Useful info from you both, thanks. I was thinking that if he had an open tuning, say a D, then he could strum the open chord D, and then bar the frets to get different chords - 2nd fret E, 3rd fret F etc(or have I misunderstood open tuning - as I say, I'm pretty new to this myself?). This would get him able to make a reasonable sound quite easily (nice theory anyway!!).

He has a 3/4 size guitar at the moment which I have to confess is a little big, but it was available and I don't want to spend good money until I know he is interested.