How early is TOO early

[Tommygunn]

My son is 21 months, he loves it when I play my bass for him. But, when we listen to music in the car, he air drums like nobody's business! Guess he's gonna be my little drummer (oh darn!)

I read 21 years at first. I laughed so hard.

I took my 8 Y.O. son to the local music store to get him his first bass........ Little B**tard broke my heart and told me he wanted a Guitar instead.

Hell grow into bass. I wanted to be a guitar god from since I was like 6. And I didn't realize I wanted to play bass till I was 10. Just wait until all his friends play guitar and he realizes its really cliche to play guitar.

 

[tekhedd]

How old you need to be to hold the strings down? I'd start with piano first, and then branch out, but that's just me. I started learning piano when I was old enough to press notes down, went through a brief percussion stage, and finally recognized the call of the bass. I don't remember a time when I wasn't playing music, any better than I remember a time when I couldn't talk. There's no "too early", but you shouldn't have to push or force the issue either. It's very much like learning to talk--there will be an early period where you'll just be making noise.

In some cases, the child will never pass the "making noise" stage, or will revert to it at a later date and join some sort of avant-thrash band.

When is the right time to start your child on a lifetime addiction to making music, chasing tone, and buying gear? It's like asking when is the right time to introduce your child to crack. I love my parents, and have forgiven them, but I can't seem to shake the addiction. I'd write more, but I have to go play cover tunes for drunk people. Luck!

(Searches for "Merge Posts button")

Woodwinds, and those plastic recorders. Have been the first music instrument for little kids since forever in allmost all cultures.

I always assumed this was because plastic recorders are very very very very very cheap.

"Until they feel like it" is the right age. When surrounded by instruments, at some point kids will want to pick one up.

For improv, sure. For basic theory, well, ask yourself this. If you waited until your children "felt like" learning to read... I'm just saying that the world doesn't need another drummer who can't read music.

 

[tekhedd]

^^ Merged

 

[Roy Vogt]

Victor Wooten started "playing" in the band with his brothers when he was four-strumming on a Mickey Mouse guitar. I think he started bass for real when he was 8.
Suzuki violin is a good idea. So are piano lessons if they are not too strict. I know some great accountants, doctors, lawyers and engineers who are not musicians because of forced piano lessons!
I think keeping it play for a good while is fine. It would take an exceptional student to focus on Electric Bass at 8-most of my beginners have been ages 12-14 with 14 being the median age.
Don't forget he's supposed to be a kid first, then a musician....(Words of wisdom from the father of a 25 year old.)

 

[carlos840]

"Until they feel like it" is the right age. When surrounded by instruments, at some point kids will want to pick one up.

+1

My mom was a flamenco guitar player, when i was around 10 she forced me and my bro to play guitar, hated every bit of it, she made us play classical guitar when all we wanted was to get an electric and play some Nirvana!
I was forced to practice at least one hour a day and after 2 years i quit, told her it was all shite and never touched a guitar again, my brother did the same.
I started playing bass 9 years later when my brother brought a bass back home, loved it from the first time i picked it up.
I always had a piano and guitars at home, parents listening to music all the time l but never felt the need to play before that...
Its now been 8 years and i still love it.

From my experience i would say dont force or rush anything, if it has to happen it will.

 

[Lackey]

My plan is to get an SX 30" jazz, string it up as a piccolo for myself. But, if/when the kid ever gets interested, I can hand them that and it should be easier to handle size-wise.

 

[sarnz]

When I was at the end of high school I started playing because I wanted to be just like blink 182. never had any musical experience or background before that, except for the flute thing in elementary school which was stupid.

if they find the inspiration to play, then they will do it on their own. having instruments readily available is the best thing to do for them.

 

[rjgonzales]

My 17 month old

 

[TGLbass]

I have always wanted to be just like Blink 182- running naked thru the streets because I can't play music worth a darn! ......... and to be like Zarg the originator of the bass lute in 13 97. A nomadic kinsmen from Northern Europe who eventually settled near what is now Prague. He led a long life as a traveling minstel with his band of players known as Zarg and the Impalers. He is known to have taught all his children bass lute by the age of 7. Quite an accomplishment for a group of people who could not read, write, or use a cell phone. Believe it or not---there were no video games in 1397.

 

[Boyakasha]

Too early is before he wants it, if you're a bassist he'll eventually want to play so he can be like daddy, but if you force him to play it he won't enjoy at all, wait for him to show interest then teach him, if you force him to play early on he may develop an aversion to bass.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

My son will have a 20" short scale (like Invalid Link Removed, although probably home-built) on the day of his birth. Teddy bears are overrated, in my opinion.

 

[Devo-lution]

give them the room to explore musical instruments themselves... If you keep pushing, chances are they might turn against it when puberty kicks in.

Also, let them discover their own way. If I had kids, I would never shove lessons down their troath. Let them explore the possibilies they have themselves and carve their own path. If they come asking for a lesson, now that's a whole other story...

 

[Hoover]

My opinion is based on a fairly limited data set, but fwiw when I was a teenager I worked as a guitar teacher, and one of my students was 10 years old. In addition to the annoying fact that this particular kid had the attention span of a small insect (which may or may not be typical of all 10-year-olds), he also had fairly small hands (which seems far more typical of all 10-year-olds) and this was a substantial impediment to his learning and advancing as a guitarist.

So I would say "pre-puberty" is probably too early... unless you start them on a short- or super-short scale instrument.

 

[Rickett Customs]

I bugged the hell out of my mother right around 9 years old and even offered to work off the money however I had to........ I did most of the work that had to be done around the house (beyond what I regularly did), and found myself with a squier P at 10 years old. I took lessons from 10 till I was 15....learning theory, technique.etc.., then got into highschool band, had to play tuba for 9th and 10 grade then played the upright for the varsity jazz band my 11th and 12 grade years.........have been playing ever since.

 

[Florox]

It's been my experience that musicians that start playing at a very young age are extremely solid musicians, however they never want to experiment with something new or try to be better everyday since they're past their prime. The prime time in a musicians life is something very important, without it you only have extremely solid, not excellent and daring. What's most frustrating is trying to convince them to learn new techniques or improve themselves. If they're past their prime, by the time they're 18, where you can start working in bars, bigger events or stages they're not going to perform their best, where it matters the most.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

my son is almost 4 months old now..... he already watches my hands and fingers while i play. am i rushing this??

Um... yes, you are. A LOT of things happen between right now and X number of years from now when a human being can properly hold a bass and have enough development physically and mentally to play it. Who knows what will happen in that timeframe???

Congrats on your son.

 

[yellofury]

Let the curiosity settle in
None of my parents have any musical background
but during 5th grade the NY Public School system (at least in the 70s)
offered band instruction and gave out sheets with instrument names
and boxes next to them and you picked the 3 you preferred the most:

1 Saxophone
2 Trumpet
3 Cello

My parents never pushed or goaded me
but they did support me even when making payments on the sax
was a stretch for them

I still play music today (albeit not professionally nor the saxophone)
and my parents backing me left a great impression upon me about what
to do with my own future children

BTW too early is when he/she is still a glimmer in your eye (or a fetus)