Looking for someone to teach my son guitar (San Antonio, Austin: school, college)

[LJarrett]

I'm posting this in the Austin forum in the hopes that a musician or someone who knows musicians will answer and give advice. I took my four year old son to see ZZ Top the other night and now he has become obsessed with wanting to play the guitar.
Anyone know a good instructor for children in the Austin to San Antonio area?
Where can I find a child's guitar? No luck at Guitar Center today.

[twange]

Originally Posted by LJarrett

I'm posting this in the Austin forum in the hopes that a musician or someone who knows musicians will answer and give advice. I took my four year old son to see ZZ Top the other night and now he has become obsessed with wanting to play the guitar.
Anyone know a good instructor for children in the Austin to San Antonio area?
Where can I find a child's guitar? No luck at Guitar Center today.

I taught guitar lessons for several years (teach college now) and my 2 cents is that 4 is a little young to start. There are many reasons for this but one of the most important is that you will have a very difficult time finding an instrument that small that won't be a piece of junk. The ones that are small enough, have a hard time staying in tune.

The youngest student I ever had was 6 and I was able to work with him for about 10 minutes before his attention started to drift...and I'm a pretty good teacher! I started when I was 9. It worked very well for me as I was old enough to start on a standard-size instrument but young enough for it to really take hold before all of the distractions of adolescence get in the way.

If it were my son, I would simply encourage musical activity(singing, listening, learning how to read notation, maybe even tinkering on piano or playing guitar hero ), and then start lessons when he gets a bit older. I know it's hard to tell them this but...

Now who knows? Maybe he'll do just fine, but most kids that age get bored and then you run the risk of damaging their interest!

[LJarrett]

Guitar hero sounds like a good idea, actually.

[amyer77]

My son is 6 and ROCKS Guitar Hero and Rockband. He can play on hard, pretty impressive

[austin-steve]

Austin School of Music, upstairs from Strait Music has many good teachers.
Welcome to the Austin School of Music Website (http://austinschoolofmusic.com/home.html - broken link)

Also, Childbloom teaches guitar specifically to children.
The Childbloom Guitar Program

I personally think 4 might be a bit young also, but it depends on the kid. I think 6 to 8 is about the right time to start learning. 4 year old are still in the "dreamy imagination" phase of development, which is important to one's future ability to be creative.

Steve

[Runemaster]

They sell toy guitars at Toys R Us, that, with a little patience, skill & talent you can actually create music on (some even come with little lesson plans). If he's gifted, you'll find out without the investment in a $1200 acoustic or $500 electric.

[LJarrett]

I saw a place in Austin called Natural Ear Music school. Looks very cool and they teach kids how to play by ear, but start at age 7, which is probably best.
Maybe I'll get him some drums so he can start learning rhythms. And Gutar Hero. I don't mind letting him try my guitar. I just can't teach him and it's awfully big for him.