Electric Guitar/amp combo for a 4 year old.

Artsutanov

I never thought i’d see the day. My 4 year old son, brought up in a household of old school hip hop and techno has now discovered the world of rock/metal via an Amazon Echo glitch

About 4 months ago, round his Nanna's, he asked the Amazon Echo to play animal sounds. It played 'Animals' by Def Leppard. His physical reaction to the music & the look on his face was hilarious. From that point on his whole musical world changed.

Our (his) current car play list is an abomination to my ears, but i'm also fascinated by it. 

My attempts at getting him interested in my synths, drum machines has failed & he talks about "rockers" & guitars more than a 4 year old should. 

So i've sold his Blipblox & i'm now in the market for a suitable Electric Guitar/Amp combo. I have about £160 to spend. 

Any thoughts & suggestion would be most appreciated.

Cheers
S.

boogieman

I’d get a 3/4 size guitar for someone his age. I think your budget is realistic, I wouldn’t be spending a lot because at his age it could well be a five minute wonder.  There seem to be no end of downsized Strats but this looks more RAWK than most and HB stuff is usually reasonable quality.  https://m.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_rg_junior_bk_bundle_2.htm?glp=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlPeb9J2k4AIV7b_tCh0lpA62EAQYCSABEgIpHfD_BwE

DrCornelius

I’ve always found the 3/4 size electric guitars a bit lacking . A mate of mine bought his daughter a squier bullet mustang for about £115 new for Xmas and they are really pleased with that. It’s a smaller guitar but a ‘proper’ one if that makes sense ?

DrCornelius

Also get the King of Rock Album by Run DMC on your playlist and you’ll both be happy (or maybe some RATM ) :-)

ICBM

It's going to be hard to get a worthwhile electric guitar that sort of size - it can be done, but expect to have to do a lot of work on it, most of the half-size guitars you can find are little more than toys and won't play or stay in tune properly... and if you have to pay someone to fix it, will quickly become uneconomical - all the ones I've ever seen need attention to the nut, often the bridge and sometimes the frets, as well as heavier strings than they always come with - although they don't feel heavy due to the short scale. If he's big enough to play something with a 22.5" scale, that's going to be a lot better than anything shorter. You're also probably better buying a cheaper guitar and making it good, rather than a more expensive one which still won't really be. In general I would avoid anything with a vibrato like the plague since it guarantees tuning problems, but if that's what you end up with you can always do the springs up as tight as possible so it doesn't move.

An amp is easier - probably something like the Marshall MG10. There are cheaper ones, but most are quite poor. The Marshall is actually a decent-sounding amp for its size and most importantly, looks just like the ones in Def Leppard videos!

I have an Elevation 22.5"-scale half-size 'Strat' for sale just now which I've made properly playable, but I'm at the other end of the country from you unfortunately...

crunchman

Harley-Benton (the Thomann house brand) do some pretty good small size guitars.  There is a 22.75" scale one they do that my daughter bought with her birthday money.   They also do one with a 19" scale, which might be a better size for a 4 year old.  The strings tend to get very flappy on a 19" scale though.

Avoid anything by Encore.  I picked up a second hand one for my older daughter, and it was abominable.  The Harley-Benton is a much better guitar.

I'd also avoid the Gear4music house brand.  We have friends who bought one of those for their son, and that was dreadful as well.  It just didn't sound in tune.  I tried to set it up properly, and discovered the bridge was in the wrong place, so it wouldn't intonate correctly.

As for amps, there are various cheap practice amps around.  A Blackstar Fly might not be a bad option, as it saves having a 4 year old messing around with mains powered equipment.  You might want to get some rechargeable batteries for it. 

skullfunkerry

One of these:

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/jackson-js-1x-dinky-minion-neon-pink/123274

And an Orange Micro Crush. Strings Direct were doing them for £32 a while ago, think they're normally £40 though...

crunchman

skullfunkerry said:

One of these:

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/jackson-js-1x-dinky-minion-neon-pink/123274

And an Orange Micro Crush. Strings Direct were doing them for £32 a while ago, think they're normally £40 though...

It is available from other retailers in colours other than pink if he has the usual 4 year old boy aversion to pink.  I'm not sure any of the colours are tasteful though!

terada

Les Paul custom 3 pickup and a full stack. Can’t go wrong 

terada

Seriously though, this is brilliant. Hope when I have kids they show an interest. 

ionian

My four year old is also interested in playing - and I work in music education so I see a lot of people starting out. I'd earmarked a dinky minion for her as a birthday present later this year, perhaps graduating to a mustang when she got a bit bigger. 

But having recently been running beginner workshops I've changed my mind -  that isn't the way to go at that age if they want to get started learning. Honestly, get a good quality ukulele in death metal black and let him play that for a couple of years. It's easier to play, much easier on the fingers, and he will be able to play recognisable songs from the start. Everything he learns on a ukulele is directly transferable to the guitar in the way of technique and mechanics.

I know he isn't going to be shredding it like his heroes but my experience of youngsters stating with electric guitar is that they like to pose with it for a bit but soon get put off by the learning curve. Something that is much more accessible would give him a leg up and it's not all George Fornby stuff - far from it. I have a great arrangement of One by Metallica for ukulele that sounds awesome...

Neil

My six year old Grandson has recently started playing. My full sized guitars just swamped him!

Took him to the music store to try stuff out and a Squier mini Strat was just the right size.

Got him a Mustang modeller so he can have fun with different sounds and - hey presto!

Artsutanov

Thanks to all, for your advice & opinions. It very much appreciated & gives me plenty to consider.

I'm going to take some time over this. I don't want him to be put off or disappointed by a wrong choice/decision. 

His only consideration, at the moment, is that it has to be red. If only all our gear decisions were that simple. But at the same time i don't want to over complicate things. He just wants to make noise, have fun & be a member of Def Leppard.

But still, i'd like an instrument that was as good quality as possible for the budget. & one that he could grow with. 

Yesterday he said this: "Daddy, in the year 2158 will there be any Human Beings or just Rockers"

Artsutanov

DrCornelius said:

Also get the King of Rock Album by Run DMC on your playlist and you’ll both be happy (or maybe some RATM ) :-)

He's good with Walk This Way. 

King of Rock is taking some convincing though. 

But i'm glad you reminded me. Thank you!

Artsutanov

ionian said: Honestly, get a good quality ukulele in death metal black and let him play that for a couple of years. It's easier to play, much easier on the fingers, and he will be able to play recognisable songs from the start. Everything he learns on a ukulele is directly transferable to the guitar in the way of technique and mechanics.

I hadn't considered a Ukulele. Thanks for the tip. 

Modellista

If he wants to actually learn, then a ukulele. But if he wants an electric guitar just cos that’s what he wants, a Squier 3/4 Strat. I picked up a pink one on Gumtree for £20 and my 4-year-old loves to give it some welly and make a lot of noise. It’s tuned to open D so at least it makes some sort of musical sense.

I wouldn’t attempt to teach him anything formal yet, but just getting used to the noise it makes is a good start. The guitar itself is perfectly playable - even for a 12-year-old student it’s the electric of choice for now.

And they come in red. 

skullfunkerry

Good point about the uke. My 6-year old stepdaughter is learning the guitar and we bought her a 1/4 size acoustic, as she's small for her age anyway and it fits her perfectly. Obviously it's a lot bigger than a ukulele, but not too big. The neck is a decent size: I can play it, and because of the shorter scale length the string tensions are much lower.