Kid Rock(smith) II - How Old is Old Enough to Play?

I posted the original version of this article nearly 2 years ago but with a whole new version of Rocksmith out this year and the holiday season right around the corner, I thought I'd repost an updated version.

In many of the posts on this blog I've mentioned playing Rocksmith with my kids. One day a friend asked me how old I think kids need to be before they can join in the fun. My short answer is that kids can play as soon as they're old enough to hold a real guitar. And, I think that's a fair answer.

I'm not an expert in musical education, child development, or guitars. But, first-hand experience tells me that kids "get" Rocksmith intuitively. The "note highway" makes sense to them and they can pick it up with minimal explanation. The biggest obstacle to getting them in on the fun is whether they can physically manage a guitar.

I've already written about using inexpensive guitars to play Rocksmith and my friend's question got me thinking about guitars that you might buy specifically for your kids to play Rocksmith. So, here's the question of the day: What (electric) guitars are out there that kids can use to play Rocksmith?

The first thing I am going to say is YOU DO NOT NEED AN EXPENSIVE GUITAR TO PLAY ROCKSMITH!!!!

With that in mind, however, I will caution you to avoid buying a junk guitar. A First Act guitar from Wal-Mart will actually work. I've actually played a few on Rocksmith, but my experience with First Act guitar strings tells me that you should be cautious (http://myrocksmithjourney.blogspot.com/2012/02/guitars-for-rocksmith-lesson-in-how-far.html). Rocksmith will "correct" for a host of evils with regard to tone and tuning and overall sound, but crappy guitars will not provide good sustain and this can be a factor when playing Rocksmith.

First Act actually makes custom guitars at a factory in Boston, but these are NOT the guitars you'll find at Target for $74.99. You CAN use these guitars on Rocksmith, but I would recommend changing the strings immediately - as a minimum. Another option might be to buy a decent used Epiphone or Fender Squier instead (with a used guitar, changing strings is also a good idea). Keep reading.

My son is now nearly 13, slightly tall for his age but fairly normal in size, and has been playing a full-sized Fender Squier Strat and an Ibanez GIO. At first the Strat was more than he could really manage. He had problems reaching the first few frets, so I let him try my Epiphone LP Junior. I picked up a very nice Epi Junior used from an auction site and I think Ubisoft/Rocksmith made the perfect choice when they decided to bundle the Epi LP Junior with Rocksmith game software. Mine sounded great and had better sustain (I think due to the hardtail bridge) than my Epi LP Special II. The Junior has a slightly shorter neck than the Special or the full-sized Squier Strat which makes it easier to reach all the frets. Still, it is a full-sized adult guitar and it's pretty heavy. Even the Junior might be too much guitar for really young kids.

I ended up selling both my Epiphone Les Paul Special II and the Epiphone Les Paul Junior this summer and picked up a brand new Epiphone LP Special with P90 pickups for right at $90 on sale. Not only is this guitar a nice player with great tone, it weighs almost nothing. It is much lighter than my old Special II model. It's slightly longer than the Junior model, but not much.

My daughter plays a Washburn Lyon L115. It's full-scale, but the body is fibreglas and very light. Even though it's pink and glittery, I love this guitar because it doesn't make my shoulder sore! And, although it was very inexpensive (another online auction purchase), it works on Rocksmith just fine - stays in tune, has adjustable intonation, and offers surprisingly good sustain.

I paid less than $100 for each of the guitars I just mentioned.

There are some other potential options for younger kids. My local GC carries 3/4 scale Squier Strats for just $99. I've seen used ones in the store for $85. I ask you, what kid wouldn't absolutely pee their pants if they found one of these under the Christmas tree or next to their birthday cake? As the term would suggest, these guitars are approximately 25% smaller than their full-sized siblings. This would make them fairly easy to handle for young children in the 7-10 year old range.

There are even smaller guitars for younger/smaller kids. A caution, however. My friend at the Guitar Center tells me that scaled-down guitars can be harder to keep in tune. Tuning is a critical issue in Rocksmith. If you're out of tune, Rocksmith thinks you hit the wrong string or fret. But, Rocksmith does require you to tune and the new 2014 version seems to be somewhat forgiving about out-of-tune strings. So, perhaps this is less of an issue now. The reason the 3/4 scale guitars go out of tune seems to be related to the short string lengths which may tend to result in sharp tuning.

I'm sure there are plenty of websites and reviews and blogs all over the internet discussing scaled down guitars - but not for Rocksmith. When I first wrote this piece, I intended to get a few small-scale guitars and have a couple of kids try them out. But, all the kids I know have gotten big. I could try out the short-scale guitars myself, but I also wanted to see how if really young kids could hang with Rocksmith. If I can borrow a couple of kids, I'll video tape them playing if possible and post results, along with arm length, distance to headstock, etc. Most importantly, I'll see if there are significant tuning issues with the smaller guitars. If I can't borrow any kids, I may just try out the smaller guitars myself and at least address that issue.

Stay tuned.