General Music Chat

So my boys are small yet - oldest is 7, then 5 1/2, 3 1/2 & baby is 19 months. But we love music in our house! Hubby plays acousitc rythym & is working on his electric and I sing just about anything! Still break out the ol' flute from time to time ( and I mean wind instrument here guys )
So we have instruments for our boys too...we have a kids acoustic guitar and since the 5 1/2 y/o started showing signs that he would work well with a bass, we bought a 3/4 bass guitar & small amp for him. The littler ones love to use my tambourine and the baby holds the mic too It's such a blast & I love makin' music with them. We also show them how to read the chord charts we put up on the wall in the living room and have been known to rock out with the Karaoke machine, not to mention RockBand on PS2. (they love the drums! lol ) Music is a major part of our lives, on a daily basis.

So, do you also have instruments for your kids? If you do, what type do they play?

And if your kids are grown, have you seen the benefit of providing instruments for them when they are small?

Hey MOM,

Yeah , my baby boy started out on drums at 7..I didnt show him ANYTHING..He sat down behind the kit one day and just started playin...AND pretty good I might add.. ...I THOUGHT he was on his way to followin in the oldmans footsteps but then he discovered "ELP"(Keith Emerson )and "YES"(Rick Wakeman)..SO, A keyboard player he became..Always writing scores on the Sequencer, creating stuff well beyond his yrs..He was doing this computer recording insanity in the mid 90's and swappin files with people in TX ,NY, PA etc while I was still learnin about MIDI and cassette multitracking .He passed me up by the time he was 16...He's 30 now, and due to my 17 yrs being away on the road, we're not very close...BUT yeah , you'll be able to tell which (hopefully all) of yours will take it serious before too long.It MAY come more natural to some over the others..I bet its a site to see when all of them are participating at once... Yeah, and the kids have so many learning aids I didnt have...Heck , we had to physically slow down records and slow down tape players by decreasing the voltage to the motor to learn phrases and riffs , licks, tunes etc. Yeah , when ya get though readin "Tweaks" page , you'll learn about software that can write music, then play it using a midi sequencer right in your computer...PROBABLY.... If I had to guess , the KIDS will be teaching YOU before too long By the time they're 12, you'll feel dumb...


John

My baby Sophia's first song is on my myspace. It's the 4th song. It's called Sophia's first song. She was about 10 months old when I recorded her on the Wurlitzer Electric piano. Then I recorded her vox when she was a year old. She loves playing the piano, the drums, and my guitars. I do and will encourage her to play if she wants to.
Here is the link. http://www.myspace.com/neanderpaulmusic

I've taught quite a few youngens on guitar & keys & even violin.

One tip for parents...put light gauge electric strings on that 1/2 size acoustic guitar for the smaller kiddies. If it hurts too much to play, they won't play it. (It also keeps the volume down so it doesn't bug ya so much when they practice!)

My son, to my chagrin, picked up pthe guitar & learned nothing but Kurt Cobain for the 1st year or so of his playing. (I wouldn't teach him. I sent him to a friend...I remember the hell I went through when my father tried to teach me piano.) Now he comes to me occasionally to learn a riff or a chord he can't find or figure out in a song. That's sweet. We also sit down every once in awhile & I get him to play something I'm writing while I figure out other parts.

My eldest daughter Dana was an accomplished musician in high screwell For the life of me I cannot seem to remember what she played, flute I think.
My youngest daughter Julia, is very artsey but much too undiciplined to practice an instrument. She can really draw stuff though and she did not get it from me! Also sings well. I have a 3/4 Strat in which my sons 12 & 13 showed no interest. George @ 13 plays the violin, got a brand new one from his orchestra instuctor yesterday, he was very proud. Bryn @ 12 toys with the other trumpet players minds by taking or leaving the first chair at will. He has a streak of his fathers barbarism in him for sure. His Uncle Gary gave him a real nice coronet, Bryn has small hands but much heart. I was a jock in school if you can imagine a 130 pound nose guard in a 4A high school. they always lied about my weight on the programs. Did not want anything to do with the "band fags". Boy was I stupid. My first music teacher in Jr high was such a rude stuck up bitch she turned me against musicians for a long time. I'd like to go back and slap her in the mouth. Oh well such is life.

Don't let your kids waste time on guitar class in school until you check it out!!!!

My son took one of those "classes." The "teacher" taught nothing. It was basically a study hall. The only stuff my son learned was from other students...no discipline, theory, or even note reading! All he learned was how to swipe tab off the web.

I had an urge to go kick some butt on that one. I know the "teacher," & he's quite the jazz musician, plays like 10 instruments. Why the hell couldn't he TEACH something?

Hey MOM,

I bet its a site to see when all of them are participating at once... .... If I had to guess , the KIDS will be teaching YOU before too long By the time they're 12, you'll feel dumb...
John

Oh you are so right! I already know less than they do, don't you know?

One tip for parents...put light gauge electric strings on that 1/2 size acoustic guitar for the smaller kiddies. If it hurts too much to play, they won't play it. (It also keeps the volume down so it doesn't bug ya so much when they practice!)

Good tip! Will do. My Morgan (5 1/2 y/o) seemed to be a little slower on the guitar and he started taking an interest in the bass, so we picked it up for him...but now he's just taken leaps & bounds on that guitar and actually surpasses Jayden (7 y/o) who was showing sings of a lead guitarist! Boy, were we surprised! But he doesn't practice for long b/c the strings do hurt after a while...thanks!

A couple of generations back, one side of my family was extremely musical.

Last time I visited my great uncle, he gave me a trap kit from the turn of the last century, complete with real skins! He told me about how the family would get together & play nearly every week. (Some of them played piano, others stringed stuff, some horns...they were a big family.)

I think that is too cool, & something that is missing in many of our modern families. ( Of course...my mom was totally tone-deaf, so it woulda been hard for my immediate family to do as I was growing up.)

My wife has bugged me to buy her instruments, but she doesn't play them. (But now I have a concert-quality fruitwood recorder, my mandolin, & a violin to play with! I only hope that one day she wants to take up some other stuff!)

It gives me warm fuzzies when I sit down with my son, though.

Man that is so cool. I would like to work up something me and my boys could do together. Christian Metal Maricachi is what my wife suggested.
she is such a smart A sometimes.

lmao sans...

Yeah, I must admit, I get warm fuzzies when we all clang away together. I believe it is something that has been lost in a technologically progressing world...my husband gets teary-eyed when the older 2 get to singing "Surrender" by Cheap Trick on the karaoke machine, or even the other day when Jayden belted out an Ozzy tune (we choose the songs tho that they can hear by each band according to lyrics! ) So don't let anything stop you from getting some stuff together & just goin' at 'er one evening after supper...