Hey friends: if you’re ready to purchase your first guitar, please do it from this page. I get a small commission, it will not add anything extra to your price, and it helps me pay for the upkeep of this site and adding fresh lessons often 🙂
Thanks! -Tommy Merry
In this guide that took 35 years to write, I’ll show you the why and the how of picking out and buying the best guitar for you.
Seriously though, While I have not been physically typing this guide for all of those years, it IS a guide that is distilled from all my knowledge of playing 1000s of shows. From the smallest bars to huge arenas. To teaching hundreds of guitar students as well as recording in some of the best studios in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s ALL in this guide.
If you are the impatient type, my Top 2 recommendations for beginner guitars are directly below. But if you want to do lots more research, please read the entire article. 🙂
| This is the electric guitar I would recommend for beginners Ibanez RG421 Electric Guitar Blackberry SunburstThe reason I recommend this Ibanez starter guitar is because it does not have a Whammy Bar (tremolo arm) and so it’s much easier to string up and star tune for beginners.  Get yours Here for $299.99 |
| This is the acoustic guitar I would recommend for beginners Ibanez AW54CEOPN Artwood Dreadnought Acoustic/Electric GuitarThe reason I recommended this beginner acoustic guitar is not only does it sound great for the price, but it also has a output jack that you could plug into an amplifier or an audio recorder.  Get yours Here for $299.99 |
STEP 1
To get started first ask yourself two questions:
- What is my favorite style of music to listen to?
- Is that the same style of music I want to play?
You can always change your mind down the road but when you’re considering which guitar is better for beginners, and your a beginner, you need to start somewhere. 😉
Before we narrow down your choices
Let me first mention that overall speaking, it is much easier on the hands and fingers to learn on an electric guitar when you’re starting out. That being said (in Larry David voice), if you already have a guitar, electric or acoustic, go ahead and use that one to start learning. However, if you’re ready to buy your first guitar, read on…
Early beginnings
I myself started out on a terrible acoustic guitar that was lying around my house when I first started learning. It was killing my fingers, but I kept practicing anyway. And although it was good enough to start with, when I finally bought my first semi-quality guitar it COMPLETELY CHANGED the learning process and made it SO MUCH easier. The fact is, more expensive guitars are easier to play because of the craftsmanship involved in making them.
STEP 2
No matter what your age is, I would never suggest anyone buying their first electric guitar for under $300 – and here’s why:
- If you only play it for one year, and decided to sell it, you won’t be able to, because cheap guitars have no resale value.
- If you do decided to resell it (on Craigslist etc) and it’s only a year old. You can probably sell that $300 guitar for $200 to another beginning student. Then look at the whole process of buying your first guitar, as $100 cost for one year rental. That comes out to only $25 per month.
- If you play guitar for a year, and LOVE IT, you can resell the guitar (as mentioned in #2) and put the money towards a better guitar, or even try and trade it in at a music store for an upgrade.
SO, back to the heart of this guide..
STEP 3
Which guitar is better for beginners – Electric or Acoustic?
…and the winner is..
| Buy an Acoustic Guitar if you like: | Buy and Electric Guitar if you like: |
| 1. Hotel California – Eagles 2. Heart of gold – Neil Young 3. More than words – Extreme 4. Wonderwall – Oasis 5. To be with you – Mr. Big 6. Any song by – Crosby, Still, Nash & Young 7. Wild horses – The Stones 8. Free fallin’ – Tom Petty 9. She Talks To Angels – Black Crowes 10. Patience – Guns N’ Roses 11. Who will save your soul – Jewel 11. Fast car – Tracy Chapman 13. Horse with no name – America 14. American Pie – Don Mclean 15. Jack and Diane – John Mellencamp 16. Iris – Goo goo dolls 18. Time of your life – Greenday |
1. Rock Candy – Montrose 2. You Really Got me – Van Halen 3. Black hole sun – Sound Garden 4. Razor King – GAMMA 5. Teen spirit – Nirvana 6. Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughn 7 Seek and destroy – Metallica 8. Smokin’ – Boston 9. Back in black – AC/DC 10. Crazy Train – Ozzie/Randy Rhodes 11. Any song by – Allman Brothers 12. Gimme 3 steps – Lynrd Skynard 13. Whole lot of love – Led Zepplin 14. Walk this way – Aerosmith 15. Summer Song – Joe Satriani 16. Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy 17. Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple |
Yup, there’s a lot of incredible artists that play acoustic and electric missing from this list. These are just some of the ones that came to mind. You might even like both of these lists and want to own an acoustic guitar and electric as well. But start off with one.
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS:
The first mistake: Buying too cheap
The Second Mistake: Buying used
Only buy a used guitar if your best friend is a professional guitar player and goes with you and plays it, and gauntness to you it’s in perfect shape. There are so many things that can be wrong with it, even if the guitar looks cool.
THE SAFEST WAY TO BUY AN INSTRUMENT, IS TO BUY BRAND-NEW.
AND, there’s nothing like the look, the smell and mostly the feel of your first guitar in your hands, that nobody else has played before, it’s 100% yours!
QUICK NOTE TO YOUNG STUDENTS
IF you are under 21 OR you’re parents are helping you buy your first guitar This Ibanez Beginner Guitar is the one I would recommend. If your parents are helping you buy your first guitar below is an IMPORTANT selling point for them to read
NOTE: If you buy a guitar that is only costs $150, and then after playing it for a year you change your mind and decided to sell it, you won’t be able to. You can barely give away cheap guitars, there are just too many of them out there. So make sure and spend enough on it – so that if you change your mind it will still have decent resale value.
BACK TO THE GUIDE…
So, while you don’t want to spend too much on your first guitar, you need to spend enough on it so that:
- You are playing a comfortable, good-sounding instrument, so you can learn easier and it sounds great.
- If you change your mind, you can most likely sell it a year from now and break even if prices climb (because you bought a “quality” guitar.)
- You look at it this way, the right way is: You buy it, lose $100 on it, No you actually were able to rent a quality guitar for less than $10 a month for a whole year.
STEP 4
Make a selection below of one of my recommended Electric or Acoustic guitars, or bookmark this page so you can come back soon
| This is the electric guitar I would recommend for beginners Ibanez RG421 Electric Guitar Blackberry SunburstThe reason I recommend this Ibanez starter guitar is because it does not have a Whammy Bar (tremolo arm) and so it’s much easier to string up and star tune for beginners. Get yours Here for $299.99 |
| This is the acoustic guitar I would recommend for beginners Ibanez AW54CEOPN Artwood Dreadnought Acoustic/Electric GuitarThe reason I recommended this beginner acoustic guitar is not only does it sound great for the price, but it also has a output jack that you could plug into an amplifier or an audio recorder. Get yours Here for $299.99 |
* An exception to the rule
If you are 30 years or older, don’t bother spending money on a discount starter guitar. Buy something that you know you will want to have the rest of your life. And taken care of, these Ibanez guitars can last a lifetime.
Don’t buy something too cheap, if you ever change your mind it will have ZERO resale value.
I have been playing Ibanez guitars for over 25 years and they are my favorite. I tried fenders and playing gibson SG and Les Pauls for many, many years, beofre discovering and settling on Ibanez. The have the best feel and tone of any guitar on the market.
A close friend of mine is an Ibanez representative (Mr. Paul). I spoke to Paul and these are the models he recommends that are the best price/quality for beginners. Note: I might make a small percentage of the sale if you chose click on one of the links below and buy a guitar. This small profit is one of the ways I keep creating guitar lessons for free. However you could also go to google and search for the same models, Either way, the price for you would be the same for you. So if you are looking to buy and new guitar, or upgrade, please help this site out by clicking on one of the links below. Thank you!
HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?
Below is the Q&A area that people are actually searching for on google every day.
Disclaimer: I am a HUGE Ibanez guitar fan. So most of my recommendations are within that brand 😉
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT GUITAR SHOULD I BUY – AND MY ANSWERS
What guitar should I buy for a Beginner student
Answer:I would suggest an electric guitar. Acoustic guitars like THIS are excellent too, but electric is the easiest to start on.
Reason: Electric guitars area easier on the finger, especially when using light gauge strings like these. Also the fretboard is closer together.
What guitar should I buy for Rock?
If its rock
What guitar should I buy for Metal?
For Metal I would insist on a electric guitar, and one with a Whammy bar/Temelo Arm.
Reason: You may want to eventually start using heavier gauge strings so you can tune your guitar down to a low D or C for a heavy tone.
What guitar should I buy for Blues?
While you can play blues on any type of electric guitar. Guitars with a strat shape like like my favorites “Ibanez” would be my first choice, but many blues players also play a Fender Statocaster (Strat). As an example, Stevie Ray Vaughan plays a 1962 Fender Stratocaster with a 63′ neck.
What guitar should I buy for Classical?
If someone is set on learning classical style guitar, they should probably buy a nylon string guitar like this.
What guitar should I buy for Country or Blue Grass?
Definitely buy an acoustic guitar.
What guitar should I buy for Advanced Player?
This is really a question of taste. The Ibanez JEM line would be MY first recommendation because of the play-ability and tone, but there are TONS of other high-end guitar out there. I have been playing JEM guitrs for oever 20 years. IMPORTANT: You should NOT buy a guitar for someone else if they are a highly advanced player. They probably have their own strong opinions on what guitar sounds, feels and looks great, to them.
What guitar should I buy for a Child or young student?
I would suggest an electric guitar. No, you don’t have to buy a loud amplifier to go with it 😉 in fact they have some pretty cool sounding headphone amps they can practice on.
Reason: Electric guitars area easier on the fingers, especially when using light gauge strings like these. Also the fretboard is closer together. In fact, there are even some mini-guitars, but I would not suggest buying on of those. The reason I always suggest buying an electric guitar for beginners is simple: If it’s easier on the student fingers, there is less chance on them giving up, and more chance of them learning to play guitar. Also, it beats the HECK out of buying them a drum set 😉
What guitar should I buy for my Girlfriend?
As mentioned before Electric guitars area easier on the finger, especially when using light gauge strings like these. Sometimes ladies have a harder struggle initially and in some instances when learning to play guitar because of the finger strength needed to hold the strings down on the neck. After a few weeks this is usually not a problem any longer, but the easier a guitar is to play for a beginner, the more likely they are to stick with the instrument.
What guitar should I buy for my Boyfriend?
Hey, people are really searching for this on google, I’m not making it up 🙂
First off, thanks for being such an swesome girlsfrind you would consider buying your boyfriend a guitar – thats WAY COOL.
Look at the table in STEP 3 above for the style of music your boyfriend likes the best. It will help narrow down your choices.
What if I like playing acoustic guitar but it hurts my fingers?
You may want to try put some lighter gauge electric guitar strings on your acoustic guitar. This will not cause any harm to it (check with you guitar manufacturer first to make sure) and it will make it MUCH easier to play as well as bend strings. I like to do a lot of string bending and aggressive playing on my acoustic, so electric strings make the most sense for me. Light gauge strings are easier on the fingers, but heavier gauge strings sound better on acoustics. SO you need to find a balance that works for you, feels good and sounds good.
If it was up to me and I could go back to when I was 13 or so and starting to play, I would have started on an electric.
TO to wrap this guide up a few final words.
In my near 40 years of playing, and 30 years of playing professionally here are the truths as I see them:
1. I suggest always buying a guitar brand new – if there’s a problem with it, you can return it, no questions asked (as long as it and its packaging are in great condition. Check out the policy of the place you buy from first).
2. Buying online is a GREAT way to find the perfect instrument, and again, most stores will exchange the instrument if there are any problems
3. If you have your heart set on buying a used guitar, because someone told you it was worth TONS of $$$ , and by buying it from them used, you can save $500 buy buying it used from them be very very careful WARNING!!!!!
* * * The only way, and this is the ONLY way you should ever consider buying a used instrument is if you have a best friend, or family member who is a professional-level guitarist go with you to look at the instrument first. Have them totally check out the neck, the body, look for cracks, plug it into an amp and test all the electronics on it, search for any buzzes, or dead frets on it etc etc etc. As a beginner, there are SO many ways you can get ripped-off buy people selling a used guitar.