Buying the Right Kids Guitar

Purchasing the right kids guitar is a very important step in a child's musical development. Many times a parent will buy what they think will be a great beginner guitar, only to find there child loose interest in playing the instrument. This could be for many reasons, some of which include, a lack of focus, unwillingness to learn, or simply the guitar itself.

How can it be the guitar? Well lets take a look at cheap electric guitars. There are several which would be sufficient as a good guitar for beginners. What a parent should look for when buying there kids guitar is not only the price but how easy is it to play. Meaning how physically straining is it for your child to play the instrument. Those of you who have taken the time to learn guitar know where I am going with this. The first few weeks of a child's adventure in playing the guitar is critical. Throughout this time the child's chording hand will get accustomed to the pressure needed to press down on the strings of the guitar in order to make a clear sounding chord. It is during this period when most beginner guitar players quit.

Here are the characteristics a parent should look for when buying an electric guitar for kids.

• Scale length
• Comfortable Shape
• Mechanical condition
• Action

The scale length of the guitar determines how long the neck is sticking out from the body. For this reason obviously, a shorter scale length would be preferable do to the shorter arms playing the instrument. Scale length is measured from the nut (or zero fret) on the neck of the guitar to the bridge. Full size guitars like the Fender Stratocaster have a 25 1/2" scale and Gibson models such as the Les Paul have a 24 3/4" scale. The size of these guitars would be impractical for a child to learn guitar, as they would be stretched out and find it hard to chord the furthest positions on the neck. Several manufacturers make electric guitar packages that have child guitar scales.

Child Guitar Scales

• 4-6 years old 1/4 size or 19 inch scale length
• 7-8 years old 1/2 size or 20.5 inch scale length
• 9-10 years old 3/4 size or 22.75 inch scale length

The above information is the most common sizes. Some manufacturers do vary but not by much. Ultimately the size of your young musician will dictate what scale instrument would be appropriate. My future rock star was playing a 25.5 inch scale by his 10th Christmas.

Finding a comfortable shape is also an important characteristic. Just like full size guitars, electric guitars for kids come in different body shapes, from the popular S-style shapes like the Stratocaster to radical flying-V models. Although guitars with extreme body shapes like the flying-V look cool, they are most times awkward and do not make for a practical first guitar for kids. The ideal guitar would be one that can be comfortably played sitting or standing.

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Checking the mechanical and structural condition mainly pertains to buying used electric guitars. Keep in mind however that new guitars can come with defects. Following these steps will aid you in making sure you purchase your kids guitar wisely.

• Check the straightness of the neck. Make sure the guitar is tuned to pitch and place your nose at the head stock of the guitar. Look for radical up-bows or back bows. Most of the time these can be adjusted with the truss rod located in the neck
• Insure the neck is secured in the neck pocket of the guitar body. If it is a bolt on neck make sure none of the screws are stripped.
• Check out he tuning pegs to make sure they are secured to the head stock and are in working condition.
• Evaluate the finish on the guitar from the head stock on the neck to the base of the body. Note any cracks or overly bad dings to the finish on the body. Another area to check is on the back side of the neck. This area should be very smooth so your hand slides freely.
• Inspect the bridge on the body. Note any missing or out of place pieces.
• Finally, plug it in and jam out a bit. It doesn't matter if you know how to play. Just cycle through all the switching functions on the electric guitar to insure the switches and knobs work.

If you are buying a kids electric guitar new, you should still perform the above inspection. Although rare, some new guitars do get shipped out of the factory with defects. Just make sure who ever you purchase the instrument from is a reputable company with a good return policy.

Lastly, the action of the guitar is how high the strings set off the frets on the neck. Since the guitars we are discussing have short scale lengths the action can be adjusted very low. This makes for an easy to play instrument, that is not hard on virgin finger tips plus there will be reduced string tension.

Follow these tips and hopefully your budding young guitarist will enjoy many years of mastering the guitar. Just remember, the easier you make playing the instrument in the beginning, the more likely they will stick with learning guitar. Buying the right kids guitar is the first step of that journey.