Kids Electric Guitar

Electric guitar to start with?

Electric guitar is not the easiest instrument for a kid to start with. The strings are made of metal.  After a few minutes of playing, the childs fingers will start to hurt.

So they might give up sooner... but never the less, a motivated child will pick up the guitar and try again...and again....

After a few weeks the fingers will be hardened and won't hurt anymore.

classic guitar

Most children learn to play on a classic guitar with nylon strings. Nylon strings are softer, so it doesn't  hurt so much. The neck of an classic guitar is bigger which makes it easier to place the fingers in the right position. It is important that the neck fits  the hand of the child!

Kids electric guitar: size

On the picture you can see a 6 year old girl with a normal size guitar. The guitar is  to big. There are small sized electric guitars espacialy  for kids:

• 1/4 size guitars (3 - 5 years)
• 1/2 size guitars (6 - 8 years)
• 3/4 size guitars (8 - 10 years)
• 7/8 size guitars (11 - 13 years)

accessoires 

When you decide to buy an electric guitar for your child, you decide for some other equipment to!

1. you need an amplifier (cheap practice amp for example)
2. you need a guitar cable
3. you need a plectrum 
4. you need a guitar strap
5. a guitar tuner is recommended 
6. you might need some effects pedals

good to know

A small size guitar can sound out of tune, especially on the first 3 frets.

The reason for that?

Because the neck of a small size guitar is shorter than a normal size. That means that the strings will be shorter to. A shorter string is quicker in pitch than a longer one. So you don't need so much tension on a shorter string than on a normal size string. That is nice, because it is easier to play, but it has a downside:

If you push the string against the fret it will bent a little. Not much, but a little bit. On a normal size guitar you won't notice that if you play on it. But on a small guitar with less tension on the strings the guitar wil sound out of tune!

There are two things to do about it:

1. Use heavier gauge strings on the guitar (0,11  or even higher)
2. Tune the guitar higher than normal tuning.

Normal tuning is:

E A D G B E

Go a few steps higher:

G C F B D G  and if that is not enough you can try:

A D G C E A

webshop

It is possible to buy a guitar in a webshop. But you have to know that a guitar needs to be set up properly. So if you buy an electric guitar in a webshop, you most certainly need to go to a local guitar store to make the right adjustments.

Especially for children it is easier if the strings are set as low as possible, so they don't have to push so hard.

So if your local store sells small size electric guitars, it is probably the best to buy your guitar there.

some examples

A view good guitars for kids:

• Squire Mini Stratocaster
• Ibanez GRGM21GB Mikro 3/4 Electric Guitar
• Fender MP Shortscale Stratocaster