Ok, so maybe you knew that, but how do you determine the correct size for your child? The best indication is arm-length to fretboard length (the neck of the guitar). The student’s arm should not have to reach very far to be able to play the first 3 frets. Use your best judgment to determine the correct size.

If the student can’t reach (or struggles to reach) the first few frets, then the guitar is too big.

However, it is equally important to not have a guitar that’s too small!

Recently one of my students had a growth spurt and still has his 3/4 size guitar. Well, it’s small enough that it is constantly falling off of his leg (where the guitar rests) and he has difficulty sitting up straight because of it. This of course affects his playing, technique, confidence, and willingness to practice.

If you’re still not sure what size guitar to buy, go to your local music store and ask them to size a guitar for your child.

Much Respect,
Andrew
The Musician’s Toolbox

An electric guitar has pickups. They’re mounted between the end of the neck (where the frets get really really small) and the bridge, (where the strings are stretched from at the base of your guitar).

These pickups are actually electro-magnets that produce a magnetic field around your strings. (Remember, the strings are metal, right?)

So, when you pluck the string, and it vibrates up and down really fast, the metal string is creating “vibrations” in the magnetic field. It’s these vibrations that are transmitted through your pickups as a signal that goes to your amp.

This signal is very weak, but it’s there. Your amp takes that signal and force feeds it a Red Bull, Monster, And Double Shot Espresso all at the same time, and gets it full of energy, therefore making it louder.

Then that louder signal gets passed to your speaker (which is a big magnet attached to a cone), and the speaker vibrates that SAME signal from your string, only now it’s loud enough to annoy your mom, or your neighbors.

That’s it in a nutshell.

Much Respect,
The Musician’s Toolbox