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Are you thinking about buying your first guitar? In this article, I’ll try to answer all of the questions that you may have, and hopefully some you hadn’t thought about yet, when it comes to buying your first acoustic or electric guitar. First things first though! What is the best guitar for beginners?

A Matter Of Opinion

I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years, so of course I have my preferences. Most people are biased in one way or another and this applies equally to guitars. If you ask 100 guitar players which guitar is best for beginners, you’ll probably get at least 10 different answers.

Much like people are biased when it comes to vehicles. You’ve got your “Ford guys” and “Chevy guys”…..maybe even a few “Dodge guys”. Don’t expect guitar players to be any different. I try very hard at not being partial though, since I have played good and bad guitars from ALL the most popular brands. So! I’ll throw a few brands at you that I’ve had good luck with and tell you a little about what to look out for.

Best Acoustic For Beginners

Doing some searches and reading reviews, the name Washburn kept popping up. The Washburn D10S, to be exact. Touted on some sites as the #1 selling acoustic guitar of all time, it does have a lot of high end features at a VERY low price. Do I own a Washburn D10S? No, but I have and I honestly wish I hadn’t let it go. It was a great sounding, nice looking, easy playing guitar. Anyway….

For around $200 you get an acoustic with Grover (high quality) tuners, a solid spruce top, and a solid mahogany back, neck, and sides. Most other brands of acoustic guitars in this price range have a light “laminate” wood that they try to pass off as real wood. It is real wood! Just not a solid piece.

To me, if it’s not solid wood, it’s not good.

Would you rather have a guitar made from solid wood or laminate?

It’s a lot like buying a new “oak” coffee table for $50. If it’s $50, it’s probably not real oak. It’s plywood with a “wallpaper” like sheet to make it look like real wood because if you actually saw the wood used, you wouldn’t buy it. Same with cheap acoustic guitars.

Some companies even go as far as calling it a “mahogany back and sides” even though it’s a laminate mahogany but you can usually spot the difference. First, the “wood” on the back, sides, and neck looks like it has a pattern to it. It doesn’t look real. Second, real wood is a lot heavier than laminate. When you pick up an all-solid wood guitar, you know it. When all else fails, just ask! The salesman will let you know.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that laminate is just as good as solid wood because some high end guitars are built with it. Maybe it’s just better quality laminate but, in my experience, solid wood guitars have a much richer and more resonant tone. I own one made from laminate right now and I would sell it or trade it for an all solid guitar in a heartbeat.

Bottom Line?

When buying your first acoustic guitar buy one with a SOLID wood top, back, sides, and neck. Preferably mahogany. If you order the guitar online, check the description. In most cases this will tell you what the guitar is made from but it never hurts to ask anyway just to be sure.

You may have to shell out a little more for a better quality guitar, but it pays off in the overall sound and value of the guitar. The Washburn D10S seems to be the best “bang for your buck”  acoustic guitar when it comes to these features.

 

Best Electric Guitar For Beginners

Finding this information was a bit more difficult. Some sites say Gibson has the #1 selling electric guitar, some say Fender, Epiphone, or even Peavey! For this reason I’ll have to go a little on personal experience and personal preference on this one, but I’ll still give you the bottom line on what to look for without having to take out a loan.

Fender Telecaster

I won’t lie, this is the first guitar I ever owned and I LOVED it! It wasn’t one of the cheaper Fender Squire guitars (although the quality of the Squire line has gotten much better in recent years), but it wasn’t one of the American made “there goes your college fund” high end Fender guitars either! It was a made in mexico (MIM) telecaster with a maple neck. You can get one of these now for anywhere between $400 and $600 dollars and they’re great guitars. Perfect for country/blues type players. I prefer a maple neck on these type guitars myself, but that’s up to you.

Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top

If you’re looking for something with a little more “crunch”, you should check out some of the Epiphone Lp’s. You can get one of these for around the same price as the Fender. $300-$600. These are good quality guitars in a decent price range. These guitars are better suited for a rock & roll or metal sound than Fender telecasters and Stratocasters.

Just make sure it’s the Epiphone Les Paul Standard or even the Custom and not the Epiphone Les Paul-100 or Junior because those are the cheaper line of Epiphone Les Paul’s. They’re not necessarily bad guitars, they’re just not as good in the quality department as their more expensive counterparts.

Ibanez RG Series

These guitars have been getting a lot of attention too over among rock and metal players. I’ve played quite a few and even the cheapest models are easy to play, and that makes them great for starting out. If you spend $300 to $500 on one of these guitars, you should have a good quality guitar that you can easily play and learn on for years.

From my experience, the higher the number, the better the quality with these guitars. For instance, an Ibanez RG-550 is a little better guitar than the RG-370. This is most apparent in the Prestige models.

*Note- A lot of these guitars come with a floating bridge that can make things a little more difficult when changing the strings. Especially if you’re a beginner. Either buy one that has a fixed bridge, or learn how to change the strings on a Floyd Rose style floating tremelo.

With all the different choices out there, buying your first guitar can be a headache. Even the prices seem to range from $100 to infinity! Just like with most other things, you get what you pay for when it comes to guitars but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a good guitar at a good price.

If you’re serious about learning how to play, don’t go for the cheapest guitar you can find. The sound and playability of a cheap guitar can make you stop wanting to play quicker than anything else. 

I hope this article helps you find a great guitar that you can play for years. Let me know what you decide to get. I’d love to hear from you! I’m always open to questions, comments, and feedback. Good Luck!