chiguirre Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 Someone gave my SIL an acoustic guitar. My nephew would like to learn to play. None of us have any guitar experience, I can read music and know a bit about violin from watching my dd practice. First off, it seems like a 7/8 guitar would be recommended? How important is this versus a full size? Can you recommend online lessons for beginners? I'm going to be doing this with him I think. I'd like to start off with free lessons on youtube or an online course until we see how committed he is. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 28 minutes ago, chiguirre said: Someone gave my SIL an acoustic guitar. My nephew would like to learn to play. None of us have any guitar experience, I can read music and know a bit about violin from watching my dd practice. First off, it seems like a 7/8 guitar would be recommended? How important is this versus a full size? Can you recommend online lessons for beginners? I'm going to be doing this with him I think. I'd like to start off with free lessons on youtube or an online course until we see how committed he is. Thank you! We've never done online lessons, but as to the size - a 7/8 seems awfully close to a full size. My three older kids all started on a 3/4 size and were comfortably able to play the full size around age 13. My kids are "late bloomers" in terms of growth, so I could imagine some kids being ready for a full size sooner. But if a 7/8 is the "ideal" size for your nephew currently, I'd be really surprised if he couldn't play a full size. On the other hand, if he can't comfortably hold the guitar and get his hands in position to play the chords, it could be a frustrating experience. He could potentially try learning a basic chord or two from a youtube video and see if he is comfortably able to play it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 The guitar size that would be best is dependent on the learner's body and hand size. I don't believe guitars come in sizes like violin (e.g., 7/8). It's more likely you'd go with a 3/4, or perhaps a palour size (smaller guitar body, full-size neck). I'd highly recommend in-person lessons with an instructor to learn the basics of hand positioning, picking and strumming technique. It will make a world of difference in how much the learner will be able to accomplish. It helps with both playing technique, motivation, as well as choosing music/songs to play that will be fun and build in early success. The wonderful thing about guitar vs violin, is that once the guitar strings are tuned, using the frets keeps notes and chords in tune! So different that beginner violin playing! The fret board of a guitar is completely different than a violin. There are more strings and they are tuned differently. Your violin experience won't transfer all that much. Plus, guitar involves a lot of chord playing with multiple fingers on the neck, which is quite different than violin. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emba Posted October 11, 2023 Share Posted October 11, 2023 My DD started on a full size acoustic at age 10. It looked huge, but she wasn’t bothered by it. I, on the other hand, play the ukulele, and guitars seem terribly unwieldy. I would want a parlor guitar or smaller if I were taking it up myself. my kids learned in person from my DH’s grandpa and I think in person is probably better, but there are a lot of free resources for beginner guitar out there. I think Justinguitar.com is mostly free, though things have changed some I looked at it last. I think it is better to go with a site or YouTube channel that has a well-thought out progression of lessons than just random YouTube tutorials. I tried YouTube tutorials at first with ukulele, and there’s so much out there but without a good progression I skipped around and didn’t get a good handle on anything. I ended up going with a book instead. Many now have videos that go along with the book, and that’sa feature I appreciate. More have audio only , which is helpful but not as much, for me. The Ukulele for Dummies is well-regarded, though I don’t know anything about Guitar for Dummies. I also like the Complete Idiots Guide for Ukulele, though again can’t say whether the guitar version is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froste Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 (edited) Playing the guitar has been my old dream, but I found it intimidating due to its size. Your DD's journey inspires me to explore online lessons. I also have a soft spot for the ukulele, and I agree, https://www.ukulele-tabs.com is a fantastic resource. In-person learning is valuable, but for flexibility, online platforms with well-structured lessons like Justinguitar.com can be great. I faced a similar issue with ukulele tutorials, so I switched to a book with accompanying videos, which made a significant difference. Edited October 25, 2023 by Froste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 (edited) Fender has a nice set of online lessons and has a free trial. I was doing for them a while during covid https://www.fender.com/play/pages/guitar-lessons Possibly a smaller guitar would be ideal, but I don't think it is as big a deal as some string instruments and a lot of kids take lesson on a full size because that is what was sitting in the attic. If you are going the online lesson route, 'I might re-evaluate if the kid was still engaged and interested in 90 days. I have a kid that took guitar for many years and still is tooling around with it as an adult. Edited October 22, 2023 by catz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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