Learning to play the Guitar

Just spoke to J about it - he asked an older friend to show him some basic guitar chords, and then bought the music books to his favourite albums and played along with the music. He says he thinks it's best to play with others, but you have to be able to play a bit first.

What sort of music is he into? I think if he can pay his fave stuff it will really help. He was about 15 when he started and says he didn't get good till about 20, and that was playing an hour or so most nights for the five years. To be fair, his 'good' is most people's excellent, so don't expect it to take that long!

He also said, starting younger is better, as long as they don't get bored and give up...

Sounds like a few lessons to start him off would be good, during which he can borrow a guitar and then if he is confident he can continue, get some music and a guitar. Maybe give him the money for his birthday but say he can't spend it until he has given lessons and stuff a go for a decent while?

At his age he would probably need a 3/4 size.

I would suggest learning on an accoustic - something like this would be great:
http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Ba ... atural/CDG

THe best thing to do would be go to a large independent music store and have him try some out, different ones have different weights and will fit in the arms differently. Tuning is something that will take a while to learn, at first I imagine he will need to get his teacher to do it, you can get various tools to help, but the best thing is a good ear.

^This!