Get Your Kids To Play Their Guitar by Using The WOrd “Play” Instead of Practice

My third guitar teacher, John Lippollis was awesome.  He had 60 hours of students taking lessons from him each week, and his biggest selling point to prospective students was that he was a human jukebox of Beatles and Rolling Stones songs from his years of playing in cover bands. He also was a great teacher and had the ability to patiently guide complete beginners from playing simple songs like Dead Flowers to playing more complex songs like Here Comes The Sun.

But . . . the most important thing John taught me was to change my attitude toward the guitar by substituting the word “play” for “practice.”  He said to me in our first lesson, “We don’t practice our guitar, we PLAY our guitar.”  That change in semantics is really important, especially for younger students.

My 8 year old son recently started piano lessons, and to get him to play more, I have never used the word “practice,”  Instead, I say things to him like “David, can you play some of your songs for me?”  Or I say “David, let’s play some of your songs together – I’ll play the chords on my guitar and you can play the melody.”

I realize most parents can’t offer to play along with their child on their instrument, but you can still ask them to play for you, and you can do this as soon as the first lesson.  The more you ask them to play for you and praise them for how they play, the more likely they are to want to continue with lessons.  If they play piano and they play on an electronic keyboard that is portable, have them bring the keyboard into the kitchen while you do the dishes, and then praise them up and down for every little thing they play for you.  Then watch them play their songs on their own without you having to ask them do it.

You have to play the long game – if you do what I am advising, then in a few years you’ll have a child who might be practicing an hour a day and really developing a love for their instrument.