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Below is a short list of quality guitars that are suitable for children. To ensure your child's first experience with a guitar is a good one, it's important to have an instrument that is easy to play and which will produce a pleasing sound. Buying a nice guitar is an investment, but a worthwhile one. Quality guitars, if treated with care, depreciate very little or even appreciate in value over time. Also, please see my Seattle Guitar Stores and Luthiers Blog for advice on the best places to buy guitars in Seattle.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I recommend either a nylon-string acoustic guitar or a small electric guitar for a child beginner. I cannot recommend that a child start out on a steel-string acoustic (please read more under "Other Guitars", below).
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Me with my first guitar in 1982
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RECOMMENDED GUITARS
1. JASMINE by Takamine -- This is my top pick for kids' guitars. They are great quality, reasonably priced, and offer nylon string guitars in four different sizes for a really comfortable fit. They all come with a gig bag.
Price range: Under $150. Where to buy in Seattle: American Music, Dusty Strings, Rosewood Guitar.
2. AMI NYLON by Art and Lutherie--Sized for ages 10 and up. The AMI is modeled after the dimensions of a Parlor guitar from the early 1900s. It is compact enough for kids to hold comfortably and makes a great starter guitar. Important: It is available in both nylon and steel-string models, so make sure you ask for nylon.
Price Range:$150-200. Where to buy: American Music, Dusty Strings.
3. OLYMPIA PARLOR GUITARS by Tacoma -- Ages 7-12. Olympia guitars, basses and mandolins are designed in the USA by the Tacoma Guitars team of respected luthiers. Made offshore, they are engineered, set-up and inspected in Tacoma. Good sound and intonation, durable construction, 1 year warranty. The OC2 model has nylon strings.
Price Range: Under $150. Where to buy: Guitarville Corp.
4. The Mini Squire Stratocaster. If you want to go electric, this is a great kid-size electric guitar which several of my students have purchased and have been happy with. Although electric guitar strings are also steel, they are much lighter gauge than acoustic steel strings, and therefore easier to bend and not so hard on little fingers.
Price is $99 and I think you can also get it as part of a kit including an amp, cord, strap and gig bag for a package price under $200. Where to buy: Guitar Center
OTHER GUITARS
I doubt you'll find better quality for the price than what I have listed here. However, if you're determined to go after a yard sale or pawn shop bargain, or dig out that old guitar uncle Ed left in the garage ten years ago, I hope you will read my Technical Points for "Bargain" Guitar Shoppers. Here are some other things to keep in mind, specifically when choosing a guitar for a child:
1. For an acoustic guitar, I recommend nylon string guitars for beginners, especially children. Steel guitar strings dig little grooves in the fingertips, which become red and painful. (After some months of playing regularly, callouses will develop and the pain will subside.) Nylon strings will cause some pain and callouses, too, but they are much gentler and the process is more gradual. If you want to toughen up your child and teach them that the world is a brutal place where they must grit their teeth and suffer to get through life, by all means get them a steel string guitar. Otherwise, I recommend nylon strings!
2. Make sure the guitar fits the student well. Does he or she look comfortable holding it? If the student can't reach all the way around it, or it keeps falling off the his or her lap because it weighs more than the s/he does, it's probably too big. Try this: put the guitar in the lap of the student. She should be able to easily put both her left hand on top of the headstock and her right hand on the rump of the guitar at the same time.
3. I really recommend buying local so you can try the guitar out before you buy. Although you can sometimes find lower prices on brand names by shopping on the web, you may find the particular guitar you get is not a good fit, or that it needs a costly set-up before it will play well.
4. Please see my Seattle Guitar Stores and Luthiers Blog for advice on the best places to buy guitars in Seattle.
5. Remember, a quality guitar is an investment that won't lose its value. Good Luck and Happy Strumming!!
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