Can anyone offer advice on type of guitar to buy my daughter?

[NanceXToo]

She's going to start guitar lessons in September. I pictured getting her an acoustic guitar and her taking lessons on that.

 

Today the instructor she is going to see told me on the phone that he recommends an electric guitar for a kid her age. He said that they have a smaller body that is easier for a kid to get their arm around, that the strings are thinner and easier to play, and that she won't need an amp or anything until she gets better and then she can get a small amp if she wants, that they do their lessons 'unplugged' with no amp anyway and so on.

 

When I mentioned this to my husband, he was like "you can hardly even hear an electric guitar if there's no amp!"

 

And then there's the fact that we don't know if we should be buying a "child sized" guitar or regular... my daughter will be 11 in October.

 

What would you go with? Acoustic? Electric? Child-sized? Regular size?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give!

[Parrothead]

Dd is 11. 75 and will be getting a regular sized electric guitar, with amp tomorrow afternoon. I went with cheap since I don't know if lessons will take. I figure a better quality will make a fine Christmas present in 2012 if she takes to it. Then possibly an acoustic in 2013.

 

 

P.S. Think it is cool that our girls are the same age and starting essentially at the same time.

[GoVanGogh]

I can't imagine playing an electric w/o an amp.

 

DS started at age 7 with a junior size electric. My husband's boss just gifted DS with a full-size electric earlier this summer. At age 9, DS can play the full-size w/no problem. At 11, I would certainly go for full-size.

 

I agree about electric being easier for a child to handle.

DH took acoustic guitar lessons as a child. He hated it because it hurt his arm to reach around the body of a guitar. Needless to say, he didn't last long.

The electric guitar is so much slimmer that it really is an easier instrument for a child to handle. No idea about the strings. I don't have a single musical bone in my body. :glare:

[Starr]

We bought ds a full sized guitar with a pick up and nice sound when he was around 11. It was a little big for him but it is still great in his teens. We put the money into one nice guitar instead of buying two. A full sized might be just too much too big for your dd, maybe that's why the electric suggestion. I don't really get the fun of playing an electric without an amp. Is she really interested in an electric guitar? I would go to a reputable music store and have her try a bunch and then go home and talk it over before buying. Is she starting to stretch in height?

[NanceXToo]

Dd is 11. 75 and will be getting a regular sized electric guitar, with amp tomorrow afternoon. I went with cheap since I don't know if lessons will take. I figure a better quality will make a fine Christmas present in 2012 if she takes to it. Then possibly an acoustic in 2013.

 

 

P.S. Think it is cool that our girls are the same age and starting essentially at the same time.

 

Yeah, that is cool. :)

 

Thanks for the input, all. I guess we will go with the electric, and get a regular size one. We plan to go with an inexpensive one, too! Probably used online or something. It remains to be seen how long she'll even stick with the lessons, if she'll like them, etc. If she sticks with it long term we can always get her a 'better' one or an acoustic if she wants one somewhere down the road.

[Imprimis]

We're all about guitars over here :)

 

First, I would go with a regular size guitar. The best thing to do is take your daughter into a music store and let her try out/hold different guitars to see which feels best to her. Guitar bodies and necks can vary in size depending on the guitar. My 7 yo has a full-size Ibanez and it's a perfect fit. Some full-size guitars are too big for her.

 

One thing I wouldn't do is buy a "starter kit" with amp included. The amps included are usually sub-par. Many locally owned music stores have good quality used amps for decent prices.

[OrganicAnn]

I would also recommend paying attention to how big her hands are and how long her fingers are.

 

When I was a kid, my parent bought a smaller guitar from a second hand store. It was about 3/4 the size of a regular guitar.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

She's going to start guitar lessons in September. I pictured getting her an acoustic guitar and her taking lessons on that.

 

Today the instructor she is going to see told me on the phone that he recommends an electric guitar for a kid her age. He said that they have a smaller body that is easier for a kid to get their arm around, that the strings are thinner and easier to play, and that she won't need an amp or anything until she gets better and then she can get a small amp if she wants, that they do their lessons 'unplugged' with no amp anyway and so on.

 

When I mentioned this to my husband, he was like "you can hardly even hear an electric guitar if there's no amp!"

 

And then there's the fact that we don't know if we should be buying a "child sized" guitar or regular... my daughter will be 11 in October.

 

What would you go with? Acoustic? Electric? Child-sized? Regular size?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

DS, who is 7, started lessons last year. He wanted an electric guitar. We went with Luna guitars and got him the Neo-Mini, in bright red of course ;)

 

http://www.lunaguitars.com/TOC/electrictoc.php

 

We paid about $100 for it and it's a nice guitar. My friend who ROCKS the guitar played around on it and said it's a good, solid guitar.

 

He took lessons for about 3 months w/o an amp. It was fine, we could hear it and it worked, however, he really wanted an amp, so we got him one.

 

My niece (8) was here for the summer and we got her lessons too, she wanted to play acoustic though. We got her a Luna guitar too. It's also 3/4 (child) size. It's in the Aurora Series.

 

http://www.lunaguitars.com/TOC/acoustictoc.php

 

(On both those links, scroll down to the very bottom.)

 

Hers was black and came with neon markers that you could draw on the guitar with, and then erase and re-do. It sounded good too, nice little sturdy guitar. I paid about $80 on Amazon for it.

 

Niece had no problems playing the child size acoustic guitar. It would have been tough with a full size though.

[AndyJoy]

I haven't read all the other replies, but I've been very happy with my Daisy Rock Pixie Acoustic-Electric. They are designed for girls and women and are lighter with skinnier necks. It works as an acoustic but you can plug it into an amp as well. Plus, mine's purple :D. My avatar is inspired by my guitar.