Buying a musical instrument for your child

OK, now they can play the recorder, what's the next step?

Probably guitar is right up there if it's a boy. Perhaps it's piano or violin if you have a girl. Maybe it's a computer. More about computer recording

That first trip down to the music store. What should I buy? How much should I spend?

If you are buying a guitar, a steel string acoustic is a good bet at about $120 and up. Don't forget to buy a tuner for about $30.00, this is the hardest part about learning guitar, keeping it in tune. If you go for an electric guitar expect to have to buy an amplifier too, some cables and possibly effect pedals...Acoustic guitars are a good choice for beginners since no amp or special equipment required; and it's not so LOUD.

If you are looking at a keyboard we suggest a synthesizer as opposed to your aunts old acoustic piano. Acoustic pianos have to be tuned regularly by professionals and this can be expensive.

Newer electronic keyboards come in all styles, some with "weighted keys" so they feel just like a regular acoustic piano. They normally have a built in speaker or plug into your stereo so you can play it a bit louder.

Violins and most brass, woodwind instruments are at least a few hundred, to a few thousand dollars.

Digital drum sets are about $750.00 and up, but to our mind the best thing you could buy for a couple of boys in the basement. Hours of fun away from the video game console.

I suggest buying a mid range equipment, $500-700 max.

If they get good at it then they will be able to appreciate the difference in sound. It is all a question of money though, and some stores allow you to rent before you buy; not a bad idea. Your child may have their eye on that cool set of bagpipes but may change their mind in a week or so...

Don't buy an acoustic piano. You have to tune it. Buy a digital piano. Good starting models for a couple of hundred; AND your kids can use headphones when they practice!!!

Buy a steel string acoustic guitar to start.
Don't forget to buy an electronic tuner also

It's important to have lots of music
to choose from when you are starting out

Once you have selected an instrument you have to keep up the momentum; the next big choice is "repertoire" or what songs are they going to be learning to play.

I suggest you seed their imagination with songs that they may already know. Your kid may yawn at the Chopin but get all excited about being able to plunk out the theme from "The Simpsons" for hours at a time.

Your child's repertoire selection may surprise and baffle you,
but if they are interested in playing it; great!!

I can't stress enough the importance of getting music your kids are
actually INTERESTED in playing. You will get a much better result if they are motivated to play a song they know instead of some piece they have never heard before but have to practice because it's on the exam.

Sheet music is expensive, but it's worth it.
You can get charts off the Internet, both free and paid. The pay sites offer high quality downloads of the music you want now. The free sites tend to offer poor reproductions of the songs from the fake books, but occasionally you find a gem, especially for guitar.
You get what you pay for, so don't expect free transcriptions to include all the words or be in the right key. I find it's more suitable for advanced players. When you are starting out you want the best possible material in front of the child. Buying books of sheet music can be done in a few ways. An example is a copy of all the songs from a particular album. These are complete transcriptions but each song can be 6 or 7 pages long. That's alot of page turning. I find this expensive and discouraging for "new users" so suggest "Fake books".
Fake books are thick bricks with "1000 songs for $50.00"; etc and have only the words and chords and the melody, all on 1/2 page or less. Instead of being the whole "score", or a written example of each part, it's a short and sweet version. If your child can choose between 500 songs there must be ONE they can master...if there are FIVE... the confidence building begins.
All of these books are in the same "key", normally "C"; so if you are using the recorder and you get a guitar or piano later on it's still a valuable book to have around.