Mom Seeking Beginning Guitar Teacher for 6 Year Old Just Starting Out

I looked into teachers for my daughter and I was told she was too young,that 8 is about the right age to start lessons.

My 12 year old plays guitar. I'll be straight with you, I think 6 is too young. In my experience, 8-9 is about the age where they really start to understand scales and frets and tablature. They simply don't have the patience for it before then.

$20 per half hour is about average.

If you have a local college, you could contact their music department to see if any of their 3rd and 4th year students are offering lessons. They aren't likely to be any cheaper. Or, if your church has an awesome worship team, see if any of the guitarists there offer lessons.

As a music teacher, I can tell you that $20 is pretty average for 1/2 hour. Having said that, you'll need to buy a junior guitar, more conducive to small hands and shorter fingers. Once he's older, you'll have to invest again in a full size guitar. My advice is to wait a couple more years. Usually kids this age don't really have the aptitude for learning the more complex theory, rhythms, and scales involved in playing instruments yet.
However, if you insist, there are some good tutorials on youtube. Whether your child has the attention span to sit through an online tutorial is up to your discretion. I know many adults don't have that amount of patience!

I would get a beginners book, and teach him from that yourself. You can also look on youtube for instructional videos to give you a more in-depth understanding.

Elk Grove Village & Schaumburg, both have great public libraries! Why don't you inquire there?

His hands are very little - I don't know that you can really do guitar with such little hands. His fingers will be really sore too, and give out.

What about piano instead? He'd learn notes and rhythm, and then could transfer to the guitar when he's bigger.

It's really unusual to find what Gamma is talking about. It's not even worth a teacher's time to reserve the time slot every week for a child at $7 - don't expect that from anyone in your area. If you want music lessons, you pretty much need to really pay for them.

My FIL owes a music store and you can take lessons at his store. He won't take 6 yo guitar students. Their hands are not big enough.

FYI...I pay $35 / 30 minutes lesson for piano. $20 seems more than reasonable. Also, it seems like it would be a complete waste of money to hire a non teacher to give lessons. You need someone that will show your son how to hold the guitar and how to position his hands, the notes, proper techniques for strumming, how to read music etc.

Chances are your son will quickly give up on guitar if he is not progressing . I don't see how he could progress with a HS just looking for pocket money.

I pay $7 for a half hour of piano. She's a mom of 3 young kids and is amazing. She plays the organ at church too. I wouldn't pay for any lessons for your kiddo yet. Most of the time teachers won't take a music student until they can read very well. There are basic things reading teaches/uses. Such as moving the eyes from left to right and top to bottom. Moving from line to line. So reading skills are essential to playing/reading music.

I suggest you find a person that plays for fun and find out if they'll informally teach him. Then you can offer then what you can afford.

I also think that formal private lessons are at least a year out. We let our little guy who's 7 go on the internet and do free online lessons.