Guitar Lessons For Kids

Here’s a video demonstration:

‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran

For this song we’re going to use our C and our G chords… but we also need a couple of new chords.

Let’s have a go at them.

This chord is called C/E.

It’s basically a C chord with an extra note added to it.

At first glance, this chord looks a bit like our Am, but notice that the second finger is pressing down the fourth string, NOT the third.

The other new chord we need is called F.

F just uses the first two strings pressed down at the first fret.

The chord sequence goes:

C       C/E      F       G

With this song, you want to strum each chord once.

Here’s a video demonstration to help you get the rhythm and feel of it right:

Now let’s try another song.

‘Stand By Me’ by Ben E. King.

This a great one to play if you’re a kid who wants to impress their parents or grandparents.

‘Stand By Me’ is an old classic.

The chords for this song are: G, Em, C and D.

We know the G and C, but what about those other two chords?

The Em is another one finger chord we can do like this:

Notice we’re pressing down the fourth string at the second fret.

Now let’s try the D.

D is a two finger chord where we press the third string at the second fret and second string at the third fret.

As well as those two strings, we also strum the open fourth string (the D string).

Now here’s the chord sequence written out for us:

G             |                | Em           |                  | C              |  D                | G            |                  |

With ‘Stand By Me’ we want to strum the G chord and the Em chord eight times and the C and D four times each.

This is obviously a lot more than the other songs we looked at, so count along as you play if it helps.

Don’t worry if you struggle to change chords at first. It takes time. The important thing is to be patient.

Here’s a video demonstration of the song if it helps:

Lead Guitar Lessons For Kids

Of course, we don’t just play chords on the guitar. We can also learn lead guitar.

This is where we pick out tunes using single notes.

Let’s try some lead guitar!

‘Smoke On The Water’ by Deep Purple.

This is an ideal song for kids who like to rock.

We can play it all on just one string. Let’s try it on the D string.

Here’s the tab:

Not sure how to read tab? No problem. Check out this article: How To Read Guitar Tabs

And here’s a video demonstration of how to play it:

.As with all our songs. Take your time learning this song until you get it right.

Go slowly at first.

Now let’s try…

‘The Bond Theme’

This is a great tune for all the movie buffs out there.

Here’s the tab:

Notice that it uses two strings, but the B string is always played open, so we don’t need to fret it.

Jack will show you how to play this killer riff in this video:

If you’re feeling a bit adventurous, you could try the low down bit of The Bond Theme as well.

Note: this one is harder, so make sure you’re happy with the first one before you try it.

Here’s the tab:

And here’s a video demonstration:

Once you’re happy with both of these single string songs, you might want to give this three string song a go.

‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac

This is a guitar riff you’ll recognise if you’re a fan of formula one racing as it was used as the theme music.

In the actual song, this riff doesn’t appear ’til very near the end, but thanks to formula one, it’s become perhaps the most recognisable bit of the song.

Here’s the tab:

Take your time with this one. It’s harder than the others we’ve looked at so be patient with yourself.

We have a video demonstration for this song as well:

Guitar Lessons For Kids: Top-Tips!

Practice

The most important thing for any guitarist to do is practice. Without practice, you won’t make progress.

But how much should you practice? About 5-10 minutes a day is good when you’re starting out.

Remember: some practice is better than no practice.

If there’s some days when you simply can’t practice, be sure to definitely practice on the days you can.

As you get better, you will find yourself wanting and needing to set even more time aside to practice.

Set realistic goals for yourself

Don’t expect to have learned everything in your first practice. It takes time.

If you’re practicing for five minutes, you’re best focusing on ONE of the songs we’ve looked at in this article.

Be patient and enjoy yourself!

It’s important to enjoy yourself when learning guitar, even if you’re trying something a bit tricky like a new chord or a new song.

If you’re patient with yourself and, as we said above, set realistic goals, you’ll enjoy learning a lot more.