Five Reasons to Learn Guitar with the Whole Family

• July 26, 2016
• Guitar Lessons

Are you looking to learn guitar as a way to bring everyone together? Learning to play an instrument, especially the guitar, can be a fun experience for your whole family.

Before you start thinking about collecting stamps or scrapbooking, consider the possibility of you and your family engaging in a world of music that will instill discipline and provide a fun time for everyone.

1. Family Bonding is Important

Whether it’s a family dinner once a week or the annual summer vacation, most people can look back and think of one common occurrence from their childhood that really brought the family together.

Studies show that parents spending time with their children will lead to a stronger family unit and a better chance at becoming a successful adult. When parents reinforce a child’s activities or schoolwork, it leads to a stronger relationship with each other and teaches the child that their hobbies are worthwhile.

A family learning how to play guitar together will take the time to work through mental and physical challenges in order to develop a new skill. This kind of quality time will provide parents and children with a shared interest that may last both of their lifetimes.

2. Practicing Guitar Builds Character

As easy as it may look on TV, learning to play the guitar can be difficult at times. It may come as a shock to some, but being a good guitarist requires a lot of practice.

Writer Malcom Gladwell states that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is necessary to become a master in any field. While that may or may not be completely accurate, it does basically boil down to practice being an essential part of improving on any skill or subject.

When you’re learning to play guitar, it’s important to fight for time to practice. This will teach you to manage your time better and to prioritize activities. An example might be having to pick between practicing guitar and playing video games. Those can both be fun, but what is going to make you a better guitarist?

In a family setting, this can be implemented through scheduling family practice times or by giving the kids “guitar homework” to finish after their regular school work and chores are taken care of. Like many situations in parenting, there is a lot of room for customization and playing it by ear.

3. Your Family Keeps You Accountable

Continuing with the idea of practice, the structure of a family can help you immensely when learn guitar together.

If the idea of scheduled practice times doesn’t sound appealing, you could hold small contests within the family. Whether it’s learning a new chord or tackling a song, you could award different prizes like getting out of chores for a week or picking what’s for dinner on family night.

Becoming a better guitar player is much easier when it’s a team effort. How much simpler would it be to get serious about playing guitar if you had several people in your house who also wanted you to strive to get better and learn guitar?

This idea of accountability is often played out in religious circles and school settings. Why not apply it to your guitar journey as a family? Learn guitar this way.

A cheering section that lives under your own roof is an advantage you should never throw away.

4. Guitar Resources are Everywhere

No matter what age you are or what skill level you’re at, there are many guitar resources out there to help you learn how to play guitar. While it may be strategic to have the entire family on the same lesson plan, you can find guitar lessons and guides that will speak to anyone.

While most guitar lessons out there are aimed at more of the 12 and up age range, there are some sites like Little Kids Rock and Kids Guitar Zone that offer very basic guitar lessons for free. These may not prove to worth more than a couple of visits, but it’s nice to have the option available. There are even some apps for your phone aimed at teaching kids (and adults) how to play guitar.

If you’re looking for what kind of guitar you should buy your kids, we put together a few choices in a previous Pro Lessons blog post.

5. Together is Cheaper When You Learn Guitar

This may not be the most heartwarming item on the list, but it is one that will make parents happy.

When a family is learning to play guitar together, there’s a few corners that can be cut in order to save money. First, you don’t have to buy an instrument for every person. While it would be ideal to have a guitar that will fit everyone perfectly, it wouldn’t hurt to find some kind of sharing system for multiple kids or a husband and wife.

Other ways to save money while learning guitar are to share equipment and take online guitar lessons that each member of the family can watch on their own. If you’re looking to save a buck or two, it’s certainly much easier to find redundancies in a house where there are multiple musicians under one roof.

Click here to find even more reasons why you and/or your family should learn to play guitar today!

All of this being said, what’s most important to remember is that learning to play guitar should be fun. Convincing someone of their need to practice guitar shouldn’t be some kind of hostage negotiation. If multiple members of your family are interested in exploring the guitar, all signs point to that being an enriching experience for the whole family.

If you, or any other member of your family, are interested in learning about the affordable online guitar lessons that we provide here at Pro Lessons, click on the banner below. Our professional guitar instructors are eager to help you and your family learn more about how to play guitar.