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You could say that our family is a little bit musical, and if you did, you’d be right. 

Every Sunday my husband and I lead our little church in worship, with our daughter Arielle singing and often playing keyboard, and our daughter Catie often playing cajon. My husband loves to take his guitar along any chance he gets and he can be found playing songs at many family gatherings. Arielle, 12, started learning some basic guitar a few years ago, and she likes to snag the guitar from him if she gets the chance. I play some guitar myself.

“So, why,…” (you may ask) “Why in the world would any of your kids need online guitar lessons, with two adult guitar players in the house?” 

That’s an excellent question and I’m glad you asked. 

But first let me tell you that when I read about Gentle Guitar and what they do, I jumped at the chance to check them out and see what they could do for Arielle. We received three private lessons for free and had the opportunity to “meet” Inga, see what the online lesson experience is like, and pour over their materials. In exchange I’m going to share our experience with you, 100% honest, as always. I’m also being compensated for my time, but payment doesn’t change the fact that I’m always committed to doing my best and being completely truthful with my readers. So now, I bet you’re wondering why I couldn’t teach Arielle guitar myself??

Our Musically Gifted Student

Arielle is our musically gifted child. She has loved to sing as long as I can remember, and 3-4 years ago she took up guitar–this tiny little 9 year old with my husband’s great big guitar. Our pastor was giving group guitar lessons after church and she and I both joined. She took to it quickly, learning the basic chords and basic strum rhythms.

For her tenth birthday she got her own (custom painted by mom and dad) child-sized guitar. She practiced and learned a few new songs, and she even wrote a song for me for Mother’s Day and another for my birthday! She loves her guitar. 

However, she (and her father, and I,) have been largely self-taught and have learned only to play songs with chords written above the words. And with her musical interest, I would like her to learn more of the theory behind the music.

Also, (as often happens with mothers and daughters) I would like to improve her technique, musical style, and variation of strum patterns,. . . but sometimes my suggested improvements come across as picky-mom-criticisms instead. 

We need someone who knows more about guitar than I do, who knows how to teach theory and style, who is great at teaching young girls (and who isn’t mom.) 

We need something, someone, like Inga from Gentle Guitar.

Homeschooling Kids, and Gentle Guitar Lessons

Guitar Online Lessons

Via Skype, we scheduled three online personal guitar lessons with our instructor, Inga Hope. What were we hoping to get from Inga?

• music theory
• technique improvement
• personal attention/tutoring
• encouragement
• at-home-convenience
• the bonus of outsourcing one area–I can’t do it all!

Even though my husband and I both play guitar, I was hoping to find in Gentle Guitar an instructor who could provide these things to help give my musically gifted daughter better instruction that I can give her. I was also hoping, that we would find we liked it enough to want to continue with it beyond the three free lessons.

Did we? Did we find what we were looking for? Well, read on to find out!

Personal Guitar Lessons, Online With Gentle Guitar

Each week we “met” with our instructor using Skype. The first week we met Inga, we were immediately struck by how warm and friendly she is. (We also love her accent!!) For thirty minutes, she covered material (given to us via eBook,) and gave my daughter gentle tips and pointers for posture and hand position (things I didn’t even know!)

She began introducing my daughter to basic music theory, learning about counts and measures and rhythms, helping her when she got confused or missed one. No “picky-mom-effect” here!

At the end of each lesson, Inga would give homework to be practiced and some posture and technique reminders to work on. Afterward, she would email anything we needed for the next lesson.

Over the next two weeks we met two more times for follow-up lessons, and Arielle, with her pre-existing knowledge base was able to move through the material pretty quickly, with Inga adjusting and adapting the work to her pace.

• introduction to music theory – check!
• improvement of technique – check!
• personal attention – check!
• encouragement and positive feedback – check!
• easy to do from home, outsourcing, no “picky mom” – check, check and check!

At the end of the trial period, we were both very pleased with the experience, and yes, we would very much like to continue with Inga, with the course called “Guitar & Songwriting for Girls, 9-12+”

Guitar & Songwriting for Girls, Private Skype Lessons – A modern curriculum that teaches popular guitar techniques and songwriting on the guitar. Kids learn advanced concepts in a way that is fun and accessible. From professional finger-picking guitar accompaniment and popular strum patterns, to being able to write lyrics and chord progressions for their own songs. The course repertoire is selected especially for girls, from original progressive Gentle Guitar instructional song to music by Taylor Swift and other artists girls love to sing-along to. The songs we teach are age-appropriate for pre-teen and teen girls.

This is exactly what Arielle needs! The lessons are affordable and I’ve already inquired about the course with Inga and plan to enroll her soon. 

More Online Guitar Courses For Kids

Online courses are a rising trend in homeschooling, due partially to the convenience, ease, and new access to remote experts thanks to this “online age” we live in. Embracing this online trend, Gentle Guitar is the first of it’s kind to merge this online advantage with expert guitar tutors just for kids.

Gentle Guitar Offers a selection of guitar lessons via Skype for kids 5-12, for modern and classical guitar both. (Children under ten do have to be accompanied by an adult.) You can choose from these options: 

• Introduction to Music
• Modern and Classical Guitar
• Guitar for Homeschooling
• Guitar & Songwriting for Girls
• Guitar for the Gifted.

All you need is an internet connection and a Skype account and you are ready to go!

If internet connections are iffy or you don’t want to do the Skype lessons, you can also check out the Online Guitar Course, designed for kids ages 5-8, where the parents and children learn through online videos together. {Click here to learn more about the online course, and how to get the first three lessons free.} 

Find Gentle Guitar Online

Is Gentle Guitar right for you? If you’re a parent of a child under 12 who wants to learn guitar and you have internet, then probably. You can check them out even further on their social media:

—Facebook

—Pinterest

—Google+

–Check out their channel on YouTube! Here’s a sample:

Let the Guitar Lessons Begin!

I’m eager to get Arielle into the next class and see what she can do. I know God has something great planned for her, and that music is always going to be a part of her life. I want to give her whatever tools I can while she’s at home (even if that means enlisting some outside help, all the way from Auckland, New Zealand!)

Background Image Source, Public Domain