learning to play guitar...

My 12 year old daughter might be interested in learning guitar.  

Suggestions?  Recommendations?

Pair her with a guitar that fits, is properly set up, and will stay in tune. 

Also, a good instructor who can help reward success is worth their weight in gold. 

That's the age I started. So many tools available today that I didn't have.. 

As Mr. Wallens suggested, a quality instrument is pretty critical. Doesn't have to be fancy, just reliable.
 

A good teacher is worth a lot, but also pretty hard to find. Most of the guitar teachers I know tend to make the lessons feel like homework. That's no fun and no way to encourage a young teen. 

The best way I've found to keep young-uns excited is to find out what they like listening to and teaching them some of their favorites to play along with. I grew up learning Led Zeppelin and Nirvana and Blink 182. Get the fundamentals in there, but keep it fun. Fun is more critical than the instrument itself. 

If your daughter is the self-sufficient type, you could also look at a curated online guitar lesson course. My parents got me a subscription to guitartricks.com when I was 13, and I liked it because I could go my own pace and choose what I learned, but there were structured courses I could follow to build my skills. I only used it for about a year and a half before I moved on to learning songs by ear and tab, but for getting the fundamentals it was really helpful.

Rocksmith. It's a PC/console "game" that uses a real electric guitar to teach you how to play. 

Many many years ago I bought the convo that came with a guitar. Don't think they're doing that anymore, but the USB adapter cable is relatively inexpensive.

It starts out with basic chchor and techniques, then wheels you into a boatload of songs to learn how to play them. Provides good feedback too. 

Fender offers online lessons, too. I don't know anything about them although I see that you get your first two weeks free. 

Looks like you get a free guitar, too, when you sign up for a year. 

Related back to the whole "play a good guitar" thing, a while back I was talking to a friend who was taking lessons.

And he was telling about his guitar: dead areas on the fret board, poor action, wouldn't stay in tune, etc. It sounded like a nightmare. 

That's no way to learn, I told him. 

Find a good shop that will sell you a guitar with a proper setup.

I've been playing this one a lot lately.

It's a mishmash of parts: '70s Aims neck, Fender body and electronics, etc. It came from our local shop. 

I think the price was $225, and I traded some gear against it.

But here's the big thing: It's always in tune, and the setup is perfect. 

As a result, I'm never fighting the guitar, and it's a joy to play.

 This is as true for guitar as it is for ukulele... And, if you decide to watch it from the beginning, anything else for that matter:

There are tons of great online tutorials to learn the essentials from. To make a lot of progress quickly, and have a lot of fun doing so, she really only needs enough to get as far as learning G, D, Em, C, and how to do a basic strumming pattern or two.