$310

My daughter really wants to play an instrument. I have been hesitant to let her because I am afraid she won't make up her mind. You are right though, I could always sell them if she doesn't like them.

They do offer renting them at her school as well, but it is almost cheaper to buy an instrument.

Part of learning new things for any age is repetition. I never liked veggies until I knew they could be fun. Just saying, what works for one might not work for another but anytime you can make learning fun, its a good thing.

...or even continue to hand the instruments down! I have an old concertina (a type of accordion with buttons instead of keys and a tenor range) that was owned by my great-grandfather, who passed it down to his son, who played it, and to my father, who kept it in a box. And now I play it. It's really cool having a vintage instrument! You never know how things will play out.

i guess the earlier the better! as long as he can read the chords/notes then its better for whom for a tutorial ..

It's important to get a child the proper guitar to start learning-you don't want to to buy a 4 yr old a Les Paul Standard and then wonder why they couldn't play it...the guitar weighs more than the kid lol! Check out stores like Guitar Center and online sites like Musicians Friend and American Music Supply for beginner guitars that are more suited for kids-they're usually smaller in size and easier to play, which will help keep the child interested instead of giving up out of frustration.

Fender Squier makes several 3/4 size electric guitars that sell for around $125. A 3/4 size acoustic guitar is also a good bet and there are a few playable models from Washburn and Taylor that sell for under $100. I've found that the biggest drawback for younger musicians -- not just young guitarists -- is that they don't realize it takes practice to learn to play, and they have short attention spans. It helps to know musi ctheoryand to bea able to read music, but a lot of beginner guitarists want to jump right in and play chords before their hands are big enough to handle it. My first bass teacher sacred me away by asking me to write a walking bass line to some chords in the first lesson. I knew theory but I had no clue what he was asking for. He didn't explain the instrument or anything. A good guitar teacher will probably mix reading and teaching from recordings to keep up the player's interest.

When I was 13 I walked into my first guitar lesson and played the instructor a tape of Van Halen's "Eruption" and asked him to teach me how to play it. He chuckled and pulled out the good old Mel Bay chord books and made me learn "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and all that stuff before I even started to learn simple power chord riffs. Looking back on it now, I'm glad he did.