If you are like most parents, you might not expect your child to become a professional musician. But
you might want him or her to have some fun and gain some additional skills for life. And playing guitar
is great for that: it sounds cool, it looks cool, it’s fun to play with friends, and it develops discipline,
self-confidence, motor skills and performance skills, just to name a few.
Of course, like any other skill, playing guitar takes practice. If children practice their instrument,
naturally they get better at it. And the better they get at it, the more fun playing gets. The opposite of
this is of course the lack of practice, low self-esteem while taking lessons, not having fun while playing
and eventually resentment. Nobody wants that for their child.
That being said, practice is a very important part of children’s lives, whether they want to become a
professional or not. But when they start to take lessons, most parents don’t know what is expected of
them or their child.
Talk to the teacher first
Before we go into detail, it’s essential to know what your teacher expects. Good guitar teachers should
tell you their expectations right from the start. Their teaching style and model strongly depend on what
your child should be doing at home. If the lessons are short, your child might be expected to work on
musical pieces by themselves at home (which is not ideal). If the teacher helps and encourages your
child along the way and walks him/her through the practice, chances are your child won’t need to do
much at home to keep up. In either case, if you are not sure, ask the teacher about the expectations.
More lessons = less practice
Yes, that’s right. Good guitar teachers know how to create fun lessons for kids, which make them
improve faster already during the lessons. That means more work gets done under a professional
supervision, which is a lot more effective than just a child being left on his/her own at home. That
means your child might not even need to practice much at home to get better at guitar. If your teacher
suggests you to take multiple lessons per week, you should definitely consider doing it (even if your
child is a gifted genius with a discipline of steel).
How much to actually practice?
You may all have heard glorious stories about musicians practicing day and night to become as good
as they are. As poetic as this sounds, this is simply impossible for most people. People nowadays don’t
have the time, energy, or the attention span to practice their instruments for hours. Most great players
are “lucky” if they can squeeze in one hour of practice per day. So, don’t expect your child to do the
same.
A good rule of thumb for children would be to practice about 20 minutes per day, six days a week. If
you can make this work, your child will flourish on guitar. But don’t worry, if you can’t make them
practice as much. Sometimes, they simply need to pick up their guitar for 5-10 minutes. They can
actually do a lot in that time. It’s also not a big deal to skip a day, but make sure to try to get them back
on track as soon as possible.
Don’t force them to practice
Children learn best in a positive environment, and shoving practice down their throats is not positive.
Instead, try to encourage them, make it fun, play games with them on guitar, or make a small challenge
for them. You can even reward them at the end of the week, if they practiced for 6 days in a row. You
can get very creative with it and maybe even use it to spend more quality time with them. Just to give
you some ideas.
Make it a routine
It’s best if the practice becomes their daily routine. E.g., right after they come home from school or do
their homework. Make it a habit if you can. That way, it will be a lot harder to miss days of practice.
Lack of practice is not the reason to quit
Lack of practice is not the reason to quit
I’m writing this as a warning for the parents. Children will practice less or maybe even stop practicing
for a certain period of time. This does NOT mean they don’t want to play their guitar anymore, or they
don’t enjoy their lessons, or even that they are not improving in that period. They have simply
temporarily lost motivation to practice at home. Like we all do sometimes.
Since this is only temporary in most cases, quitting lessons because they don’t practice at home is not
the answer. In most cases, it’s best to hang in there and talk to the teacher about it. Maybe the child
will find something that will light their fire once again. And that fire might even be bigger than before.
This had actually happened to me and to a few of my students. What usually happens is they find a
song they really like, learn a new awesome sounding chord, learn how to write music, or maybe some
other experience might inspire them to pick up their guitar more often. So, initially, there is nothing to
worry about if children start practicing less all of a sudden. Holding a good parent-teacher-student
communication is critical here.
©Janez Janežič, 2022
