Hello and welcome to my “Kids Guitar 1” review.
Kids Guitar 1 with Marcy Marxer is a ten-lesson guitar course for young kids.
The DVD teaches kids guitar chords to these easy, sing-along songs: Down By The Riverside, Skip To My Lou, Buffalo Gals, 100 Bottles Of Pop On The Wall, Polly Wolly Doodle, It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More, Michael Row The Boat Ashore, Grandpa’s Farm, Happy Birthday.
Given the appropriate ages for this DVD, the kids will probably need to have some adult assistance and encouragement to ensure that they’re doing things correctly, and to take time to practice.
Watch the Video Review of Kids Guitar 1
The DVD covers the preliminaries of buying a guitar, considering a three-quarter size guitar for a small child, and how to hold the guitar with good playing posture.
Guitar Songs for Kids
The song lessons start with Marcy playing and singing the tune. She then demonstrates how to form the kids’ guitar chords, finger by finger. The DVD also shows the chord diagram, which Marcy teaches the kids how to use. She then demonstrates how to make the changes between chords, frequently advising the students to stop the DVD and practice on their own until they can make the changes smoothly.
Marcy does a good job throughout the video of letting the kids know that what they’re learning will require some practice. But, that with practice, the playing will get easier. She also teaches several left-hand exercises to help the students master the chords.
Throughout the DVD, the students will learn:
- How to tune the guitar
- How to hold a pick
- Basic down strums
- Bass-strum patterns.
- Down-up strumming
- Singing while playing
- These kids guitar chords: D, A7, C, G, G7
- Ten easy songs for kids
| Title | Kids Guitar 1 |
| Taught by | Marcy Marxer |
| Copyright | 2003 |
| Running Time | 90 minutes |
| Recommended for | Young children up to age 10 or so. |
| Prerequisites | None. This is appropriate for a brand new beginner. |
| Accompanying booklet | The DVD comes with a booklet that shows the chord diagrams and the slash-diagrams for each of the tunes on the DVD. |
| Fun Factor/Coolness | The songs on this DVD are not particularly “cool.” They are old standards that young kids will probably recognize and won’t mind playing. However, I’d guess that as kids approach the age of 10 or so, they’d probably want to learn with more fun, cooler music. |
| What I like about Kids Guitar 1 | Marcy Marxer does a good job of teaching the requisite skills. She offers some good encouragement, and has some helpful exercises for learning to make chord changes. |
| What I don’t like about the Kids Guitar 1 | This is not so much a “don’t like” but a caveat. The lessons are delivered in a manner that’s appropriate for a young kid, but could be interpreted as a bit corny by an older child. And thus, probably totally uncool. |
| Recommendations | I’d recommend this book to parents who have young kids interested in learning the guitar. Based on my parental experience, I’d guess as a kid approaches age 10, they might find the tone of the lessons and the music uncool. However, once a student works through the ten lessons on this DVD, they will have a solid foundation on which to build their guitar-playing skills. |
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