Greetings all,

My husband, son and I are all intending to start guitar lessons in January. I was hoping to get some advice from wise folks such as yourself. I'm very grateful for any helpful feedback. :)

My son is almost 9 but big for his age (half an inch from 5'), Dad is about 6'7 and I'm 5'11. Now what I've found on the Internet so far indicates that our son needs a parlor or 3/4, I need an OM size and Dad a Dreadnought? Does that sound right? Is that realistic (OMs and Parlors aren't as common it seems)? Should we share one or two, rather varying sizes? Is there a brand that anyone would suggest, I understand that there are ways to make guitars more beginner friendly. I was figuring I'd try to find good used guitars.

Also I spoke with a guy who owned a music store and he was insistent we take separate lessons, I was really looking for a good bonding experience for the three of us (yes we could just practice together) and I didn't want it to be intimidating for my son. Also, my son would like an electric guitar someday but I thought this would be a good starting point, after reading some other posts here I am wondering if I should let him start there? We do live in townhouses so noise is an issue to some degree. I explained we'd start on acoustic and could move to electric as he got better (he was fine with that), I just don't want to have him learn something that will not translate well (I'm a complete guitar newb). Anyway, I've probably posted far too much, but I'm a OCD researcher. :)

Happy New Year to you and yours and again thanks for any help/suggestions.

Chance's Mom (Julie)