sound for the electric-acoustic guitar.

Acoustic guitars are hollow-body instruments with the least amount of physical variation. They tend to look more like their string-instrument cousins, the cello and the violin, than their electric counterparts. They can be fitted with either steel or nylon strings. Acoustic guitars are relatively inexpensive to purchase and are often used for beginners; they're also used in classical music and folk music for a small audience (not requiring amplification).

So what type of guitar should you buy for your beginning child? A loose guideline is - go by the type of music he or she wants to play. If she wants to play rock and roll, she'll want a hard-body electric guitar (don't forget to buy the amplifier and the cord!). If she wants to learn jazz or blues, she'll want a hollow-body electric guitar. If she wants to play acoustic but intends to perform with the guitar eventually, or she leans to the country/folk music side of things, she'll want an electric-acoustic. If she wants to play classical guitar, or if she has no idea what genre of music she'll be interested in, an inexpensive starter acoustic guitar is a wise investment. You can always splurge on a more specialized instrument at a later date.

Is the Guitar the Right Size for My Child?

While, as I mentioned, the weight of an electric guitar can be problematic for young children, they tend to be fairly small, so size is not often a concern. But believe it or not, acoustic guitars come in different sizes, and it's important to buy the right one if you want your child to be able to play at all.

For very small children, ages 8 and under, acoustic guitars come in half-size. These are the size of "toy guitars" you see in toy stores; they're not really toys, of course, but they are intended for very small children. For tweeners and younger teens, or petite individuals, they come in three-quarter size. They are identical to full-size guitars, except that they are slightly smaller. A full-size guitar is far too big and heavy to be manageable for most young children. The only way to really be sure if you're purchasing the right size guitar is for him to "try it on." Have him sit on a chair and put the guitar onto his lap so that the curve sits atop his right thigh. If he's able to easily reach the neck and strum it with his other hand, and you can see his head and shoulders above the top edge, it's the right size for him. If not, adjust the size accordingly.

Always get the size that's appropriate for how big your child is right now. Don't worry that your child will suddenly experience a huge growth spurt and "outgrow" a three-quarters size guitar in the near future. That probably won't be for a while, and by then, you'll have a better picture of your child's commitment to the instrument and will be able to gauge if investing in a larger model is worthwhile for him. Besides, adult-sized people can play three-quarter sized guitars, too; they are, after all, about the same size as a hollow-body electric guitar, and adults play those just fine!

Is the Guitar in Good Condition?

Used guitars can sometimes come with a wide variety of problems and issues, some of which take some degree of expertise to discern. By the time you realize there is a problem, it's way too late to return it. This is why I don't recommend purchasing a used guitar for a beginner unless it's from an extremely reputable and knowledgeable dealer. Never buy one at a garage sale, or a swap shop, or anywhere else where the seller can't tell you anything about the instrument or how it's been stored.

Some issues, like whether or not the neck of the guitar has been warped by heat or moisture (this will make it difficult to tune), are hard to see with the untrained eye, but in general, purchasing a used guitar is a rare case of "you can judge a book by its cover." Generally, the more banged-up the guitar's exterior, the more carelessly it's been treated and the more sound and technical problems it will have. Always try out an electric or electric-acoustic guitar on an amplifier before leaving the store. Electrical problems in an electric guitar can sometimes be more costly to repair than the guitar itself was to purchase!

Did I Buy All the Necessary Accessories?

All instruments require accessories to play it properly and with greater versatility, and a guitar is no different. For example, you never want to lean a guitar against the wall by its neck - that may damage the neck and make it go out of tune more easily - so you'll want a guitar stand. They cost from under $20 brand new. You'll want to buy plenty of guitar picks, preferably of varying hardness so that your child can experiment with the different sounds they make and which ones he or she prefers. You'll likely want a simple metronome to keep time while your child practices rhythm. You will also want a device with which to tune the guitar. Special pitch pipes made exclusively for use with a guitar can be purchased inexpensively from your local music store. For more musically knowledgeable players, you can also buy a tuning fork.

If your guitar is electric or electric-acoustic, you'll at least want a practice amplifier and a guitar cord. If you choose to purchase a real amplifier, do your research and ask a great deal of questions at the store - make sure you're buying an amp that's right for your child's guitar and your child's needs. You don't need a professional grade amplifier if your child is just starting out. And remember, if you don't want your child's practice sessions blaring all over the house or driving the neighbors insane, you're going to want to buy them headphones!

It's important to remember that even though you're purchasing it for fun for a child, a guitar is a musical instrument, and not a toy, and does require some discernment in the purchasing process. Following the few easy guidelines above, you can hopefully feel more confident that you're purchasing the right musical instrument to get your budding guitarist off on the right foot on his or her studies, and last for many years to come.