Ben, the tall one on the far left.

Strange question: My son, who is 10, wants to get an electric guitar. Does anyone have any experience with such things, electric guitars for children, and can direct me to one that's A) small enough for him, and B) not just a toy?

Can't help much, except to say that probably the biggest problem a child would have in playing a regular electric guitar would be lack of finger strength - i.e. he'd probably only be able play for a little while at a time. That being said, electric guitars are much easier on the fingers than acoustic guitars (with the exception of the classical guitar, which has nylon stings).

So, I don't know about buying the electric guitar itself, but you could get "softer" strings for it, which would help on the finger issue some. There are also little finger-exercising thingies that might help.

Go, Ben! He sounds like a great kid just from the quotes.

Corwood, thanks for the kind words! I have that whole passage from Slow Learner up over my desk at home, is how much I love it.

Gandalfe, lisah was just out here and showed me some pictures of her band including one of her bandmates (who is very small) playing a child's electric guitar which made it much, much easier for her to play.

She said the sound was great too. It was a Daisy Guitar which was specifically designed for girls, but as you can see, not all the guitars are particularly girly. They're much lighter in weight, and have much more manageable fretboards for little hands.

Prince signs with a Universal and OMG! Prince is 47!!

Rio: awesome. Your nephew is freakin' smart for his age, too.

Gandalfe: there's a number of 3/4 size guitars out there if your son is worried about playing a "girl's guitar." I notice that Johnson comes up when I google-search, and I'd warn you that Johnson is a Korean company with noticeable quality issues in other instruments. Your son may never be able to keep one of those in tune. I don't know anything about J. Reynolds (http://www.wholenote.com/store/product.asp?sku=MC.JR6MB&nav=m), but you could investigate the review database at [link] I used to play with a guitarist who played a tiny guitar because Zappa apparently used one, but I can't remember what those were called. Anyway, good luck!

Misha: Very cool. I love Slow Learner so much that I wanted to name my new band after it, but some NYC band beat me to the punch. We went with Parks and Wildlife instead.

Prince signs with a Universal

And the Decemberists sign with a Capital.

Indie Pop and 80s Pop Triangle Fans ::looks at Jon:: do you frequent the Little Hits blog?

No, but I know one of the contributors -- Stewart Mason.

t adds to bloglines