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My son doesn't want to play guitar!!

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kart racing son
4K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  mcgillgeometry 
#1 ·
So as a few of you may know, I named my first son after James 'Marshall' Hendrix. It turns out that my son doesn't really want to play guitar.......for now at least.

Over the last couple of months however he has taken a very strong interest in racing karts (go-karts). I took him for a run as a six year old and he did pretty well - he was about 8 seconds a lap faster than the next kid over about a 35 second lap for kids up to 13.

He was hooked. I took him out again and he did the same thing. We have spent a few months getting down to the track on a weekly basis and he has since become pretty good. So my wife and I had a chat about it and we have since bought him his own kart and racing setup. We are getting in plenty of practice so he can start racing in January next year.

So I haven't been playing as much guitar lately as I would have liked and all my money and energy that used to go in to guitar is now going in to the racing.
I am considering selling a couple of guitars to get some room back in the house and I just don't have the need or want to hold so many guitars - get ready for a fire sale soon.

-Wolfram
 
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#2 ·
Maybe because the guitar is so prominent in your house, he dosent have the desire? For me as a kid it was such a mystical thing that I didn't understand, but I thought it was so cool. Until I got to the age where I understood it and had goals on it.

Maybe he'll enjoy it when he's older. He's not completely lost ;) (I'm just joking)

Can't wait to see what goodies you'll be selling :D
 
#6 ·
Maybe because the guitar is so prominent in your house, he dosent have the desire? For me as a kid it was such a mystical thing that I didn't understand, but I thought it was so cool. Until I got to the age where I understood it and had goals on it.
This was almost exactly my experience, actually.

My dad plays a bit of guitar and a lot of piano. His brother/my uncle plays a lot of guitar, and they were always really close so he'd visit a lot. I grew up in a house surrounded by music and musical instruments, and always thought music was "cool."

My dad tried to teach me piano as a kid, but it didn't stick. My uncle bought my brother and I half-scale guitars at about the same time, and we had a lot of fun banging around on them, but it was just making noise, never playing chords or actually learning anything.

What finally happened was I had to learn how to play guitar as part of a music class in 8th grade, right around the time grunge (which, lets be honest, is a pretty easy genre to start on, and that definitely helped) was getting big. I learned a few chords and got hooked, and it's been all downhill since then.

Just raising your son in a household where there are always instruments around and always music playing is absolutely the best thing you can do for now. It may not get ahold of him until later in life, but igniting an interest in music is still the most important thing you can do for him if you want to raise a musician.
 
#4 ·
I'm Kinda hoping when my 11 month old daughter is a bit older that she wants to learn to play guitar, Mainly cus its a bit cheaper as she will have a guitar collection already in the house for her (i keep telling myself that i wont mind her playing my js1000), but as kyle said, as a child/youth for me the guitar was an aspirational thing, there was a cool mystery surrounding the guitar for me which made me want it more, but having guitars in the house that are played every day will prob remove that mystery for my daughter so she will prob want to do stuff like shopping and putting make up on and stuff.

Go-Karts though dude, next best thing to guitars
 
#5 ·
None of my kids play either. My daughters are musical. They sing. One will noodle on the piano and the other is playing drums. One son is a sports fanatic and between baseball and basketball puts a crimp in my playing. The other is a minecraft addict - who will bang on his sister's set.

Growing up I would have been crazy happy is my parents had a bunch of guitars for me to play - kids :)
 
#7 ·
The amazing thing about kids is that they grow up to be their own people. Maybe mine will want to play guitar (or music in general) or maybe she won't. I'm not going to push her to do something she doesn't want to do.
But I dig the whole "they already have guitars in the house" thing where you don't have to buy any new ones. Mine can have all mine... except the RG 20th. She'll have to wait until I'm dead to get that. :D
 
#8 ·
I can't say for sure what it was that caused both of my boys to decide to play. They have two entirely different personalities and different tastes in music. They rarely, if ever, play together. The odd thing is that they both enjoy playing with me. Since both have far more talent than I do, I suspect it's a way to "show up" the old man. I'm cool with that.

I was in a bit of a different position early on, in that, I was a single father with both of my sons in my custody. My boys hung out with me on lonely nights and listened to me practice. Often they "helped" me play and write new songs...LOL. They would come with me to band practices too. They enjoyed that because all of the "girlfriends" would take care of them while I was playing. It was a good time in their lives, I think. Something in all of that gave them the want to play and exceed my abilities.....that didn't take very long.

In truth, it doesn't matter what grabs your child's fascination. If it's constructive and motivational to them you should give it the fullest of your energies. I think carting is probably a great place for them to learn and grow. What a blessing it is that you can all do it together, as a family!!! Treasure it dude, the time passes SO FAST!! My sons are both in their 20's now.......it seems like just last week I was yelling at them to stop shooting holes in the siding with their air-soft guns............God I miss that.

I don't blame you for "making room", just be sure to hang on to something special for yourself too..............

Ryc

I'll add that- I just found out I'm going to be a Grandpa. Hopefully I'll get the chance to screw up another generation with my "Hair-metal" Idealism.....:razz:
 
#10 ·
If the guitar is his thing, the instrument/music will call him and rarely can any person help make a decision. With me it looks like I have always been playing but that's not the case. I am like a lot of people I know who are either all in or all out.

In my mid-20s I got into building my tree service business and to get set I sold all my music gear to buy chainsaws, and it's what I had to do. When you are working gear like this you have to only think the tree, yourself, and the tool you are using to get the job done. If you think of anything else, you can get seriously hurt. I did absolutely no music in that time period. I really thought you couldn't get more focused than laying down tracks in a studio but I found the "saw" was even more intense that way. It was a blast and I love to see the reality lumberjack shows and either relate or call the TV producer's bluff. ;)

Some years later after I couldn't make a living as a rock musician I decided to fall on plan B which was college so I returned and finished a couple of degrees. I wanted to get good grades in order to allow entrance into B-school/law school/grad school teaching stuff so it was all about study and no guitar playing (get up, study, shower, school, study, eat, study, sleep, repeat). I sold off all gear and paid for tuition and travel back and forth from home to faraway school.

At this point any music is a hobby and maybe a tour overseas with band (but not for money) and I don't foresee selling off gear again and doing something else. I may sell off stuff to pay for tour expenses but keep at least one guitar and one amp and never be music-less again. It's not that I missed music when I wasn't playing anything, it's that I actually enjoyed doing something else and really didn't miss it at all. I fear I could become like players I know way better than me who took up something else and never returned to guitar ever again.
 
#12 ·
I have 5 daughters and tried to encourage them to get into music. Well, they all like music, but none play an instrument or sing. A couple sort of tried... I bought a youth guitar and bass through the years... but no go. I am proud that they like good music though, just this morning I saw my daughter had bought the new Slash "World on Fire" cd (great) and Allman Bros Greatest Hits.

Now I have a little 2 year old grandson hanging out with me in the "guitar room" and he loves to strum the guitar and sing at the top of his lungs... lol. So there is still hope! :)
 
#14 ·
My son didn't want anything to do with a guitar when he was little. He started on drums when he was 7 though. Last year when he turned 13 he started playing one of my basses, started playing bass in a band and now he plays guitar too.

There may still be hope as he gets older so save some gear for him :mrgreen:
 
#18 ·
All of you with kids who don't play-

You're lucky

My parents are currently furious that I keep playing even though they tell me to stop.

When I'm on to something Its not possible to stop. Normal non-Musican parents don't understand that.

But I have to give them credit for listening to my stage-volume Carvin for hours at a time before complaining.
 
#19 ·
LOL... I consider myself lucky to have to listen to my son playing drums like he's swinging baseball bats, shaking the **** out of the house with his bass, and blasting the doors off of his room with his guitar. While it might be annoying sometimes when I'm trying to watch one of my favorite TV shows, it always makes me smile a little. I'd rather have all that musical noise going on than have the peace and quiet of a kid staring at video games all day :mrgreen:
 
#22 ·
My 11 y.o just started trumpet in band this year. I'm glad he's doing something with music. Dunno how long he'll stay with it, but it's cool to hear him practice.

Bought guitars, drums, etc, he goes for the brass. I think he just didn't wanna play what dad plays. And that's ok, he needs to have his own identity.
He's more into sports, (both boys are) and they're better at them than I was at their respective ages.
The other thing is they listen to all the hit radio with their mom, ughh. Luckily they appreciate stuff like DT and James Brown and whatever else I throw on, for the most part. They get bored with Buckethead, though.
 
#25 ·
kids these days.... all about ipad and games.

my 6 years shows no interest at guitar at all. he seen me play and just walk away like nothing happened.

my 2,5 years shows a little bit interest, ( IF he's not having his mom's samsung tablet btw), then he will come to me, take the pick off my hand, and he's like doing his own 'pete townsed thing on the guitar, then hand me back the pick, and walk away...
 
#27 ·
kids these days.... all about ipad and games.
Humanity is in the middle of a major paradigm shift right now so its too early to call how things will turn out 50, 100, 200 years from now but I don't think interactive (and physiologically addictive) digital entertainment bodes well for certain pastimes that require patience and attention to attain skill. Musical instruments are probably example.

Talented horn players and competent watchmakers are terribly hard to find anymore whereas 50 years ago, they were a dime a dozen. Things changed, demand for their skills declined and people just didn't take up the mantle. They had other things to do.

Try to get a kid under the age of 15 to sit down and partake in something that doesn't offer instant gratification, best of luck...
 
#26 ·
My 11 year old has shown little interest in music until this school year, but he picked up the Trumpet. I am completely fine that he chose that and as long as he keeps up with it, I will support it. He is predominantly in sports, and he plays EVERYTHING, baseball, basketball, football (American), etc. He just made the 7th grade team for basketball and he's in 6th. he has an athletic aptitude much more than I did at his age, he's a different person so I don't impose my will upon him except for stressing how important practice is, with whatever he chooses to do or play. Sounds like you're doing the same thing. Stay the course. if he finds music, great, but you are on your own path, as is he.
 
#28 ·
I honesty think you're kind of born interested or you're not. There are holes in that, obviously, but I'd say most people follow their intuition when they're kids (when it comes to practicing something that holds an interest). Some kids have sports, skateboarding etc... - Things that take practice where you have a goal and you try to reach it,. I always loved music and thought guitar was cool, then I started playing, practicing etc. I actually have an uncle who has tons of electric guitars and when I was 8 or so I begged to play them even though I had no idea how. I would put on music and dance around with his old strat to music pretending I was on a stage.

If your kid dosent want to play they may have a learned interest in it in the future, but not the instinct you may have had.
 
#31 ·
My mother teaches piano, tried time and time again to get me to play but I just wasn't interested. She didn't press the issue or force me to play. Now I regret not letting her teach me; I'd have all that musical knowledge to apply to guitar now.
Kids obsessions change, maybe in the future... like me. :)
 
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