Playing the guitar is one of the most gratifying and potentially lucrative careers. Any youngster who fancies himself a guitarist should be encouraged to take lessons and pursue this path. But if you’re a parent, don’t be surprised if a new list of equipment soon follows. Because whether you’re just taking lessons for the first time or playing in a garage, you’ll need to make sure that you have the right equipment on board.
Here are some of the different pieces of equipment you’ll need to make sure your budding guitarist has at his/her disposal:
Strings
Most of the time, you should have some backup strings to take with you. If you happen to break a string during warm ups or during the show, you’ll need to be able to restring your guitar so that the show can go on. You may also want to take some specialty strings from Just Strings so that you can make the guitar sound a certain way, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.
Picks
You should always take multiple pics with you when you are going to do a show or going out on tour. While it is definitely possible to play without a pick, it can be hard on your fingers. Take a few extra picks with you in case you break one or lose one.
Pickups
Every guitar player is looking for a unique sound, and the pickup on a guitar is one of the most important elements to creating that sound. There are a huge variety of pickups available to enable you to tailor your guitar sound to your needs. If you have replaced your guitar pickups, make sure every few months or so that the wiring is still solid, the solder work is intact and the screws used to hold the pickup in place are not missing or loose.
Pedals
Pedals can be instrumental in altering your sound, so the curious musician will research and test out a multitude of different kinds that are on the market. In some cases, you may want to take a less expensive backup pedal along with you as well. Danelectro has a pedals starting at $14.99, which you can couple with a spare set of batteries and a spare power supply. In addition to the pedals, you should also make sure that you have the correct cables to hook them up to your instruments.
Strap
Kids especially will need straps, as guitars can be relatively heavy. You should also bring a couple straps when playing any kind of show. Even if a guitar already has a strap attached to it, you should bring in extra one in case it breaks or in case there is some other kind of problem with it. If you’ve ever played without a strap, you understand how physically draining it can be.
Amplifier
When you are playing a music show, you need to make sure that you have your amplifier with you. The amplifier is what is going to pump out the sound from your electric guitar so that everyone can actually hear it. There are a lot of different types and sizes of amplifiers that you can choose to use. Regardless of which type you decide to use, make sure that you always have it with you when you are playing or performing at a show.
With the preceding list, your kid will get a pretty good idea about what the life of a guitarist is like. It’s probably a good idea to make a solid checklist and add new pieces of equipment over time. Make your son or daughter earn each piece so that the value of hard work can be applied.
Our oldest son took guitar lessons for a while. He did quite well and really picked up on it nicely. I was very impressed at how much he learned in such a short period of time. I was also very impressed at how many different accessories there are for guitar players. Knowing the right products to purchase is definitely a plus when you have a child wanting to learn to play the guitar. The above post is a guest post written by Becky W.
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