Music instruments are popular gifts during the holiday season and, we believe, the best gifts anyone could receive. The gift of a guitar or keyboard can spark creativity and lead to life-long inspiration. Each Christmas, parents put instruments under the tree in hopes that their children will develop a love for playing music. It’s important to remember that the quality of an instrument can make all the difference in the initial stages of learning. A good quality instrument can motivate and inspire; whereas, an instrument of poor quality can limit a student’s progress and eventually lead to frustration. We receive many calls and emails each holiday season asking for our advice in selecting an instrument. The 2 most popular instruments are keyboard and guitar, and we’re sharing our recommendations and considerations for purchasing either one as a gift. Don’t forget to complete your holiday gift with private, in-home lessons to start the New Year!
One of our favorite keyboard selections at a great value.
- Perfect for all ages, especially new students under the age of 8.
- Provides an ease and enjoyment of playing that’s harder to achieve with other instruments.
- Piano theory is the basis for all music theory and concepts.
- Keyboards are an affordable option to pianos.
- A quality keyboard needs to have a minimum of 61 keys and the touch response feature.
- Often times you will also need to get a power supply (adapters often come separately), the stand, a bench and headphones are a bonus.
- A step up from a keyboard is a digital piano. It has all 88 keys and feels closer to the real thing but costs twice as much as a keyboard.
- Click here to shop our recommended keyboards and digital pianos.
The perfect size for most young students.
- Guitar teachers suggest a student not start this instrument until a minimum of age 8 but prefer older students with hand dexterity.
- An option for young children who really want to start guitar is the ukulele due to its smaller size.
- Guitars have a big range. A good quality beginner guitar $200-$400 range for a decent instrument. Remember the quality will either encourage or discourage a student based on its playability.
- Make sure you take your student to the store to be sized for a quality guitar with a good fit. This is important! Size matters. If your child is playing dad’s old guitar it will be hard to manage if it’s not the right fit.
- If you do have an appropriate instrument at the house take it into your local guitar shop for a set-up service. Just like piano tuning, guitars need to be maintained as well.
- Click here to shop our recommended guitars.
Have more questions about purchasing an instrument? Post your question in the Comments section below, and we’ll be sure to reply.