Guitar playing is enjoyed by many people throughout the world.  It’s an instrument that everyone would love to play and when they sound good, with kids especially, they can really inspire learning.

Some may think children can be quick to master guitar playing, but if they are not taught properly, they will develop bad habits.  As a teacher, we don’t want to see that happen.

Don’t fret! We have two lessons for you to use in your teaching session so your young students can learn playing the instrument effectively.

Interested in guitar lessons for kids in Dublin? Check our classes here.

Guitar Classes for Kids in Dublin: Our Rules

Let’s have a quick look at our rules for guitar lessons for kids in Dublin. We divided the rules in lessons to make things simpler for you.

Lesson 1: Keep it simple

Easy Riffs: 

In Tempo Music School we kick off by teaching easy and short melodies from familiar songs, especially the ones the kids would love to listen to. The familiarity and  simplicity will be a big motivation for them. The practice of these simple melody lines with one string initially can help them develop technique. 

Although kids will be using an acoustic guitar to begin with,  it would be great if they had the opportunity to mess around with an electric guitar occasionally. For instance, you can have the amp turned on using a fat distortion and allow them to play Deep Purple’s Smoke on the water. This melody is easier to practice with just one string.  After they have grasped playing it with one string, you can teach them the original riff that is played with two strings. 

Also, you can teach them another simple melody by White Stripes, ‘Seven nation army’. Although, learning the riff will be a little hard and they will take time getting the hang of it, but that will bring out the best result. The more they practice, the more fluency and tempo they will have. 

Easy Chords: 

It’s not easy for children to play guitar chords with their little fingers since it is sort of a challenge itself. So, if you want to teach the kids, you will need to adjust the chords so they can play the guitar easily while providing them with the experience and sound of a real guitar. 

Here in Tempo we use easy strumming patterns along with easy songs and simplified chords. Let the kids listen to the original song a few times so they become familiar with the tune at first. After they get used to the strumming patterns and chords, allow them to play along with the song by slowing down the tempo with a few adjustments. 

This way, the kids will learn to play the song on their own and sing along while playing patterns as well as chords simultaneously. But make sure that you teach all of these in small and easy steps that will be manageable. Let them take as long as they need, be patient, patience is essential to becoming a good music teacher. Try not to rush your young  students, they are kids and they are likely to take more time. 

Here we have provided some simplified chords of easy songs that you can take into consideration for teaching the kids initially. 

The chords: G-Em-C-D 

Begin with these chords. If you want, you can replace the D chord with the Dsus2 chord to begin with. It should sound fine. 

However, you will find a bunch of songs that can be played with these 4 chords starting from retro olds to today’s big hits. 

If you want to simplify other chords, you can do that as well. Having said that, the chords mentioned above are perfect to kick off with. However, if you want the kids to play along with the original songs, it’s better to use a capo. 

Here are some more suggestions of easy songs so that the kids can play with those 4 chords. For this, we have thought to highlight a few. 

• Let It Be by The Beatles
• I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
• Stand By Me by Ben E King
• She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

Lesson 2: Keep it engaging  

Interest them: 

If you want to teach children to play guitar effectively, you will need to make sure your students are kept interested to learn more. For this, you can sketch a plan out for children and use custom lesson plans to give a little flexibility to the teaching sessions. Do not just bank on a single riff. Mix up some more of them that will be easy and fun to learn. You can also ask the kids what they would like to listen to and jam with them. We are sure, your students will love you for this. 

Motivate them: 

You might face a lot of times when your students haven’t practiced between lessons. One of the reasons possible could be they have not been encouraged properly. Teachers and parents need to encourage young musicians to practice and praise their efforts regularly. 

Challenge them: 

Some children can get frustrated when a piece or technique is too hard to learn beyond their capacities or if you don’t challenge them at all. Extremes of anything will do no good to anyone. You may find them getting bored of the song if they are playing it for months and months and as a result, they will give up. So, when choosing material, give them challenges that will be within their reach. Eventually, your students will feel that they are progressing and this will encourage them even more.