Choosing a Guitar for Beginners – Acoustic or Electric?

If you haven’t yet picked up your beginners guitar then take a few minutes to read this article. While you may very well be planning on buying the right guitar for you a running through the questions in this article will either reassure your decision or possibly save you from buying the wrong guitar for beginners.

NOTE: Recently, Learn & Master the producer of acoustic guitar lessons dvd Learn & Master guitar has come out with a custom acoustic guitar that’s available in a bundle with their beginner guitar lesson course.

What Type of Music Do you Like?

This might not make much sense when we’re talking about choosing between an acoustic or electric guitar for beginners but it makes a big difference. We tend to learn the style of music that we enjoy listening to so if you’re a fan of a more laid back acoustic sound an acoustic guitar is probably the right choice. Of course if you’re a metal fan, you get the point an electric guitar would make more sense.

Cost

While you can get either an acoustic of electric beginners guitar for under a couple of hundred bucks you should keep in mind that an electric guitar on it’s own doesn’t sound all that great. You’ll likely want to pickup a practice amplifier and patch cord at the same time. Generally an electric guitar and amp will run you $50-$75 more then a beginners acoustic guitar.

Ease of Playing

This is one place where an electric guitar for beginners wins out over an acoustic. The strings on an acoustic are much heavier then those on an electric and when you’re first starting out no matter what strings you’re using the tips of your fingers are going to be sore.

Many beginner guitar players find it far easier to learn on an electric guitar for this purpose, especially when you begin to learn barre chords. The lighter strings will be easier on your fingers and easier to play.

At the end of the day you can always end up owning both an electric and acoustic guitar. If you enjoy playing guitar you’ll likely end up owning more then one any ways. The key take away from this article is that you choose a guitar that will be good for you to learn on for about 6-12 months.

The instructor in our top rated guitar lessons dvd, Steve Krenz, often recommends the Fender Strat Pack starter kit. The price is solid and you get a practice amp, patch cord and case for your new guitar.

Check it out here at Musicians Friend.

To go along with that first guitar for beginners we recommend you get a copy of Learn and Master Guitar, our top rated self study program for beginners.