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Choosing a guitar-like instrument for a pre-schooler

NerissaNerissa Registered User regular
edited November 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
My 3-year-old loves my acoustic guitar. She has always been musically-oriented and loves to strum the strings and sing. Now she wants a guitar for Christmas, and I'd like to indulge her musical side if possible.

The problem is, of course, that she's really not big enough for a guitar. Even the 30" ones I found in Wal-Mart are a bit big for her (probably aimed more at the 5-6 age group), and my husband worries that she'll treat it too roughly and a string will snap and recoil in her face. Also, she's not going to have the hand strength to do more than strum the strings open anyway.

I thought about an auto-harp, but they're a bit out of the price range of what we're able to spend this year. I'm mostly looking for something relatively cheap (preferably < $30, but could probably go as high as $40) that she can strum and get music from.

Any other thoughts / ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Nerissa on

Posts

  • BobCescaBobCesca Is a girl Birmingham, UKRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    there's a company called palma that does guitars for children...I think people sell them on ebay or more reputable places. Don't know if it'll still be too big.

    BobCesca on
  • BEAST!BEAST! Adventurer Adventure!!!!!Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    You could always try a ukelele...they're small as is (the short end being 21"), only 4 strings so that may be a bit easier for a kid to handle

    if you look at amazon there are a lot of 25" children's guitars though, i'm not sure if the 5 inches will make a difference.....if all you want is something for her to strum then size doesn't really matter i would say...if you got the 30" she could still strum and then once she hits 5-6 it would be the perfect size AND the perfect time to really start teaching her chords

    BEAST! on
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  • Monolithic_DomeMonolithic_Dome Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    For a 3 year old? I haven't tried one myself, but it looks like a Strum Stick would be just about perfect.

    Edit: For 40 bucks, either try to find one used or get a ukelele.

    Monolithic_Dome on
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  • romanqwertyromanqwerty Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    What about guitar hero?

    All the fun of playing guitar without much of the real effort.

    A three year old might be a bit young though?

    romanqwerty on
  • UnderdogUnderdog Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I second the ukelele. I "play" the guitar as well but I really love the uke's sound. Plus, it's not something that she'll grow out of so she can keep it around for as long as it lasts.

    Underdog on
  • oldsakoldsak Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    There's a handful of 1/2 sized guitars on the market. I'm not familiar enough to recommend any in particular but your local guitar shop should be able to help you out.

    However, that's probably still too big for a three year old. After about a minute of searching I came across this 1/4 sized child guitar. I have no idea how the quality is, but I suppose it's worth looking into.

    oldsak on
  • wasted pixelswasted pixels Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Thirding (fourthing?) a Uke, they're fantastically fun little instruments, less prone to string breakage than guitars (especially if you tune it down to slack the strings a bit), and they're actually useful as an instrument, too. This is a good li'l starter Ukulele, and it's only $30. If you decide you'd like to spend a bit more, the next one up from Lanikai is pretty great.

    wasted pixels on
  • DoxaDoxa Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    It seems like maybe just getting her into playing a musical instrument will be beneficial. Piano is a basic start but very costly. When it comes to a string orchestra it seems like every other person plays the guitar also so maybe a violin.

    Though it does sound like 3 is extremely young for any of such instruments.

    I have no experience or knowledge about ukes so I can't really comment on them.

    Doxa on
  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    A ukulele is about the only thing a three year old would be able to handle. Everything else the strings will just be too difficult to depress. Good old nylon. You can kick her up to a mandolin or a banjo uke as she gets older pretty easily as well.

    MrMonroe on
  • NerissaNerissa Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    What about guitar hero?

    All the fun of playing guitar without much of the real effort.

    A three year old might be a bit young though?

    No, that's way too expensive (particularly since we'd have to buy a console too, unless they've released it for PC or PS2 :P ), and also the polar opposite of what I'm looking for. I specifically don't want something with buttons, or where the strings don't really make the sounds -- I could buy a $14 toy "guitar" if that's what I was looking for.

    Doxa wrote: »
    It seems like maybe just getting her into playing a musical instrument will be beneficial. Piano is a basic start but very costly. When it comes to a string orchestra it seems like every other person plays the guitar also so maybe a violin.

    Though it does sound like 3 is extremely young for any of such instruments.

    I have no experience or knowledge about ukes so I can't really comment on them.

    I'm not looking for anything that serious right now... if she's interested when she is older, then we'll look into that, but I'm not going to do the whole lessons thing at this age. I'm just wanting something that she can get nice sounds out of when she strums the strings. If she can kinda start with fingering, so much the better, but either that will come in time or she'll end up completely uninterested, in which case I'm not going to force her, and I certainly don't want to have spent a fortune to find out she hates it. I mostly just want to give her the opportunity to play around with music right now, and supplement the cheap toy keyboard she already has.

    Sounds like I'll be looking into the ukulele, thanks to all who suggested it.

    Nerissa on
  • DemerdarDemerdar Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Protip:

    Tune the strings into a major or minor chord, so when she plays the open strings it sounds fantastic.

    Demerdar on
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  • romanqwertyromanqwerty Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Demerdar wrote: »
    Protip:

    Tune the strings into a major or minor chord, so when she plays the open strings it sounds fantastic
    .

    This.

    Also maybe give her a slide, if she doesn't have the finger strength to hold things down.

    romanqwerty on
  • Chop LogicChop Logic Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    A ukelele with nylon strings is exactly what you're looking for. It's normally tuned so that the open strings are a chord, so all she has to do is strum the open strings or (I don't know how big your kid is) bar a whole fret to make another chord. Also, because the strings are nylon, theres really no danger of her getting hurt from a broken string.

    Chop Logic on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Nerissa wrote: »
    What about guitar hero?

    All the fun of playing guitar without much of the real effort.

    A three year old might be a bit young though?

    No, that's way too expensive (particularly since we'd have to buy a console too, unless they've released it for PC or PS2 :P ),

    You can get Guitar Hero for both PC and PS2, not that it's a recommendation or anything.

    Rook on
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2008
    http://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Nylon-String-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/B0002WSKA8/ref=tag_tdp_sv_edpp_i

    Small size.

    Nylon strings.

    Though a Ukulele isn't a bad idea at all.

    Sheep on
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