Scene Makers Q&A: Minnesota guitar guru gives free guitars to kids

Terry Esau figures he’s a “pretty average” guitar player. But that hasn’t stopped him from being a guitar guru.

Since he co-founded Free Guitars 4 Kids a couple of years ago, the St. Louis Park nonprofit has already given away 1,300 guitars. He figures if he’s been able to give away 125,000 bicycles nationwide with his Free Bikes 4 Kidz since 2010, then his new organization should be able to eventually do similar numbers with guitars.

After majoring in music at the University of Northwestern in Roseville, Esau spent a year giving guitar lessons, 30 years writing jingles for Target and other clients, and now a couple decades as a philanthropist.

Over coffee, Esau, 69, talked about guitars, bikes and the benefits of playing an instrument. Here are excerpts.

Q: What does playing guitar do for kids?

A: With the epidemic of loneliness and competing and bullying online, there are a lot of kids that are struggling. I think the guitar is some place you can go with your feelings. It’s an outlet, it’s a vehicle for you to express yourself. I think there’s something innately in human beings that we have a desire to create something and to tell a story, maybe our story, to the world. You can do that with a guitar. It’s almost like a magic tool.

They’re not all going to be performers or be in the music business. That doesn’t downgrade the fact that this guitar will be a companion for them and a vehicle to get their feelings out. Maybe it would be better to get our feelings out with a guitar instead of X or Facebook or Instagram.

Q: How do you get the guitars you give away?

A: The original idea was to get celebrities to do a pro bono concert, and the only way you could get in was bring a guitar to donate. We were looking at a used guitar model like we do with bikes and refurbish them. Then COVID hit, so we put it on hold. Then we started talking to [guitar manufacturers] Fender and Gibson and they got excited about the concept. But they wanted us to buy guitars. They’ll give us a deal.

It’s easier for us to raise money to buy guitars than it is to do all the logistics with collecting used guitars and refurbishing them. Now it’s not just Gibson and Fender but Cordoba, Silvertone and Epiphone. Last year, we gave away 200 guitars at Gibson in Nashville in their parking lot. Their CEO was out there handing out guitars. They want to do it again this summer.

Q: What do the guitars typically cost you?

A: We don’t want to give away the cheapest guitar. With Fender, it’s about a $260 guitar that we buy for just under $100.

Q: What percent are electric guitars? What percent acoustic?

A: It’s 95% acoustic. We really want kids to be able to grab the guitar and go anywhere with it. This summer with Gibson, though, we’re giving away all electrics.

Q: Do you give them an amp with the electrics?

A: Yeah. These little, portable amps that actually sound amazingly good. They have distortion and some reverb.

Q: How about the accoutrements — strings, cases, picks, etc.?

A: It comes with guitar picks and a soft case. Some have come with tuners and an extra set of strings. We’re increasingly creating videos helping with stringing and tuning. There are already lots of free videos online.

Q: Do you provide lessons?

A: We have 16 lessons on our website [FG4K.org]. We don’t want to give a kid a guitar and walk away. We want to be transformational, not transactional. A lot of these kids can’t afford to take private lessons.

Q: Do you do follow-up?

A: With any nonprofit, you have to prove impact.

We gave [two guitars] at Amy Grant’s [2022] show at the State Theatre. Right in the middle of the show we handed these guitars to kids and she said, “Just stay up here and play along.” These two kids are not having any idea what they’re playing, but they’re onstage with 1,500 people cheering them on.

Now Obadiah, one of those kids, the next summer, he’s on Nicollet Mall playing songs he wrote. He’s 12 or 13, I’m not sure. That’s a pretty cool thing.

Someday, a young woman is going to be accepting her Grammy Award and say, “I got my first guitar from Free Guitars 4 Kids.” That would be pretty cool.

Q: Does learning guitar help with schoolwork?

A: All the studies show that if a kid learns a musical instrument — I don’t think it matters what instrument it is — it will improve your math and science scores. ‘Cause music is math in a lot of ways.

Q: What’s the target age range?

A: Ten to 16. We’re looking at that middle school to high school age. We’ve given away ¾-size guitars so we’re reaching down to some younger kids, too.

Q: How do kids apply for a free guitar?

A: We invite schools, arts programs and various nonprofits and programs that work with low-income populations to apply to us to become benefitting partners. We vet them and then they select the kids who receive our guitars. It works well and allows us to partner with hundreds of wonderful organizations.

Q: How many guitars do you personally have?

A: I have three guitars and five bikes. I only have acoustic guitars. I have zero calluses.