Guitar Or Piano First?

[dannyrichardson]

I know this topic is brought up a lot, but I'm curious since my son is getting the age where he wants to start playing. Guitar or piano first for my son?

Any feedback is much appreciated, thanks!

 

[tjcurtin1]

How old is your son? Is his musicality average, or is he showing signs of being a natural musician - a Wiz? I think that for those children who manifest an innate serious musical talent, the piano is probably a more advantageous instrument to start with. Otherwise, if he is still pretty young (under 10-11) another great instrument to start with is the ukelele. Much easier to grasp, physically and musically, and to get right into making music with, and the chord shapes will all transfer to the guitar later. Also, it happens to be pretty 'cool' right now, with lots of younger musicians making use of them in pop songs (along with older musicians in other venues!), so it should be an easy sell.

 

[marnold]

I would also ask if your son has any particular musical interests. I started on piano in early grade school and hated it. The main reason being is that the only "songs" I learned were awful fake songs in the instruction books. My kids' teachers got them into simplified hymns as early as they could. If I had had that, I know I would have stuck with it. As it was, I rather would have been outside with my friends than inside playing inane songs on the piano.