I have an 8 year old baby girl who wants to learn how to play the guitar after seeing Nicole in concert. I am so confused how to direct her because in my research they say for her small size (she is a very petite girl who could pass for five years old)she should start with a classical guitar with nylon strings. Most of the nylon guitars are of pretty cheap quality except the Yamaha CGS102 1/2 size and the Yamaha JR1. Would it be a mistake to have her start on a steel string. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't want her to be dissappointed in the sound of the classical guitar. Thanks much because of Him!

My husband is a high school band director and owns a retail music store where we live and this is a common question he encounters.(and it's not just guitars, it's violins and flutes and everything else you can think of) Because of this, he also provides practice studios with teachers in the back of the store for private lessons in just about every instrument you can think of. Your daughter is not too young to learn to play, nor is she too young to use "real strings" on an acoustic guitar. Our 7-year-old is doing it quite easily with the help of a good teacher. What you need to do is find a music teacher, or a store with people working in it who know what they're talking about who can guide you to a good teacher, to get her fitted with a guitar her size and have a teacher handy to work with her. My son is using a very small student model, not expensive at all (less than $100) and doing great, even with the toughening process on his finger-tips. As he grows both physically and musically, he'll be able to move into a better quality instrument that is size-appropriate, etc. (of course it helps that his dad owns the store and can get him whatever he needs because he's probably got it already in stock!) When it comes to musical instruments and lessons, you cannot substitute a real human being that has been properly trained for "do it yourself" or something you buy in Wal-Mart or off the Internet if you want the best results for your child. Wherever you live, locate a competent music /guitar teacher, and then let the teacher guide you to the right instrument for your child. As for classical vs. non-classical, if you want her to play classical guitar music (or that's what she wants to play) then get that for her, if you want her to play popular music like Nicole does, then the clasical training and instrument certainly won't hurt her but it will sound different and you're wise to wonder if that would disappoint her. My best advice is to look for a teacher first then invest in the instrument and lessons. Even if she just takes a few lessons to get her started, it will help the musical experience be a more lasting one for her. When someone asked Nicole about playing the guitar the first thing she said was, "I took lessons." Hope this helps.

Hey Lucy and Valerie. First off Lucy, I don't know if it helped her but it did give me some insight. My granddaughter is 6 and ever since seeing Nicole play for the first time she has wanted to learn how.

She has Kiddie guitar, you know the kind you buy with a stand and mic at christmas time. But I saw one in the store with instructions on how to learn to play and wondered if this was good to get or should she just get lessons but was not sure if she was old enough to be taken serious. She also likes to mess around on the piano. She has been doing that since like age two, but since she is now six and has learned to read some, is it too early to learn to read music as well as understand it.

I am just greatful for Nicole and having a life that even our little ones want to immulate.

Hi Cece and Valerie...

Sorry it took me a few days to get back to you. We've done the spring break/Disney World thing this week and with three kids and 8 months pregnant with #4, I'm completely beat. Plus, everyone in the "sunshine state" probably knows we have a son named, David. Holy smoke, at 3, he was everywhere. I can't even begin to count how many times we lost him in the Magic Kindgom and we won't even discuss Sea World. Nowhere in our "remember the magic" fantasies, did we visualize what keeping up with him was going to be like. Good thing he had an older brother and sister who joined the search efforts with us. I think all of us spent the week saying, "Where's David?"

Valerie, glad you went with the Yamaha. The lessons will be great for the fall and you can let her play around with it during the summer to develop an appetite for it. Hope you got some kind of case to keep it from getting banged up in the interim! (although boys are generally worse about this than girls at that age.)

Cece, you didn't say if your granddaughter at 6, was in the first grade or just turned 6 etc. Some of that does make a difference with some teachers as a "first grader" is learning to read and can therefore read some of the instructions in the lesson books they might be given. This is especially important in piano lessons but guitar teachers differ on technique. Mostly though, at 6, to determine "lesson readiness" she should be able to focus on what the teacher is saying and instructing for most of a 30 minute lesson slot, once per week. Yes, you do see a child prodigy or two that is taking violin, piano and some wind instrument in serious practice and study several lessons per week at the age of 6, but this is really rare. One 30 minute guitar lesson per week is absolutely plenty, and depending on the maturity at that age, you may even want to go with one 30 minute lesson twice a month. Be sure when you look for a teacher, you find someone that in addition to knowing what they're talking about, also knows how to work with younger children in terms of attention span, reading readiness, learning styles, etc. This can vary greatly depending upon the child, age, etc. The danger in starting very young children (below age 8) is that they will burn out too quickly if they're pushed too hard or get frustrated and quit if some aspect of the learning experience for whatever reason, isn't coming easily for them. These early lessons should be fun with easy to obtain rewards for reasonable practice sessions. An hour a day of practice is NOT reasonable for the average 6 year old. 15 minutes is more like it. A good teacher will know that and will give manageable goals for each lesson in terms of practice, etc.
And as I shared with Valerie, a good teacher will help you find the right instrument.

Hey Lucy, thanks so much. RayShae is in first grade. She turned 6 in August.

Her attention span is not great at times. She reads fine and is fairly a smart kid, but gets bored easy if things are not constantly moving. But one thing she has an interest in is music. She is like all over the place with it. One minute she wants to play piano, guitar,or she wants Sing and dance. She sometimes look a bit contorded (sp) with trying to do some at the same time. I just thought at age 6 it would be time to settle her and focus in on the talents that she may have or find out if a different direction should be taken. She has sang her first solo publicly and did a wonderful job but I don't want to just kick it to the curb and not help her to pursue what she can do. Know what I mean?