Hildie (OT)

[Nuno930]

Your husband knows guitars...right? Could you ask him what he thinks of this 1/2 size guitar

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

Certainly will! He'll know baout the wood and all that stuff, but I'll give you my "music teacher" opinion:
Lark in the Morning is known for being expensive (IMHO)
Unless the person who is going to play it is under 10 or has REALLY small fingers you might want to get a 3/4 sor full size. Half sizes are better for really small children.

I have some catalogs and stuff that might have info on other sizes/models/prices. I'll look and see.

Who is the guitar for?

[Nuno930]

It's for my daughter... she is only 2 (she is really, really... freakishly into music-- she'll spend hours strumming my DH's pawn shop special) I was just going to get a cheap Wal-Mart one, but I thought maybe I should just spend a little extra and get a nice one (2 fold, I thought if she really does like it we'd end up getting her a new one anyway OR if she doesn't for resale value)

She is also getting a drum set (her birthday is this week). She already has a keyboard I told my husband she can start her own band and call them the "Dirty Diapers"

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

ahhhh i see....

Okay, I'll check out my stash of music teacher stuff and see if I can find anything for you.

[rebecca]

WOW, my DH is a musician (very, very, very good one; used to play professionally but only plays & sings for church now) and he manages the warehouses for a music store in our town (and a few surrounding towns). He has bought & sold more guitars than I can even remember since we have been married; but always goes back to one he bought in 1977 bc it sounds better & better with age...lol; small world
nic...you have a prodigy on your hands
Nic, I just called my husband and he said to go with the least expensive 1/2 size that you can find bc they are all made to be disposable; none are made well no matter the manufacturer. Now, the guys at the music store will tell u differently bc they are working on commission and the mark up is RIDICULOUS on most instruments.

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

Nuno-- My DH said that you might be better off getting an elcheapo from Wally World or other discount store, and I agreed. You never know what's going to happen, and it's hard to teach very young children--albeit prodigal and musical--how to care for an instrument, since they don't reallyt have a concept of money yet. My advice for any parent is always to wait until the child can read before investing money into lessons, instruments, etc.
BUT, slightly OT, you might want to check into Kindermusik... it's a program for very small children that uses music and movement, and it's FABULOUS not only for developing a musical ear, but also for socialization and cognitive development: their philosophy is that music is integral to social, emoptional, cognitive and language development, that every child is musical, AND that the parent is the best teacher, so everything is highly focused on involving the parent and developing coordination, language, and musical skills. I HIGHLY recommend it... I trained for a liscense a few years ago, but I decided that older children werereally who I wanted to work with.
You can also look into the Suzuki method of instruction--again, highly involves the parent, but with less of a focus on play, and more on musical perfoemance skill. This is usually started with older--4 or 5 years, I think--children. I don't know a lot about Suzuki method , because I wasn't trained in it, but several of my colleagues use it for their private instruction.

[Nuno930]

Hey thanks Rebecca, Hildie and Hildie's husand (who by the way looks just like I guy I used to date!) Guess I'll get the Wal-Mart one for now! I think I will sign her up for classes too! They sound like so much fun! If it has to do with music she'll love it and I'll get me some ear plugs :rollseyes:

[Ellen Edwards]

Hi NUNO --I'll throw in our 2 cents worth as well!! My husband and I both play, and our friend's daughter got a pink Barbie guitar for Christmas. When we got over here, we put decent strings on it and it chorded pretty well for the cost of it!! The whole family was impressed that my husband could play it -- and it sounded like a cheap guitar, yes, but it definitely chorded well all the way up the neck. AND it was PINK --I think she'd love it. You just need to know someone who can tune it for her and probably put a decent set of strings on it. I would think that a very light guage string would be the best bet for her little fingers right now!! Hope this helped. (How can you resist a Barbie guitar!!)