Dear AAP -
What do you tell a kid who wants a guitar, and I want to give it to him, but we live in an apartment building? – punkDAD
Dear punkDAD -
…or should I say "Dear Clueless punkDAD" ? …Jesus, You’re kidding right? Have you ever heard of HEADPHONES? Buy the damn guitar today and buy an amp or digital box with a headphone jack. Problem solved.
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Dear AAP-
Our kid wanted drums for Christmas and so we paid for some drum lessons, but she’s bored practicing on the little rubber drum pad. I can’t tell if she’s really bored with the drum pad or just losing interest entirely, and we don’t want to spend a lot of money on loud drums just to have them sit and gather dust. – mom&dad
Dear mom&dad -
You never know for sure what will end up gathering dust and what will become a kid’s lifeblood, but most things DO manage to fall somewhere in between, and you owe it to them to help them find “their thing” if you can.
Does she listen to a lot of music? When she’s sitting in the back seat of the minivan listening to her ipod does she move her hands like she’s ‘air drumming’? Does she carry her drumsticks with her? Any posters of drummers on her walls or pictures of them on her computer desktop? When she plays RockBand, does she always want to be the drummer? Has she searched “drum lessons” on youtube? …If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of these questions then figure out a way to get her an inexpensive but decent drum kit… and make sure she knows what it costs. Maybe even figure out a way for her to work to help pay for them. That would be a good way to test how much she really wants them. And if noise and space are worries, some people are getting good results learning on the less expensive (but still decent) electronic drum kits now available… and if they do start to gather dust, there is always ebay.
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