How To Teach Kids To Play The Guitar

Teaching Children to Play The Guitar

"If learning guitar ain't fun NOW kids are not doing it"

Which is why we make children's guitar lesson resources like the ones shown in the picture below or this Guide to How to Teach Kids to Play the Guitar that you can download FREE by following the link.

As you continue down this page you will also be able to download free detailed lesson plans for the first five kids guitar lessons (in the top left section of the graphic below) that you can print or "screenshot" for future reference. In addition you will be able to download and print a series of kids certificates of achievement like the ones that you can see in the illustration that tie in with the early lessons and award them to your learners (they love having their accomplishments recognised "officially"!)

A whole load of FREE resources to download to your phone, PC or tablet to help young players engage and (more importantly) stick with the guitar

How to Teach Kids to Play Guitar: An Overview

Teaching kids to play guitar requires a slightly different approach to instructing older people. Children are less likely to take on board the notion that they have to practice technical elements of guitar playing for their own sake or for some reward (a better technique) at some indeterminate point in the future. Basically "if it ain't fun NOW they're not doing it!" and the teacher who does not take this simple fact on board when giving guitar lessons to kids will simply not cut it.
The following material looks at some important factors to take into consideration when teaching children to play guitar. If you would like to see some material which looks at issues surrounding the question at what age should a child start guitar lessons? then just follow this link berore returning to this overview

Click this link to Download 20 free Giant Chord Grids Now!

Feel free to use them in your teaching. There are eighty more of these giant chord grids in our $25.00 Guitar Teacher's "Deluxe Download"

A short video (it even makes sense with the sound muted) looking at a series of structured early children's guitar lessons

Below is a video that we have up there on youtube which looks at a plan for a series of child friendly guitar lessons designed to get kids guitar playing off to a flying start. The video looks at the best eight guitar chords for any beginner (not just children) to learn and provides information relating to a system used by guitar teachers around the world to set their younger beginner students off on the right path to becoming competent guitar players. Experienced guitar teachers know that in the early stages (usually only the first few weeks) of teaching a child to play guitar it is a great idea to present some of the chord shapes to be studied in a "reduced" one finger form. By doing this they ensure that a child produces a "good" noise from the very first lesson. It is very important to realise that the one finger shapes presented are not alternatives to the full chords which would require a child to learn a new shape later in the course of study but are instead "reduced" versions of the chord shapes. This means that in order to play the full chords a child need only add fingers to the shape that he or she is already playing.

How to use backing tracks, lesson plans and certificates to teach children to play guitar

Four of the five lessons outlined below have backing tracks to go with them. Each backing track is a couple of minutes long and features a simple rhythm section accompaniment which cycles around the chord sequence used in the course of the lesson You can hear short samples of each of the backing tracks below

It is important to realise that what we are trying to do here is to use backing tracks and handouts to help kids to learn the eight chord shapes that are best for a beginner When they can form the shapes then other backing tracks are introduced which require them to move between the chords more quickly in order to increase fluidity and technical ability

One Finger chord shapes to get kids off to a flying start on guitar

This first kids guitar lesson involves a child in changing between the chords of G and Em in time with a backing track which provides a very simple bass and drum accompaniment This first lesson is used by guitar teachers around the world to get their younger students off to a flying start on the instrument. The graphic above shows the lesson plan and certificate of achievement that you can download now by following the links to help to ensure that kids get a feeling of accomplishment from the very first session

If you look closely at the illustration above you will see that the two chords (G and Em) are presented as "child friendly" one finger chord shapes Using these "reduced" shapes during the first few weeks of playing can be a great way of giving a child belief and confidence and can help set them up for a lifetime of guitar playing

A backing track to ensure that kids learn to play the guitar "in time" right from the very first lesson

Here is a short snippet of the backing track that we have put together to go along with this lesson. The track is a simple bass and drum accompaniment which goes around and around two bars of each chord. It is deliberately simple (some of the other backing tracks that you can hear samples of on this page are way more "produced") and is designed to allow kids and those instructing them to focus on the sounding of the chords

Building upon the chords that they learned in the first lesson

The second kids guitar lesson makes use of the two chords (G and Em) studied already and adds two new ones (C and D) to the mix. The backing track goes around and around the four chords leaving plenty of time (two bars) between each chord change to allow students to get used to forming the shapes

Here is the"at a glance" lesson plan for this session for future reference

There is also an opportunity to award a certificate of achievement recognising the child's ability to play the full Em chord shape if you choose to introduce the shape during this lesson

The reality is that no matter how small their hands are kids will have no real problems playing the Em chord shape as there is no "stretching" of the fingers involved when playing the shape

The backing track for this one is similar to the first in that it features two bars of each chord with a simple bass and drum accompaniment. Again there is plenty of time to change from one chord to the next

Follow this link to take a more detailed look at the second kids guitar lesson

The third lesson features a new kid's guitar chord alongside one that they already know

Lesson three (download the lesson plan here) is very popular! A new chord (A) and one they already know (G) over a lively rock backing track (take a look at the video above to see how it works in practice)

This lesson can provide an ideal opportunity to introduce the "full" G shape which requires a little more in the way of stretching with the fretting hand

At the end of this session you can award this certificate of achievement recognising the child's ability to play the full G chord shape if you choose to introduce it during this lesson

A driving bass and drum groove and a rock vocal intro and outro (which lets everyone know that its about to end) make this one a favourite with both youngsters and older learners alike. During guitar lessons kids often request this one for the sheer fun of it. This is the last bass and drum only backing track for a while as the ones which follow on from this one often feature a keyboards player too

The last three of the eight guitar chords that a child should learn first

The fourth children's guitar lesson features the final three new chords (Am, Dm and E-none of which require a great deal of stretching) that a beginner needs to learn and features a slightly "funkier" backing track

Here is the lesson plan (shown above left) that you can print or screenshot if you prefer for this session and you can also download the certificate of achievement recognising the fact that they have mastered the final three chords

Two bars of Am followed by a single bar of Dm and E (see chordsheet in the illustration above). A funkier groove and supportive keyboard pads to let your young students know where they are in the progression. This is a great one for the "sausage-egg-and-chips" strumming pattern (see the video above if you have not got a clue what I am whittering on about)

The fifth kids guitar lesson is recap session where progress so far is assessed and provides teachers and learners with an opportunity to refine and reinforce skills and capabilities developed during the course of the first four sessions

If you elected not to introduce the "full" chord shapes of G,C and Em this session provides an ideal opportunity to use the backing tracks etc again in order to ensure that kids are familiar with the full chord shapes before moving on to the next stage of guitar playing

Here is the "at a glance" plan for this kids guitar lesson This lesson provides an ideal opportunity to award the kid's guitar chord certificate (shown above right) which recognises the end of this "first phase" of children's guitar study (where all eight basic beginners chords have been mastered) It is a great place to take stock of progress before moving on to the next stage of guitar playing

Recognising the efforts and achievements of younger guitar players

The graphic below shows the certificates that can be awarded to your younger guitar students during the early stages of playing They cover the period of time between when they have mastered two simple one finger chords right through to where they can play the F chord (where they will be required to hold down two strings with a single finger) This is the point where a beginner can be regarded as being an intermediate player

What happens after the first five kids guitar lessons?

After the material (learning to move between eight chord shapes) in the first five lessons has been effectively covered then the remaining backing tracks can be used in the service of the following two objectives....

Learning to move more quickly and comfortably between the shapes already learned

and

Mastering a series of new useful chord shapes suitable for novice players

There are a series of other useful chords (A7 D7 G7 Cmaj7 etc) that have more complicated sounding names but which are no more difficult to play for a novice player than the ones covered up to this point Lessons during this "second phase" of learning should be concerned with making sure that playing starts to feel "natural" and with introducing students to new chord shapes and musical styles and genres

The next stage is not about learning too many new chord shapes but is more concerned with changing between the ones already learned more quickly

An example of this "changing between chords more quickly" thing can be found in this backing track (which also features in the video above) which uses the A chord shape alongside two other chords (D and G) with which the child should also be familiar. The chord changes come more quickly now and when a child can play along with this one they will know that they can play the guitar.

You can download a free copy of the full backing track and the handouts that go along with it if to your PC, tablet or phone you go to our guitar teacher's backing tracks page

You can hear a short extract of the track here....

A lot of the other backing tracks (we now have 35 backing tracks and over 80 chord charts/handouts to go along with them) give a teacher the opportunity to help their students (both young and old) to re-inforce and refine the skill of being able to change between appropriate guitar chords fluently and in time to music as well as to take them on to more advanced material with relation to bar chords and single note/solo guitar playing

Release a child's "Inner Rock Star" with more rapid chord changes and an exciting backing track

Here we take a look at how we can effectively ensure that a child learns to move between chords quickly and "in time" to music while still making them feel that they are just having loads of fun.

I like to use the following track which features all of the Major Chord shapes (C,G,D,A abd E) covered to this point to help my students get used to changing chords quickly The great thing about this progression for me is that students are obliged to work hard (moving between the C,G,D,A and E shapes) for the first two bars before being given a "rest" during the second two measures (when they stay on the single chord of E) before being plunged back into the "tricky" bit again The fact that it does not sound a million miles away from a Jimi Hendrix "classic" does no harm either

If you can take a student from the point where they can't play the guitar at all to a situation in which they are playing along with backing tracks in the style of Jimi Hendrix in just a few short months then I think you are entitled to a pat on the back

Above you can see a bunch of blank tab and chord grids especially produced with kids in mind which allow you to introduce them to single note riffs and figures that you (and they!) want to play A lot of the resources can also be used as colour in activity sheets if required I often send children home with them instruction to learn the tune and colour in the sheet (the one judged the best gets a plectrum as a prize)

Get everything that you need to teach kids (and adults too) to play guitar in a single download!

You can download everything that you see on this website(chord sheets, handouts, backing tracks, giant chord grids etc) for a single payment of $25.00

There is no "club" or organisation to join and no annual subscriptions to pay I will not "drip feed" you the resources over a period of time in return for a monthly or yearly payments. I have been advised many times by people much wiser than me to change my business model in order to "maximise income" and while it may make perfect sense in some ways I reckon life is complicated enough without all of that. Just check the stuff out, buy it if you like it and then use it for the rest of your life

When a child can play and move between the chords covered up to now they can be said to be ready to leave the "beginner" stage behind. The next phase involves mastering more technically demanding chord shapes (like the F shape which is the first chord that they will have encountered in which they are required to hold down two strings with one finger) and bar chords (where all of the strings are held down in a variety of "moveable" shapes)

On the left of the graphic above you can see a certificate that marke the end of the first stage and the start of the next phase of guitar lessons

How do kid's guitar lessons work?

Well its just like......

The single best description of effective guitar teaching that I have ever heard!

A wise old guitar teacher once shared his "secret" with me he said that "Teaching guitar is like throwing mud at a wall" (I would like to point out in the interests of accuracy that he did not actually use the word "mud" but a less pleasant word for a much less pleasant but often similarly textured substance but for the sake of decency I have paraphrased a little)

"Some of the mud sticks to the wall and some of it falls to the floor" he went on "Our job is to work out what has stuck and what has fallen Then we fling the stuff that has fallen down back onto the wall until its all up there"

Not the worlds most pleasant analogy (especially if you factor in his original choice of substance) but after all these years of teaching it remains the single best definition of guitar teaching that I have ever come across If you examine this notion on a deeper level it gets to the very core of what we do as educators Its about the wall (the student) its about the "mud" (the subject) It is not about the teacher

The material on this part of the site sets out how a guitar teacher might go about teaching a child (or a group of children) to play guitar from a standing start and it is (almost) that simple! The only thing to remember is that they are kids! They forget stuff Sometimes they dont get to practice (quite rightly) because it is sunny outside and they have "better" things to do. It is important not to obsess over how much they retain information Typically I find they can often forget the names of chords that they have not played for a couple of weeks although when prompted they are able to play the shapes relatively easily rather than having to re-learn them This is real progress although it may not look like it They are developing the motor skills required to operate a guitar

A Handy Guitar Practicing Tip for Kids

Studies have shown that a child's effective atttention span in minutes is roughly equivalent to his or her age in years and armed with this information we can help them to progress without really practicing too much formally. You can get to see great progress in playing by simply encouraging kids to practice guitar during the commercial breaks on TV. When the adverts kick in they should mute the set and play or better still the adults in the room can play with them by using the "Simon Says" game outlined below Without wanting to go "over the top" about spending "quality time" (rather than everyone just poking their phones) with children its got to be a whole lot more fun than staring at a screen thats firing new ways to part you from your money at you.

Guitar Teaching Games for Groups of Children

A device that I find useful when teaching guitar to individual students or groups of children is a variation of the old children's game "Simon Says" where you would say (for example) "Simon Says E minor" before counting in 1-2-3-4-. If you dont use the phrase "Simon Says" then no matter which chord you tell them to strum they are not supposed to play it

The game provides a great fun way of getting kids familiar with guitar chords and the element of competition introduced seems to have the effect of concentrating the mind. It is perfectly possible to get great results from a group using this simple game and the chords on the "First Guitar Chords" sheet for an entire lesson. They are learning to move between chord shapes (you can shorten the count in to "3-4" to speed the changes up if required)

Guitar Chords For Children's Groups

A trick for teaching small groups of younger kids is to "spread the chords around". Get each student to hold down a single chord, turn on the backing track and point at the relevant player when it is time to change. The more able guitar players can still change chords as required but everyone gets to stay involved and (hopefully) encouraged.

The Best Guitar Chords for Kids

Print a whole series of free guitar chord "mini-posters" to help you to teach kids to play the guitar

Below is an image showing our range of letter sized mini-posters that you can print for your teaching studio wall and/or distribute to your younger students. Two of the chords (C and G) require relatively large stretches in order to sound the thicker (lower pitched) strings and as a consequence are often presented in a "reduced" one finger form during the first few weeks of guitar lessons.

Below are some of our printable sheets that show the "reduced" one finger versions of three of the chords. The links below the image will allow you to download free samples of some of our resources aimed at guitar teachers with younger students.These resources are easy to photocopy and I have had great results with groups of kids running informal competitions with children competing to see who can do the best job of colouring in the sheet between lessons (first prize a free plectrum!).
These resources seem to go down very well with kids and parents alike and help to keep children engaged with the instrument even when they are not playing it.

Click This Text To Download A Free Kids Colour In Guitar Chord of C Mini-Poster

Click Here To Download A Free Kids Colour In Guitar Chord of Dm Mini-Poster

Click To Download A Free Kids Colour In Guitar Chord of E Mini-Poster

Kids Guitar Lessons

A first kids guitar lesson designed to ensure that younger players feel a sense of achievement from the very first session. The lesson is based around getting children to learn the shapes for and then to move between two chords (G and Em) in time to music. In this perfect beginners lesson "reduced" one finger versions of the chords are used to produce a "Hey I can do this!" feeling

You can also download and print a free certificate of achievement or this "at a glance" lesson plan for this first kid's guitar lesson
After the initial lesson it is vital that rather than just move onto something else a younger player is presented with an opportunity to build upon the skills that they have already aquired and Kid's Guitar Lesson 2 does just that

This second guitar lesson for younger learners picks up where the first one left off and adds two new chord shapes (C and D) to the ones covered in the first lesson. Again children with smaller hands will benefit from the one finger versions of the chords. When the chords shapes have been mastered then once again there is an opportunity for kids to play along with a backing track


During this lesson the opportunity exist to introduce children (even those with smaller hands as there is no real stretching involved) to the "full" Em chord shape and there is another certificate of achievement and an "at a glance" kid's guitar lesson plan to download and print recognising a child's efforts and improvement.

I had been teaching children to play guitar for more years than I cared to remember when I first tried the certificates out on my "guinea pig" group of younger learners even I was stunned by how popular and motivational they proved to be. Let children know that if they learn the new chord shape and practice it between this second session and the third children's guitar lesson in order to be awarded the certificate and you give them the motivation that they need to practice between lessons

Click to listen to a snippet of the backing track

Bryan Adams said "Everywhere you go the Kids Wanna Rock" and the popularity of this third children's guitar lesson is evidence that he was right on the money when he said it. One chord that they already know (G) and a new one (A) plus a backing track that you can hear a part of by clicking above that lets younger guitarists get in touch with their inner rock god. Students of all ages tend to love this one
This lesson can also be the ideal opportunity to build further on the skills developed during the first session and to introduce children to the full G chord shape. There is another young guitar players certificate of achievement that encourages and recognises a child's efforts in this direction

Click to listen to a snippet of the backing track

We're really motoring now and this fourth in a series of kids guitar lessons introduced the final three chord shapes (Am Dm and E) that a young guitarist needs to master during the early stages of playing. The chords are getting closer together now and if you look at the video further up this page you will see that more "complicated" strumming patterns are now an option. Even though there are three new chords in this lesson no "reduced" one finger options are used because there is no real stretching required to play any one of them. When playing the three shapes (Am, Dm and E) the left hand fingers are grouped very closely together and even the smallest of hands should be able to master the shapes with a little practice. Like the other lessons this one comes with an "at a glance" kids guitar lesson plan that you can print and position conveniently in your line of sight (or just put it on the screen of your phone, tablet or PC to make sure that you don't get lost when teaching individual youngsters or groups of kids to play guitar)

As these are the final three chords that a child beginner needs to learn in the early stages of playing guitar this lesson provides an ideal opportunity to show your students the younger guitar players certificate of achievement that they will be awarded in return for learning to form and sound the eight chords that form the basis of study to this point

We have covered a lot of material in a short space of time and the fifth guitar lesson aimed at younger children gives us the opportunity to draw breath. A very wise old guitar teacher told me that "teaching guitar is like throwing mud at a wall" (he did not use the term "mud" but rather a much less pleasant but similarly textured substance but for the sake of decency I have paraphrased to some extent)."Some of the mud sticks and some of it falls down to the floor" he added."Our job is to work out what has fallen to the floor and to fling it back at the wall until its all up there"
This lesson gives us the opportunity to assess progress to this point and to work out which bits of "mud" need to be flung back at the wall.

Keep reading this page for a detailed look at an ideal first guitar lesson for kid beginners

How to teach kids to play guitar; A first Lesson

The first section the video outlines a lesson featuring the chords of G and Em. Even though there is no stretching involved in playing the Em chord and most children would have little difficulty in forming the full open chord shape (being as the notes to be fretted are within easy reach of each other) it is a great idea to have a child's introduction to the instrument be as simple as possible.Things dont come much simpler than putting a finger down and then lifting it up and placing it somewhere else

Even though the approach to giving kids guitar lessons differs slightly from working with older students the basic objectives with regards to chord work are absolutely identical. Guitar playing is stripped back to the basics. During these earliest lessons there are no bar chords,palm muting or solos going on (that comes later when a child is confident and at ease with the instrument) In the early stages all we need to do is get kids to a place where they are able follow these simple two steps....

Step 1

Form two basic kid friendly guitar chord shapes

and....

Step 2

Move between those shapes in time with music

That will lead them to think..........

"Hey! I can do this!"

If you study the material on this page you will see a selection of the best chord shapes to introduce to children in the early stages of playing. One of the images features a handout that goes along with an early stages (or even a first?) guitar lesson that requires the student to move between the chords of G and Em (playing a single strum of each chord as it changes) you will observe that the G chord (which in its "full" form requires that the student should be able to stretch right accross the entire width of the neck to play the bass notes to be found on the E and A strings) can also be played with a single (the third) finger just so long as only the four thinner strings are strummed or struck with a plectrum (the X's above the E and A Strings on the diagrams indicate that the student should not strike or pluck those strings).
By following the diagrams a kid can be moving between two very important and great sounding chords within minutes of being introduced to the guitar. Great for developing that all important feeling of "Hey I Can Do This!" which will encourage kids to pick the guitar up between lessons

Download a bunch of FREE Lesson Plans to help you teach a kid to play guitar

Below you will find a set of quick links to a series of five guitar lessons for kids. You can download and print "at a glance" lesson plans for each of the five lessons from these pages but we suggest that before you do this that you take a look at the material presented underneath the links to give you an "overview" of the whole thing (then scroll back and follow the links to the freebies if thats what floats your boat)

Kids Guitar Lesson 1

Kids Guitar Lesson 2

Kids Guitar Lesson 3

Kids Guitar Lesson 4

Kids Guitar Lesson 5

You can download ALL of the resources that you see on this site for a one off payment of only $25.00

The "Deluxe" Package contains.........................

The Kids Guitar Teaching Package

Over forty sheets to download and print today. Designed to run alongside the "Backing Tracks and Handouts Package described below. All of the resources that you need in order to teach kids to play guitar. Chord Charts, One finger (reduced) chord diagrams. An opportunity to start them off the right way!

The Backing Tracks and Handouts Package

35 Backing Tracks and more than 80 Handouts. An invaluable aid designed to help you to teach both rhythm and lead guitar The basics and beyond in time to a musical accompaniment." The backing tracks help students to develop their own sense of rhythm and timing "

The Guitar Teacher's Toolkit

100 printable sheets covering Open Chords-Bar Chords-Scales- Modes- Blank Fretboard and Chord Grids Teaching Diary and Business Card Designs

Plus 100 Giant (letter sized) Chord Grids

laminate them in order to help you to teach group guitar lessons, distribute them to your students or just stick on your teaching studio wall The "Coolest Wallpaper on the planet"

And a freebie from us to you!

The Bass Guitar Teacher's Toolkit

Over 60 Handouts for anyone who already teaches (or who wishes to teach) bass guitar covering Scales, Chords, Fingering Exercises etc

Over 300 Sheets and 20 Backing tracks to Download and use TODAY!

Everything you need to start or improve a guitar teaching business! It's all there!

Only $25.00

Get All of our Guitar Teaching Resources (including the kids guitar material) in a Single $25.00 Download

Over 350 printable Sheets and 35 backing Tracks All of the teachwombat products with a single one off payment

Download free kids guitar lesson plans

Parental Support and its importance when teaching children to play the guitar

In order to see real progress in kids guitar playing it is neccesary to get the parents on board to help ensure that when the guitar comes home from the lesson it is taken straight out of the case and tuned. Children can't practice on a guitar that isn't in tune and just as importantly when they get home from school or guitar group they just want to dump their stuff (usually on the floor) before running off to park themselves in front of the XBox. If parents are not vigilant then a week can go by without the instrument ever leaving it's case. The results in terms of progress and acheivement (as well as let's face it guitar teacher's eventual income?) are obvious.

Moving between guitar chord shapes in time with music and the importance of using backing track to help keep a child or novice player in time

It is enough during the early stages to ask kids (and adults come to that) to play only a single downstroke with the strumming hand (see the video above for a more detailed explanation)
By far the simplest, best (and the most fun!) way to get children to play the guitar in time is to have them play along to a backing track. Backing tracks are essential to the process because. A mistake that is often made with relation to teaching (and learning) in the early stages is that students are introduced to chord shapes and move between them but they (and their teachers) forget that music is as much about time (rhythm) as it is about the notes being produced by the instrument.
Working to backing tracks is a great way to accelerate and encourage progress because from the earliest stages a learner (adult or child-its all the same) is used to not only learning new chord shapes but is presented with the opportunity to move between them in time to a rhythm section (a drummer and a bass player). Even the simplest single strumming patterns (a single strum as the chord changes) can sound very convincing and professional. This has the dual effect of helping players develop a good rhythmic feel and (just as importantly) helping them to realise that within a relatively short space of time they are becoming capable of providing convincing performances on the guitar. This in itself produces a "benign circle" The better they sound the more they practice. The more they practice the better they sound.

Kid Friendly Guitar Backing Tracks for Beginners

Helping kids to learn the "right" guitar chords and getting them used to changing between them in time to music?
The teachwombat backing tracks are designed so that students can start by playing single strums of easy chords with plenty of time between the chord changes so that fingers will be able to move (at first slowly) to form the next shape. As they progress tempos increase of players are required to change chord more quickly as there may be more that one chord in a single bar of music. Teachers can introduce more complicated strumming patterns or single note "lead guitar" solos as they see fit and as the opportunity presents itself

An important part of the $25.00 "Deluxe Guitar Teacher's Download" available from this site are a set of thirty five backing tracks (standard mp3's) with over 80 handouts/chord charts which is all that you need to get started teaching effective kids guitar lessons. The tracks are based around the eight chords that a beginner should learn first and a combination of full and "reduced" chord shapes (one finger versions of C, G and Em) can be used as required.
At the end of a lesson you can drop the backing tracks onto CD's and mp3 players or even email them to your students if you like

You might also like to take a look at our page dealing with the "First Eight Guitar Lessons" that form the basis of a teaching programme for younger and older guitar students alike.

You can read a more detailed explanation of how the handouts and backing tracks might be used if you visit our "First Lesson" page which gives a detailed guitar lesson plan suitable for a complete novice (kids and adults)
The progressions and the backing tracks are especially devised to help the teacher to put together the first few months of guitar lessons for a complete beginner.

With beginners it is often a good idea to resist the temptation to teach them loads of chords. Instead experienced guitar tutors know that a much more effective technique is to teach them a few guitar chords that will allow them to do loads of things?

Again the eight chords (C A Am G E Em D and Dm) that you can find on the "First Guitar Chords" handout will usually provide a sound basis for (at least) a couple of months of weekly guitar lessons.

Modern Day Guitar Chord Studies For Kids

Below are details of a few songs that I find that kids (and adults) just starting out seem to get a buzz out of being able to play (you can also add "anything by Ed Sheeran" to this list :).
"Wild Thing" (two strums on A followed by two on D two on and E chord and finally two more on A) always seems to go down well and has the advantage that there is a gap between each chord change so that students have plenty of time to move their fingers on the guitar neck.

"Rockstar" by Nickelback (one bar each of A D G and A again for the main part of the verse) and "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers (Two bars of G followed by a bar each of a C and a D chord) also seem to hit the spot. In addition I have also had some good results results teaching power chords to kids using songs like "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (the verse features two even strums on F followed by two on Ab, Eb and Bb repeated for the verse until you get five strums on C). This gets students used to moving power chords around the neck and prepares them for the full bar chords to come.

Children's Guitar Chords for Smaller Hands

When first introducing Children to guitar chords it can be a good idea to speed progress by teaching them to play three and four note versions of some guitar chords suitable for kids rather than the full voicings favoured by more mature learners.



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The teachwombat guitar teaching resources feature chord sheets aimed at guitar students with smaller hands designed to give results and encouragement to younger players. Once they have got used to the "easy" versions of common chords and their dexterity and reach improves they can be gradually encouraged to move on to more conventional shapes as appropriate

Below you can see our printable colour guitar "mini-posters" of the best chords for a beginner to learn that you can print and distribute to younger kids. The posters can be used to decorate a child's bedroom or playroom and make a great memory aid. They can be given all at once or introduced gradually in a "guitar chord of the week" way. Its up to you really?

When Can A Kid Learn to Play Guitar?

I don't want to start this very important and relevant section with a "cop out" but the rather predictable answer is that it depends on the individual child rather than its age. If I suddenly "lay down a law" on this little bit of the internet that says eight or nine is a great age to start playing the guitar because thats the age that I start to teach groups of children in schools then folks out there in the real world would quite rightly howl about a fresh from the maternity wing kid they once saw on the internet who made Jimi Hendrix look like Forest Gump. I dont start teaching groups of kids until they are about eight or nine years of age mostly from a classroom management point of view. Anyone who teaches groups of students will know well enough the variety of "dynamics" that can exist within different groups and if you factor in the behaviour and attention span of a group of seven year old children then it shouldn't be a surprise that sometimes a lesson would not go to plan.
So as a general rule of thumb I would say if you are teaching a single child with a reasonable attention span for its age then (at a push) six or seven would be a reasonable age to start playing the guitar. There will be exceptions and it all depends upon circumstances but at this kind of stage the main thing is that lessons need to be FUN!

Kid's Guitar Lessons

Single Note Children's Guitar Favourites

Children wanna play guitar stuff that's relevant to them. I teach guitar to kids aged eight upwards and their parents are typically in their late 20's and early thirties. The music that these kids hear at home reflects that reality. Faves at the minute single note wise are the Simpsons Theme That three note thing from Shrek and (strangely?) Smoke On The Water(!) You can still get them into playing the odd Christmas Carol on the guitar because as streetwise and cynical as todays children may regrettably be they still love the season of getting free stuff but in the main, along with the classic rock they want to play the music of now (or at least of the fairly recent past).

It may be a good idea (not just with children?) to teach fragments of songs on guitar rather than whole complete pieces of music? This way your customers feel as if they are learning more and are less likely to get bored and frustrated by being forced to bang away at the same thing for hours on end

 

Here are a few ideas that I have found effective to mix and match during recent kids guitar lessons aimed at children who are complete beginners
Its nice to have a few sheets with versions of simple tunes and figures which use only a single string for absolute novices (this also has the advantage of allowing students to get a pleasing result from a guitar that may not be properly in tune)

The theme from Shrek
Happy Birthday
Police Siren (E string 3rd fret to the E string open and repeated as required)
Smoke On The Water (single note version starting from an open A string)

The teachwombat guitar teaching resources have a range of sheets with JUMBO sized Tab and notation so that you can easily create your own "Master copies" of often used fragments or licks (these sheets have large graphics designed to be studied from a distance ideal for shorter segments of music) from there it's just a case of scanning or photocopying the originals to ensure that you have a library of material that you can add to and use over and over again.
There is money to be made (and a lot of satisfaction to be derived) from teaching guitar to children but as with "regular" instrumental instruction the key to an effective, stress free (and profitable!) lesson is preparation.

How to Teach Kids to play Guitar: The New Reality?

I've seen the books and the "teach kids to play guitar" stuff thats out there and some of it (while worthy) is a bit wide of the mark.
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" "Merrily We Roll Along" and all sorts of stuff like that? They have Playstations and School Of Rock for crying out loud!!
Show me a nine year old kid who wakes up with a burning desire to play "Twinkle Twinkle" and I'll show you a child stolen from the 1950's and beamed into the present day (and to be perfectly frank he or she would probably have been a bit of a wierd kid even in the 50's).

The only real reason that the stuff like "Frankie and Johnny" and "Merrily We Roll Along" is in the guitar books in the first place is so that the publishers don't have to pay the composers and owners of the songs because they are out of copyright. The fact that a tune is out of copyright presents no incentive for a nine year old kid to want to learn it on their guitar .

As Guitar and Bass Teacher's we have to compete with the free stuff that's up there on youtube (some of which lets face it is very good) so it would seem a bit silly to rely on out of copyright tunes that are recognised by an ever decreasing number of people?

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The "Deluxe" Package (everything you can see on this website!)

The "Deluxe" Package contains.........................

The Kids Guitar Teaching Package

More than forty sheets to download and use in your guitar teaching today. This material is designed to run alongside the "Backing Tracks and Handouts Package . All of the material that you need in order to teach kids to play guitar. Chord Charts, One finger (reduced) chord diagrams. An opportunity to start any young would be guitar player off the right way!

The Backing Tracks and Handouts Package

35 Backing Tracks and over 80 Handouts. An invaluable aid designed to help you to teach both rhythm and lead guitar to younger and older students alike Great for helping to develop a good dense of timing

The Guitar Teacher's Toolkit

100 printable sheets dealing with Open Chords-Bar Chords-Scales- Modes- Blank Fretboard and Chord Grids Teaching Diary and Business Card Designs

Plus 100 Giant (letter sized) Chord Grids

laminate them in order to help you to teach group guitar lessons, distribute them to your students or just stick on your teaching studio wall? The "Coolest Wallpaper on the planet?"

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Over 60 Handouts for anyone who already teaches (or who wishes to teach) bass guitar covering Scales, Chords, Fingering Exercises etc

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Teaching guitar to kids or to adults. The teachwombat stuff gives you just about everything you need to start or improve a guitar teaching business!



Here's some stuff from The BBC all about teaching kids to play the guitar