We bought a guitar 12-18months ago as a little surprise after my daughter had a op and was admitted to the hospital. She has just turned 11 and is doing her grade5 piano exams in spring and possibly grade 5 cello in summer. Although I regularly visit the site, I rarely post as I am learning a lot and am not remotely musical e a lot to say. Over the last two weeks or so, she has started showing interest in the guitar and learning the chords from the book which accompanied the guitar. I am not sure if she needs any lessons as this will be her third instrument. If she can reasonably read music - can she learn guitar herself? I don't want her to do any exams- not sure if there is one for guitar anyway. I am not sure if this is just a passing interest but she has consistently been trying to learn the guitar almost every day for the last two weeks and has asked for lessons at school.
If we decide that she can self teach herself - where do you look for the resources?
Part of me says - may be she can have lessons for a year or two before all the high school work starts and she can reasonably play it.
Part of me - thinking about the costs, time ,logisitcs of practising three instruments, whether learning the third will compromise the other two.java script:emoticon(':blink:', 'smid_8')

It is always worth having lessons as a good teacher will teach her sound technique and help her avoid bad habits. 3 instruments is nothing. Multi instrumentalists are common-place. With Piano and cello being her instruments, guitar is a logical step. If she takes guitar lessons, she could learn decent Classical Technique, or learn proper popular technique. Both are equally important and valid.

I have a piano pupil who has just taken his grade 8 Rockschool Guitar exam. He would not be able to have done that without lessons. His next aim is to develop sound Classical technique in order to be an all-round guitarist. He wants to be a session musician.

Don't discount exams, leave these to your daughter to decide, and yes there are exams for guitar, both Classical and Rock.

A dedicated musician will find time to practise three instruments.

So, if she wants lessons, it is worth her giving it a whirl.

What kind of guitar did you buy in the end? I remember the acoustic v classical/Spanish debate.

I think it depends on how seriously you/her are going to take the instrument. Classical Guitar technique is just as involved as any other instrument. It's also a very difficult instrument to play well IMO. . but aren't they all?
If it's just a matter of strumming a few chords then perhaps lessons might not be a priority.
Guitar Grades and Performance Diplomas are and have been available for many years.

Halka- We bought a classical guitar.
THANKS for all the advice so far. I am going to see what happens over the next few weeks - if she is really keen to take it further, then I will have to look into formal lessons.

Perhaps more than any other instrument, an awful lot of very good guitar players never had a formal lesson in their lives.

But they all watched like hawks as their heroes played, and listened intently, and got friends to show them tricks and techniques.

So the answer is, No, a teacher is not essential, but getting one might save a lot of pain and a lot of trial and error.

What does your daughter think she wants to do? She may get quite a long way on her own and be happy with that. I agree with VH2 - I know some fabulous guitarists who can't read music and never had formal lessons. Many, many musicians can pick up a guitar and play an accompaniment for a few songs, having learnt the chords from a book or from a friend. However, if she wants to play classical guitar then a teacher would probably be the best bet.

I taught myself the chords from a book when I was a teenager. I just wanted to be able to accompany myself singing, which I managed quite nicely, and I learnt to "pick" the strings to create arpeggios rather than strumming. It was great to have a guitar to sing with when I left home and had to live without a piano for years.

I teach piano, recorder and flute but not guitar - though I do have a guitar pupil. We are learning to play together. He is a boy who has learning difficulties and who began with me on the descant recorder. When he got to secondary school this did not do for his self image what a guitar would have done. There followed sulks and stubborness about wanting to change instruments. I suggested his mother took him to a guitar teacher who at the time was working for the same Association as me. The guitar teacher is a nice person but didn't feel up to taking on a boy with his learning problems. So mother came back to me because she knew I understood his problems and we came to an arrangement. I told her I was no guitar teacher but if she wanted him to continue with me I would learn the guitar with him. We would teach ourselves!

After a year and a bit we are on Lesson 6 of "A Tune a Day for the Classical Guitar." The boy mostly finds his way around the guitar by ear. I have the more iintellectual approach and read the music. We make a good pair! I know what it should sound like because I can read it and he makes it sound better than me because once he has the tune memorised he is better than I am at playing it. Our weekly sessions are fun and neither of us do much practice.

Since your daughter already has a fair amount of musical knowledge I would be inclined to let her play away until she feels she needs help - unless she really wants to go for exams and all that because then she probably will need good tuition - it is not an easy instrument. However, if she wants to play guitar as an optional extra type of activity I think she will probably know if and when things need to get more serious.

It depends on what she wants to get out of it. It is possible to get somewhere on classical guitar with an appauling technique because it's got frets. I've seen many child and adult players murder my favourite pieces with terrible technique! To play technically well with good sustain, intonation and tone, and avoidance of injury, you need correct technique, like any other stringed instrument, which takes time and dedication to master. When searching for a classical guitar teacher, be careful with guitar teachers who tag "classical" on the end of a long list of other genres they advertise as being able to teach. It may not be their area of expertise.
If she wants to enjoy strumming a few chords, a self teach book is enough, but if she gets bitten by the bug and wants to play classical, she may need to re-learn technique, which is harder than starting right in the first place.
Search for Zuefei Yang and Gary Ryan as examples of great technique.
Guitar is wonderful because anyone can pick one up and have a dabble, but on the other hand it is not a toy, it is a serious instrument with a rich history and repertoire, and takes just as much time and dedication to play well and correctly as any other string instrument.
Yes there are exams!

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. She has asked if the peri guitar teacher can teach her during school time.
Sorry for my ignorance - can you only learn classical songs/music with the classical guitar ? or can it be used to play pop/rock songs?

Some (or, rather, quite a lot of) rock/pop uses a nylon strung classical guitar (Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" is one example). And there is a huge amount of folk influenced rock and pop that suits the instrument too. Apart from that you can play SOME other pop/rock on a classical guitar. Anywhere that a metal-strung, narrow-necked acoustic is used, then a classical guitar, with its wider fretboard and nylon strings is an adequate substitute.

You can also use your classical guitar to learn to play the same riffs and fills as rock guitarists play on their electric guitars but to get the proper rock/metal sound you need an electric guitar, and to get the full range of authentic electric guitar sounds, you need not only an electric guitar and amplifier, but also a flanger, wah-wah pedal, echo unit, and other electronic goodies.

...

The classical guitar has a completely different sound and right hand technique to acoustic guitar. Any music can be played on any instrument, but there is a big difference between a classical and an acoustic guitar: different strings, neck width, tension, range of sound etc. I used to play some wonderful jazz and blues arrangements on my classical guitar. Not that that gave it an authentic sound, but I enjoyed it, so so what! Alot of acoustic/folk music and musicians uses tabulature (a kind of short hand alternative to notes on a staff) or learn things aurally rather than reading from standard musical notation. Some classical guitar purists are a bit snooty about this but I think anything that gets kids enjoying music making is a good thing. Your daughter is already a musician so may find playing from standard notation not too difficult with some time and study. Alot of sheet music for rock and pop will be published with standard notation alongside tabulature and/or chord charts, which is a short cut to getting fingering right.
Some pop music sounds beautiful on classical gutiar, I've played some lovely beatles arrangements. But dont' be confined in your choice of repertoire to what is familiar, there is such a wealth of music to explore and enjoy for classical. Start with the abrsm syllabus just as a snapshot example. Classical guitar needn't just be a solo instrument either, it can be glorious in duets/trios and larger ensembles, look for the music medal repertoire for some really good easy ensemble music she could play with her teacher or other players.
Hope she enjoys it!

If you learn either classical or folk guitar from a teacher or from a teach-yourself guide, you will learn the type of music and techniques associated with that style of guitar. It's possible to play in other ways, but it takes some experimentation.

Son plays classical guitar, but friends and even school music teachers were always asking him to play (strummed) accompaniments for singing etc. One of the problems of using classical guitar for other types of music is that it is not naturally a really loud instrument. He couldn't do that at first - he didn't know how to strum a chord, and he didn't know how to use a pick either - both things that are second nature to other guitarists!