Playing the guitar is best learned in youth and practiced with age. Many parents and even children often wonder what age and developmental stage are suitable for undertaking a proper guitar lesson.
The age and developmental stage at which you can fully undertake an adequate course on how to play the guitar is probably the most relevant question on your mind as a guardian or prospective student.
Learning to play the guitar comes in phases and a variety of courses. However, the specific age mark you can start in the elementary class is subjective to many things. Ranging from your cognitive capacity to the proficiency of your tutor in whatever method the case may be.
The following are the most relevant points to consider to get a clear answer to what age you can start learning the guitar. As the proper answer to the question is subjective to them.
How To Determine the Age to Start Guitar Lessons
The following are the factors that can influence the learning process of the guitar.
1. The Acceptable and the Ideal Age
This factor is the first to understand when thinking about the best age to start taking your guitar lessons.
There is an acceptable age at which you can enroll and participate in guitar lessons.
Also, there is an ideal age where you can be guaranteed the success of your guitar learning endeavor to a certain extent. These two are highly subjective.
While you can start learning to play the guitar from about age six, it will be ideal to be at least ten years old before you start your learning journey.
At six, the average human muscles and bones are believed to be strong enough to support the guitar’s weight while practicing and possess enough muscle power to pull its strings. However, at ten years old, you can be assured of having no difficulty moving or plucking the strings on your guitar.
2. Mental Capacity
Even elementary courses within guitar lessons still contain a lot of professional terminologies and practices. The best age you can start learning how to play the guitar is, to an extent, dependent on your cognitive abilities and your attention span.
Ideally, at ten, you should at least be able to understand professional terms and concentrate your attention long enough to get the logic behind every time your teacher presents.
Of course, you may not readily know the actual capacity of your mind concerning a move like learning how to play the guitar. That is precisely where the competence and professionalism of your tutor come in.
3. Tutor’s Capacity
The age you can start guitar lessons suggests entry-level intentions. You may want to locate and learn from a tutor that is either multi-talented with any level of courses or a specialist with entry-level classes.
This is relevant to answering the question of what age you can start learning to play the guitar. It could be subjective to whatever age you can discover the ideal tutor.
4. Physical Development
At ten years of age, one is expected to mature physically enough to handle the guitar. However, that is just an ideal standard, as there are cases of underdeveloped ten-year-olds whose hands cannot control the entire perimeter of even the elementary guitar.
This could also affect the stage where you could kick start proper guitar lessons, as there would be too many irregularities with the underdeveloped ten-year-olds. So, it would be best to learn how to play the guitar whenever you can handle one.
In some cases, with rapidly growing individuals, the age of eight is enough to undertake a course.
5. Motivation
Every endeavor requires the right motivation. Learning how to play the guitar is no different. At the age of six, you may not understand why and how you want to start learning to play the guitar.
At the ideal period, you are expected to define the purpose of your interest in learning how to play the guitar, whether purely based on superficial motives, passion, or a professional drive.
This determines the ease you will relate with your tutor and your overall attitude toward achieving your skill.
6. Tolerance
Starting your journey of learning how to play the guitar is not what defines your skill but finishing it. You will need to be mature enough to understand that learning the workings of a guitar will take some time.
This point is more subjective to your emotional maturity rather than your age. Nevertheless, age births wisdom, and you are more likely to understand how things work at ten.
Conclusion
You can start learning how to play the guitar at the tender age of six. However, you are most likely to learn better and quicker at ten.
This is, however, based on many factors. Such as your mental capacity, motivation, level of physical development, and your tutor’s capacity, to mention a few.
There is no age set in stone to undertake guitar lessons. However you could be ready for an elementary course at the age of six, but you may undoubtedly be prepared for an entire course at the age of ten.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. There are a lot of certified guitarists and tutors that have chosen the career path of educating infants on guitar lessons. You need to find one within your reach and budget.
Absolutely. Depending on the level of physical development of the individual and mental capacity, a five-year-old can undertake an elementary guitar lesson.
Yes. There are currently a lot of channels and blogs where you can start taking guitar lessons online. However, the experience may not beat that of having a physical tutor. But yes.
