How to Teach Beginner Guitar Lessons for 7 Year Old Kids

Are you looking for beginner guitar lessons for 7-year-olds? 7 years old is a great age to begin guitar lessons. The challenge is to make learning the guitar engaging and fun. This post covers the best beginner guitar books, as well as tricks and tips on making the process of guitar lessons for 7-year-olds fun and effective.

For more tips on ways to engage children in music lessons, read our article: How to teach music to kids.

About Musiprof

Musiprof has been providing guitar lessons in Montreal, Canada for the past 5 years. Our teachers have taught dozens of young kids aged 6-12 how to play the guitar. I have to admit that when we first started, it was a struggle teaching guitar to young kids. Although our teachers were good at connecting with kids and knew a whole lot about music, actually getting children to learn, progress, and be excited about the instrument was harder. Over the years, we figured out how to adapt our approach based on each kid's learning style and personality.

1. Alfred's Kid Guitar Course 1

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When teaching guitar to kids, it's a great idea to follow a method book. A method book provides structure and a progressive learning approach. I recommend going off-book and finding individual songs that appeal to each specific student.

• Playing Chords: The book starts with how to play simplified, one-finger chords like C and G7. The emphasis here is on strumming to the beat and singing.
• Playing Single Notes: Eventually, single notes are introduced, and the student learns how to read music one note and string at a time.
• Critique: This is a great book to get started, though the songs aren't always the most exciting for kids. I found that some of my students became bored, especially the little rockers!

2. Hal Leonard Guitar Tab Method

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This book was a great discovery. Learning the guitar doesn't necessarily require learning how to read music. At a young age, it's more important for students to be inspired and excited.

Guitar Tab Method includes exciting Rock and Roll songs like "Peter Gunn," "Come As You Are," "Wipe Out," and "T.N.T." It utilizes the tab method, which allows students to play fun songs much quicker.

What is the Tab Method? The tab method uses a numbering system to easily communicate which fret should be played on which string. It is the language of the internet; once a student learns it, they have access to learn millions of songs online.

3. Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1

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This is a great, standard method book. It's a little more challenging than the others. It starts with learning how to play each individual string and identifying the first few notes. The student learns to recognize the notes on paper and where they fall on the guitar neck. Easy songs such as "Ode to Joy," "Yankee Doodle," and "Au Clair de La Lune" are introduced.

Tips for Success

Making it Fun

Beyond any book or song, the relationship between teacher and student is the most important thing. Get to know your students, become friends with them, and always be encouraging. Take time in each lesson to goof around—that is part of the pleasure of teaching music!

Individualize

Go off the book with each student. Find a song that the student actually likes and work on it in parallel with a method book. This gives the student a sense of ownership over their lessons.

Easy guitar single-note songs that kids love:

• Smoke on the Water
• 7 Nation Army
• Peter Gunn
• Come As You Are
• Sunshine of Your Love
• Wipe Out
• Ode to Joy

About the Author

Elijah is a university-educated drummer with extensive experience in both teaching and musical performance. Since completing his Bachelor of Music degree at Concordia University in 2010, he has played music across every province in Canada and in more than 20 countries around the world.