tuning a little guitar

[Peter Bro10]

My wife and I bought our 5 year old a little pink guitar for Christmas. However, it came with no tuning instructions and I'm clueless as how to tune it.

We have a Korg GA-30 electronic tuner, and it works fine for our full size guitar, but doesn't seem to work the same for this little one.

A little more background info here... while I do have a full sized regular guitar, I can only dream of learning to play someday. I have practiced basic chords up til now, But I really don't have anything to teach her myself.

Any input will be greatly appreciated, but keep replies in simple terms as I don't have any formal musical training or education.

[DawnsMinstrel]

Hi Peter Bro10,

It's a bit weird to me that you'd have trouble with the tuner with this. The pitch of the strings on any guitar (irrespective of string length) depends on two things: the thickness of the strings (actually the mass per unit length) and the tension (which is what you're adjusting when you twist the tuning pegs. The size of the guitar (length of the strings) should not matter at all, unless the guitar and strings have been designed to be tuned to a different key (which would be a very bad design because it would lead to confusion for someone with a good ear for pitch).

The only thing I can think of is the tuner. Have you checked it's battery? Have you used it recently with your full-size guitar or are you remembering that it worked once-upon-a-time? If you're sure that it works now with your full size guitar, perhaps it's a problem with the amplitude (loudness) of the sound coming from the smaller guitar. The tuner may not be sensitive enough to pick it up unless it's held very closely to the sound hole.

one more possibility: if the strings are way off from their proper pitch, the tuner will also be of little use. Try tuning up your full-size first, use your ear to get a rough match between that and the small guitar, then try the tuner again and see if that helps.

I have had luck myself getting one of those little things tuned up once for a niece, so I know it can be done. Good luck. I hope this helps

-DM

[DawnsMinstrel]

It hadn't occurred to me that it might be a toy guitar. You're certainly right that those aren't really tunable. But there are 3/4 sized guitars for young kids too small for the full-sized ones that really are tunable and playable. My niece has one as I mentioned above. I guess we'll have to wait for Peter Bro's response to find out.

[Peter Bro10]

Many thanks for the advice/help.

While it a small instrument, and not too extravegant, I don't think it's a "toy". It does have metal strings and decent looking tuning keys. I don't think this one will last all too long, but maybe long enough to get my little Emma more interested in music.

Well, as fate would have it, I already broke the 4th string! dang, I hate when that happens, especially when I don't have backups! Oh. well. Emma didn't mind too much. I'll find some new ones tomorrow.

The electronic tuner seems to be working, but I have to be practically on top of the note for it to read the note... hard to explain, but in short it's useful, but not user friendly to people like me.

OBTW, Emma is definately a Lightfoot fan! you should hear her sing "The Ponyman"! her favorite.

[DawnsMinstrel]

Happy to help PB10. I hope Emma has loads of fun. I'd love to hear her sing The Ponyman.

[DawnsMinstrel]

Hey, just another thought! How old is the battery in the tuner? Sometimes the tuner will still sort of work with a weak battery but will work better with a fresh one.

[charlene]

Emma sounds like she's ready for a Lightfoot concert!
take pics of her with her guitar!
My son was/is a music nut from the get-go:He got a little toy guitar at around 2 and loved it, he was always after his dads guitar from when he was able to crawl to it. he had conservatory piano (classical)for several years from age 7 till 13 or so and then took up guitar after that. while in sea cadets he played trumpet and drum. he sings and writes music as well.. While taking piano lessons he competed several times (and won)in the local Kiwanis Music festivals as Gord did as a young vocalist..
It's so wonderful that Emma is showing an interest like she is. Enjoy it with her! Musical talent in a person is something I envy. I can barely play the radio..
lol

[Peter Bro10]

DawnsMinstrel: I'll definately replace those batteries before I use the tuner again, just a pair of AAs.

I'll work on recording (video) of Em singing "The Ponyman", but I'll warn you, better have a box of Kleenex handy!!!

Char: Thanks for sharing the story of your son's musical development. I think that's what I'm thinking of: to see in the "interest in song" can cultivate the talent, or into talent (or is talent something innate).

Sorry, don't mean to go too deep so early in the morning... treading on dangerous ground!

[RM]

Originally Posted by Peter Bro10

Char: Thanks for sharing the story of your son's musical development. I think that's what I'm thinking of: to see in the "interest in song" can cultivate the talent, or into talent (or is talent something innate).

It's a fascinating subject. Below is a link to a summary/reviews of a book that delves into the subject.

http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-W...

[DawnsMinstrel]

And here is another book to consider on the subject which argues that music is innate, but that it is innate in all of us.

Amazon.com: This Is Your Brain on Music: The...

[charlene]

My son was a music lover from the git-go..his first steps at 8 1/2 months were right to the stereo cabinet where all the music he loved came from..lol. He would roll around our apartment in his little walker to get to the tv room when a tv commercial with music would come on..He'd sit there and bop around and take off when it was over.
A friends mum was a music teacher - piano and voice with a local school board and our boys became friends when they were 5. When Darryl would go to their house he would not leave the piano alone, barely playing with his friend. He would pick out songs from tv commercials he heard..playing them note perfect.. He would compose things in his head and play them and would remember them from week to week. His friends mum told me she thought he was quite talented and we might think about sending him for piano lessons - classical lessons thru the Royal Conservatory of Music. A former teacher there lived down the street and gave lessons from her home so he went there for years. He grew tired of the strict regimen and classical sort of music and had started playing his dads guitar. The piano lessons stopped but his classical training and ability to read and write music has stayed with him. A few years ago he auditioned on guitar at a prestigous music school and was accepted but chose not to go because it was based on jazz music, as are most music programmes of that sort..He picked up the trumpet and played it, the same with guitar, drums and piano. When he got that little guitar he picked it up and instinctively knew how to hold it. The baby pic of him with his fathers guitar is funny to remember because he would sit and hold the neck with one hand and 'strum' with his other..He badly wanted to be able to hold it the way he saw his father hold it but he was smaller than the guitar. So he would sit beside it for long stretches of time just listening to the sounds it made and loving every minute of it.

I believe a person either has a musical ability or not. The same with artistic talent..While we all may be inately able to whistle a tune, sing a nursery rhyme or draw a stick man I'm speaking of a "gift" that with lessons, practice, and time dedicated to the craft, gives us the likes of a Lightfoot or a da Vinci..
My talent lies in appreciating those talents in others..

[fezo]

Trust me - you can have stubby little fingers and play - I'm proof. I've got a friend with even less likely guitar playing hands and he's very good. Heck, he built two of my guitars!

So far my kids are intensely interested in music but do not play muck of anything. the oldest can play some guitar and the second some keyboard. The other two are only 7. Heck, even the adopted one is very musical.

Speaking of tuners this thing is a really neat, utterly convenient and cheap guitar tuner - http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/E...tal_Tuner.html

[fezo]

You win on that one. I have this same discussion with my second daughter. She does have smaller hands than me. Starts to try playing and then lets it go. I'm still working on her.

Gord's got good guitar hands. no doubt about it.

[Peter Bro10]

A couple of updates here...

Yes, success at last! a combination of advice/techniques, 5th fret of string above got me close and then electronic tuner to tweak. I hope I don't break any more strings for awhile though!!

Funny though it may sound, Emma really wants to play the Cello. She watchs Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder quite alot, and for some reason just likes the cello. go figure!

As for whether or not she has innate talent, I can't say. But she sure does have a love for music!

Thanks all, for your input and interest.

[DawnsMinstrel]

What a sweetheart! And I love the cello myself. If I didn't already have too many instruments to practice I'd add that one to the list myself.

aw!!! Emma is adoreable and that's a great pink guitar she has there! Glad the tuning has worked out! And I can't wait to hear her singing "Ponyman" .

[DawnsMinstrel]

I know a professional jazz guitarist whose hands are tiny compared to mine, (though I don't know that they're the size of a ten-year-olds). Still it's amazing what he's able to do in spite of this limitation. It's all about finding work-arounds I think. I have a ring finger that has zero reverse flexibility. I can't do any partial barring with it at all. If I want to play something like a C9 with simultaneously fretted 3rd 2nd and 1st strings, I have to barre with my pinky. Whenever I jam with someone and they see me do that they immediately ask what the h*** I'm doing. Carpal tunnel on the other hand, boy that's nothing to mess around with. I feel bad for you about that. The cysts too must be a bummer. I'm pretty lucky myself. No problems other than a bit of arthritis in my left pinky which doesn't seem to matter. Anyway podunklander, I'm wishing you the best on your surgery and I hope the other therapies help too.