If you had an 8 year old girl who wanted to take up a musical instrument which of these would you chose?

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DD can start music lessons at school next year.
I know nothing about playing an instrument and wish to avoid the all round grimness that was my DS1's five years of misery at the piano.

I have told DD that I want to know what she would like to learn as, if she is invested then I can say 'be quiet, you chose the bloody thing'

Are any of these better than the others

Saxaphone
electric guitar
drums

All are offered and I can afford and have room for any of them. I just wondered if any are really bad ideas?

drums and saxaphone are very loud. at least with guitar you can turn the amp down.

Something that she can play 'modern' stuff on. Piano, guitar etc
Or if she is dramatic how about violin, cello or harp.
Or be totally off the wall and try tuba, basoon, timpani, trumpet or double bass.

Electric guitar - it's cool, and she can wear headphones so you don't have to listen to it

Sax... much more transferable than the other options if she fancies a change later on

Oooh thanks EG! Good point re the sax.

DS2 ASD includes sensitivity to noise so that is very relevent.
Have ssem a drum kit with headphones so that would be quiet too..

So that is sax offthe list...

Is electric guitar going to give her the option to transfer if she hates it

[yes really that dim]

wonder why they're not offering normal guitar, that should be mastered before the electric imo.

They are offering that pickled

They offer loads of instruments.

The three in my list are the ones that she has asked to for.

She should start to learn on an acoustic guitar really and it will sound lovely and not be too loud for your DS. She can do ABRSM exams on acoustic. Tell her she can have an electric one when she gets somewhere with acoustic/ you're sure she likes it/ whatever. Point out that NO ONE just plays electric. Plus she's too little to cart a heavy electric and an amp around on her own.

Absolutely guitar.

DD learnt to play the elecrtic guitar from about 9. She absolutely loves at and still plays now. It is good because she has never learnt to read music but can do guitar tabs (don't ask) which you can get easily on the internet, so she can learn the play songs that she listens to.

It is probably best to encourage her to play an instrument which is prevalent n music she listens to. So dd always has liked rock and pop music. I did try her at an earlier age with the Cello (about 8 when she started that) and the clarinet (about 10) but they never stuck, as she never listened to classical music.

You can get headphones as well so you don't have to listen to Green Day at full blast (although you probably will).

DD learnt straight on an electric. She didn't even start pkaying an acoustic until recently.

Advice - go to a music shop and try to pick up a good second hand electric and amp, as opposed to buying a brand new one.

Personally, I would go for the sax. I think part of the reasons why children may dislike playing an instrument as the fact that it often ends up a very solo activity (like the piano). With the saxophone, she does not need to have been playing very long to join jazz groups/bands/swing bands/wind bands etc. Also, at a later date, saxophone can be switched to clarinet if she finds classical music more appealing (orchestras etc). Re the noise of the saxophone, it's no louder than any other wind instrument.

Whilst the drums and the electric guitar have the 'cool' factor, drums are very noisy and involve you needing a big car to get the darn things anywhere. Electric guitar is an interesting one - playing electric only will limit her to sort of 'pop' bands and the like, she could transfer to classical acoustic guitar later on if she wished, but even then, there is not the option of orchestras etc, generally just a few guitar ensembles.

Of course, all this depends on how long/serious you think she will want to take the instrument - if its only a for a couple of years then I guess I would go for the guitar - but long term I would say saxophone would give her the much better option. (The only thing you should consider with the sax is that if she hasn't lost all of her main milk teeth yet it may be quite suitable yet).

Oh thanks everyone - you are great.

Would it be a silly idea then to ask for guitar at school and get her an electric one for home. Or would that be confusing?
Perhaps guitar at school and promise she can switch or add electric next year - if she works attentively?

( Really trying to avoid the look of loathing DS1 used to give me every time I made him sit at the piano)

GetOrf yes to green day plus arctic monkeys, nirvana and girls aloud

Electric guitar can be quite hard on the fingers, so your dd would probably prefer the acoustic guitar. When her hands have toughened up, she can move to electric. AFAIK electric guitars have metal strings, acoustic guitar has softer synthetic ones.

DD had sore fingers for a while until she got used to it. She has got calluses on them now, they are as hard as DP's builder hands in places!

I play guitar a wee bit and actually find electric guitar easier on my fingers than acoustic - I think it's because of how hard you need to press down on the strings to be honest - electric guitars tend to have 'lower action' i.e the strings are closer to the fretboard.

I agree that sax is more likely to lead somewhere as in playing in a band and (if change is made to clarinet) and orchestra.

If that's what she wants. If she wants to play songs with her pals in a band then guitar is great.

My DD plays clarinet and it sounds lovely. She is 8, almost 9.

Guitar although girl drummers are by far the coolest members of band.

Don't write off piano because your son disliked it. She is a different person. Not everyone in a family is musical - she might love it.

I was going to say the same as schneebly about the electric being a bit easier on the fingers.
But I do think that starting off on accoustic, with moving onto electric being something to look forward to/work towards sounds a good idea.
The guitar is pretty pickupable and easy to sit and noodle away to yourself, so practice is less of chore. And I don't think you have to be very good on the guitar to sound good and play some chords, which makes it very accessible.

Really though, it just has to be something she wants to learn. So whatever she wants.

Lots of help here - things I hadn't considered.

We have a piano so I guess that would be on tap for her but whilst she plinks on it sometimes I don'tthink it will catch her enthusiasm.
I think she partly wants DS1 to approve and she knows he is about the piano.

We have a really good music shop nearby so I think I will take her there with DH at the weekend and see if that helps.

But, to a certain extent, it sounds like a bit of a guess as to which will suit your child. She is definately rock band girl rather than orchestra type - with anything stage/performance based she always sighs that she wishes they would let her do it on her own. [spawn of the devil].

Thank you all so much. Big help!

I would only recommend sax if her dentist says okay, her hands are big enough and she has a good harness.

I refuse to teach children under the age of 10 unless they've been checked by their dentist because it can really fuck up your teeth. Younger learners often bite down and if the teeth aren't set you end up with the bottom ones going in and the top ones pushing out. I would give it a year after the last of her adult teeth are fully through (which is probably around 3 months after she lost the last of her milk teeth). And yes, I know, there are plenty of people who learn clarinet/sax and didn't go to their dentist first but I strongly believe in the precautionary principle and anyone who teaches a child an instrument where any pressure is put on potentially still developing teeth without telling them to go to the dentist first is being very irresponsible IMO.

That said I'm going to come down against my own instrument and say electric guitar if she has the chance to learn it and she wants to because it sounds fab and really encourages independent music making.

Or drums if you can afford and electric drum kit where you just plug in headphones. They're very snazzy, percussion is excellent for rhythm and female percussionists always seem to be in demand....

There is a book called "the right instrument for your child" which a music teacher friend lent me. The suggested instruments are very different. As I recall the book raises points like

are they better with fingers/small movements or whole body

are they sociable child better in a band/orchestra or would they suit a solo instrument or one you can play on your own like piano/guitar

Loud or quiet (I think we have that one)

Would they suit an instrument that you blow/mouth or one you hug (guitar/violin) or neither (drum)

Don't know if that makes any sense, the book would be in your library I guess, but it does talk about matching instrument to temperament because then they are most likely to succeed/persevere.

in my limited musical experience acoustic guitar will teach the basics of chords etc and that can easily transfer to electric - keen guitarists usually have a stable of different guitars.

Right instrument for your child is by atarah ben-tovim
8 is pretty much her ideal start age
HTH

I'll have a look for that book - thanks CaptNancy

tootoo - as it happens she has huge problems with her teeth and we are at specialist tomorrow. I will mention it.
thanks

You can pick up sax quite easily when you're older - I took it up age 15 (and I am NOT musically talented), its quite an easy instrument to play at an acceptable level (to play in a band for example).

Guitar is amazingly useful as an instrument - but I would check that she doesn't get put off by sore fingers in the early days - I've discouraged dd from taking it up for the moment for this reason.

Drums - drummers are ALWAYS in demand, as others have said, you can't have a band without a drummer, similarly percussion always in demand in orchestras. One negative that I'm not sure if others have mentioned - I know more than one drummer with long term tinnitus problems, because it wasn't cool to wear ear protectors when practicing . . .