What kind of guitar should a beginner buy?
Awesome Acoustic Guitars to Buy:
Taylor 314 Acoustic Guitar
Taylor 214ce Acoustic-electric Guitar
Taylor Academy 12 Acoustic Guitar
Yamaha FG830 Dreadnought (ONLY $349!)
Taylor Big Baby Taylor BBTe Walnut Acoustic
Fender Player Stratocaster
Slash Les Paul
Basically There’s 3 general guitar types I’d recommend for any beginner:
1) Steel String Acoustic - If you know you love acoustic music, you have no interest in rock and roll, and you want something you play at the beach or the campfire without worrying about electricity, this is a great option. In general these guitars are more difficult to play than electric guitars. The strings are heavier, which require more force to fret a note which means you need to work harder to make it sound good. This can be fatiguing for beginners. There is a work around though - you can start out by installing a lighter string gauge, or even a type called silk strings which are very light. Over time, you can increase your string gauge, which will improve the volume, resonance, and sustain of your sound. Recommended option: Taylor 114e, Taylor Big Baby, or any cheap Yamaha model.
2) Classical - Similar to the steel string acoustic, but this guitar has nylon strings and a much wider fret board. When I say wider, I mean the length of the frets, and the nut, from floor to ceiling, are longer than on a steel string. This means that if you have very small hands a guitar like this can be a little more challenging to form barre chords. BUT nylon strings are so very very soft, that the actual pressing of frets is easier (that’s what is necessary to make a note ring clearly). So there’s a trade off here. In some ways it’s easier than the steel string acoustic, and in some ways more difficult. For me, these guitars are easier to play, but I have big hands. Recommended option: Yamaha Classical.
3) Electric - This is my recommended option for beginners. You can get a cheap electric, a cable, and a cheap amp, and all of a sudden you can make all the guitar sounds you’ve heard from the 1950s until today. In general, the strings are lighter, the bodies are thinner and more ergonomic, and the necks are more comfortable. You can use the whammy bar, you can sound Hendrix, or the police, or nirvana, all just buy using special effects. This variety makes for an exciting instrument. Recommended option: Fender squier Stratocaster, Epiphone electric, squier amp. Or you can buy an amp and guitar bundle which includes everything generally. Don’t forget to buy the cable!
Fender Player Stratocaster
The following items are also important!
1. A pick. In fact get a mixed assortment of picks, light and heavy, to see which you like.
2. A snark tuner, or similar headstock tuner, that uses vibration (You can use a tuning app on your phone, but it will not be as accurate).
3. A capo. Especially if you’re playing acoustic guitar.
4. A cable (if you’re buying an electric, you need this to make sound come out of your amp).
5. An amp (if you’re buying an electric). Get something cheap that has distortion and maybe even some effects. Something like a line 6 or fender. Roughly $50-200.
Although there are certain techniques like fingerpicking which might sound better on acoustic, or finger tapping which is far easier on an electric guitar with distortion, in general all the information learned on one of these instruments can be comported to the other. Eventually you’ll probably own an electric and an acoustic, (and maybe even a dumble amp).
In the end, the best guitar is the one that makes you want to play it when you look at it!