Teaching a child to play the guitar presents a different challenge for any guitar teacher. Many times, a guitar teacher will have to find some type of method that suits his young student. A good guitar method book especially designed for children will certainly be of great help in this situation, and one book in particular is “Alfred’s Children’s Guitar Course”so let’s see what this book has to offer.
The 140-page book is intended for children as young as five years old and has colorful pages that can certainly catch children’s attention. After a few pages of the basics like; “Guitar Anatomy”, “Holding the Guitar” and Introduction to “Basic Musical Symbols”, students are presented with an “Activity” page in which they will be asked to draw the musical symbols learned earlier, as well as the Fundamentals of counting the “Times”. Unlike most traditional guitar method books I see, the book doesn’t start with a “Note Reading” lesson, but rather a “Strumming” lesson. An interesting approach from the writers of the book. is the introduction of three colorful characters; a dog, a cat, and a friendly alligator who are always around to give students advice in every lesson.
Reading for music notation does not begin until page 37 of the book, and by then the students had already learned four chords in simple position and had practiced strumming them in the given songs. From page 37 onwards it returns to the traditional approach of learning to read notes on each string starting from the 1st. The activity pages keep popping up between lessons and the colorful characters are always there to help. Students will experience single note blending and chord strumming on page 43 and this will continue with each new note learned.
A “four string” version of the chords learned earlier is presented on page 79 and this is followed later with the introduction of the “Bass-Chord” accompaniment style, as well as playing along with “Dynamics” to train students to add “Feel” to his interpretation. .
Pro:
The book’s approaches of introducing the “strum” lesson first before the “notes” reading is certainly a good way to keep the lesson entertaining for the children. It’s much easier than trying to memorize the notes and finding them on the guitar before they can play a meaningful sound. The enclosed CDs sound great and are actually “enhanced” CDs that have additional features when played on a computer. The colorful cartoon characters did their job in making the lessons interesting and the colorful pages make the book look cheerful and this will surely attract the attention of the young students.
Cons:
The book, although titled “Complete” on the cover, is not exactly a comprehensive guitar method book because even after finishing the book, students will only learn “four string chords” at best. Although they come with great sound and enhanced CD’s, the guidance of a guitar teacher is still needed to make the lessons most effective for children, especially five year olds.
Having read the book and learned the pros and cons, I still feel it’s a good place to start for kids who want to learn the guitar for its simplicity.
