Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids

The Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids Method Book, Actually

I picked up the Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids book about ten years ago for a student who was eight and completely unmotivated. The kid wouldn't touch anything that felt like "schoolwork." Within three weeks, he was showing up early to lessons because he wanted to get to the songs first. That outcome isn't guaranteed with every kid, but the book has a structural advantage most competitors don't offer: it leads with fun rather than discipline. The book itself is written by Tom Kolb and Steve Harvey. It starts with open chords right away instead of grinding through six weeks of finger isolation exercises. Young learners lose interest fast when the first month is just chromatic drills. This method gets them playing recognizable music immediately, which keeps them coming back. The songs include well-known pop and rock tracks arranged simply enough for beginners.

Getting Started With Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids

Before you crack the cover, make sure the child actually has a properly sized guitar. A full-size 4/4 acoustic will feel unwieldy for most kids under ten, and frustration from equipment mismatch will kill motivation faster than any bad lesson plan. A 3/4 guitar or a Yamaha GL1 at this age is not optional advice; it is the difference between a kid practicing and a kid refusing to pick up the instrument again. The book uses standard notation and tablature side by side from page one. Some kids gravitate toward tabs immediately and ignore notation entirely. That is fine for a while, but if you want them to be competent later, you need to slowly shift their attention toward reading regular notes. The Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids approach of presenting both simultaneously is actually one of its stronger features. Most cheaper methods force notation-only or tab-only, and both extremes create gaps in a student's long-term development. Here is a specific problem I ran into that nobody warns you about. The book introduces the G major chord early on, and most students learn the standard fingering: index on the first string, second finger on the fifth string, third finger on the sixth string. That is the textbook fingering. But for small-handed kids, reaching from the low E string to the high E string with that configuration causes strain. I found that teaching an alternative fingering where the first finger plays the third string and the second finger covers the first string allowed these students to play cleanly without tension. It is a minor adjustment, but it prevents bad habits and hand fatigue that can derail a kid within the first few months.

The tempo markings in the book sometimes feel too fast for absolute beginners. A child learning to fret their first chord will not be strumming at the indicated tempo. You should ignore the original tempo and set a metronome to roughly half the marked speed. This gives the student time to actually execute the chord changes instead of just moving their hand through the motions while sounding like chaos. After a few weeks of slow practice, bump the tempo up in increments of five beats per minute. It takes longer, but the result is clean playing rather than sloppy rushing. There are supplementary materials available online through the Hal Leonard website that accompany this book. They include audio tracks you can use for reference. The audio is useful for demonstrating correct rhythm patterns, though some of the backing tracks lean heavily into a produced sound that does not always translate well to a kid practicing alone with a cheap acoustic. I usually recommend pairing the audio reference with live demonstration from the adult instructor or parent, because hearing the song played acoustically helps the student understand how their own guitar should sound at each stage.

What This Method Gets Wrong

The Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids series is solid for ages six to ten, but it has blind spots. The progression assumes a level of hand dexterity and reading ability that some kids simply do not have yet. A six-year-old who cannot yet read words fluently will struggle with the notation sections even if tabs are provided alongside. In those cases, you need to supplement with oral teaching and ear-based learning until the reading skills catch up. The book does not account for this demographic well enough on its own. Another limitation is that the method focuses almost exclusively on strummed acoustic guitar. If the student is interested in electric guitar, fingerstyle playing, or lead guitar work, this book will not take them anywhere near those styles. It is a starter method, nothing more. Once a kid finishes the core material, you should transition them into something like Hal Leonard's Guitar Method for Older Beginners or a more intermediate-focused book to continue their development. The price point is reasonable for what you get, but buying the complete package with the accompanying CD and any online resources can add up quickly if you are already investing in lessons and equipment. For budget-conscious families, the book alone covers the essentials, and free YouTube tutorials can fill in most of the gaps that the supplementary audio would address.

How to Use It Effectively

Schedule practice sessions that are short and consistent. Twenty minutes daily works far better than a two-hour marathon on Saturday. Young children have limited attention spans, and pushing beyond that threshold creates resentment toward the instrument. The Hal Leonard Guitar For Kids book is structured in manageable lessons, so following its pacing naturally supports this short-session approach. Parents should sit in on the first few lessons even if they do not play guitar themselves. Watching a child struggle silently with a chord change that looks trivial to an adult is eye-opening. The parent does not need to teach; they just need to observe and provide encouragement. A kid who feels supported during the frustrating early stages is significantly more likely to stick with guitar long-term. If you are ordering the book physically, check the publication date. Hal Leonard occasionally updates their materials, and newer editions may have revised song selections or updated notation formatting. The core method remains consistent across editions, but having the latest version means better print quality and current song choices that resonate with today's kids.

The book can be purchased through major retailers like Amazon, Sweetwater, or directly from the Hal Leonard store. There are also used copies available on eBay and Reverb if you want to save money, though worn edges and highlighted pages from previous students can be distracting for some kids. A used copy in decent condition is perfectly fine for this material since the content does not change dramatically between printings.