by Ryan Labouve

Created on: July 12, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

Starting Music Instruments

Kids want to play some music? Here is an inside look at some of the best music instruments for a budding young musician:

-Piano (or keyboard)

-Guitar

-Drums

-Piano (or keyboard)

-Advantages: establishes great foundation to music theory; wide range of music styles and pieces available for instrument.

-Disadvantages: Takes more money and space to get a good starting instrument; hard to pick up and play without sufficient instruction (from book or lessons).

-Summary: Piano is a great option for children who are serious about music. Although it takes more initial effort and practice to produce satisfactory results, correct instruction will establish a lifelong foundation in music theory that can translate easily to any instrument.

-Guitar

-Advantages: Cheap learning models available; simple to pick up the basics; easy to store and access instrument.

-Disadvantages: Foundational music theory is not stressed in beginner lessons; easy to pick up bad habits for under-skilled instructors or books.

-Summary: They're cheap, fun, easy to get started with, and used in all mainstream music. Instead of spending weeks to learn old pieces your children don't care anything about, your kids can be playing popular songs in a matter of days.

However, Continuing to learn guitar on a long-term scale is difficult for children. Because of the 'pick up and play' mentality of the guitar, many instructors learn to play by ear. Although they may be able to play some impressive riffs and licks, they may lack any foundation in traditional music theory. What's the problem with that? As a victim of ear-only instructors, it took me much longer to finally develop a sense for music theory that allowed me to do what I wanted to with music.

Starting with guitar is a great way to get children interested in music, and inspire them for years. Take my advice though! if your kid is really interested in music, do some research online and find quality instructors or instructional books.

-Drums

-Advantages: There are many kind of drums some of which can cost less than 10 dollars; every song has a beat.

-Disadvantages: Eventually, your child will want a drum set.

-Summary: Buy your kid a simple drum (examples: djembe, cajon, congas, bongos, a homemade drum, etc.), and they can be playing along with any song they like right away. With basic musical instruction, they can then learn about many important aspect of musical theory and apply them to any other instrument they learn.

Again, the drums focus on developing good rhythm and timing which can be applied to any next instrument and every music style.

-Conclusion

In my opinion, the guitar is the best option for its overall versatility and ease of learning.

The best low-cost option is a drum. You can make a drum out of anything, and sometimes children just want to make a little noise without getting into anything serious.

And if you have a child who you are sure is going to go all the way with music, you really need to get a piano (or keyboard).

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