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4 - 10  or 12 Years Old

A good 3/4 Size guitar is a good idea for younger students. It is easy tohold and the neck is smaller for learning chords and scales with littlehands. I also recommend a "Classical" guitar. They are also used for folk and world music - not just for classical. They have soft nylon strings instead of metal strings which can hurt little fingertips and cause frustrating practice sessions (metal strings can also be slightly dangerous if they break). Nylon strings also have a "warmer" and softer tone. A good 3/4 Size Classical Guitar is the Yamaha GC103A 3/4 Size Classical Acoustic Guitar (Around $100 - $150).

10 to 12 Years or Older

As I said before it is important to spend a couple extra dollars toget an instrument that is playable and sounds good. The good news isthat there are some guitar makers out there that make qualityinstruments for very reasonable prices.

Personally, I would avoid Fender Acoustic Guitars and Squire Acoustic Guitars (Squire is Fender's Cheaper Brand). Fender makes some the world's best electric guitars but I have known every low to mid-priced Fender acoustic to be hard to play, "tinny" sounding, and after a couple of years they seem to warp become virtually unplayable. I also found the same with Washburn. Some good guitar companies that make good entry-priced guitars are Seagull, Takamine, and Baby Taylor. Again, Yamaha is a great place  to start and the The Yamaha FG700S Acoustic Guitar will last, be easy to play and will sound great.