While buying your first beginner guitar is a great experience, it’s also very daunting at the same time as you’re unaware of how much should you spend on a guitar. And the decision becomes more difficult when you’ve grown up seeing your favourite guitarists playing very expensive guitars. So, to answer your question about How much should I spend on a guitar as a beginner:
A decent quality beginner guitar can cost you anywhere between $200 and $500, but depending on your budget and commitment, you should spend wisely on getting the best beginner guitar within this price range, preferably opting for a beginner guitar package to get you started.
While deciding on how much should you spend on a guitar, the first and foremost decision that you should make is to decide whether to buy an acoustic guitar or opt for an electric guitar. This is because these two types of guitars vary greatly in terms of price and equipment. Therefore, I’ll start my blog with first discussing about the most important question that you should ask yourself:
What is better, electric or acoustic guitar?
Both types of guitars are equally popular among guitarists. You can be a fan of famous acoustic guitar players like Tommy Emmanuel or Chet Atkins or can be fans of electric guitar players like Slash or Jeff Beck. But if you’re just starting out learning to play guitar, you should take into consideration more important factors first rather than just your favourite guitar player.
Acoustic guitars are great for beginners as they are relatively cheaper, are simple to play with no complex electronics involved and can be played as stand-alone equipment without the need of an amp of processor.
And electric guitar, on the other hand is relatively easier to play than an acoustic guitar, is easier to carry and store but is relatively more expensive as it requires an additional amp or multi effects processor to play that can add to your total cost.
Let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both the guitars individually so that you can better understand what is better for you:
What are the benefits of electric guitar?
Following are some benefits of an electric guitar over an acoustic guitar and why I prefer buying an electric guitar as your first guitar:
Easy on fingers: When you’re just starting out to play guitar and your calluses aren’t developed yet, holding on to those strings with your fingers can be very painful. Most of the times, that pain alone can discourage you from picking up your guitar. An electric guitar normally has a very low action and has a lighter string gauge which is easy on your fingers, especially when you’re just starting to play guitar.
More comfortable to Play: Electric guitars are smaller in size and are more comfortable to hold on play. For a beginner guitarist, being comfortable with your musical equipment is the most important factor to keep you hooked to your new hobby.
More tonal Diversity: To run an electric guitar, you will need to buy an amp, multi-effects processor or an audio interface. newer amps and multi effects processors are equipped with lots of effect pedals and presets that will allow you to try out different tones and effects. This is a huge motivation for a lot of beginner guitarists as they can at least start to sound like their favorite guitarists by selecting a preset or dialling in the correct settings.
You can Practise anywhere: The biggest advantage of having an electric guitar is that you can easily practise your guitar anywhere you want without causing a lot of noise or disturbing others. You can easily plug in a headphone to your amp or multi effects processor or get a decent headphone amp to easily practise anywhere. This gives you a lot of time and space to hone your guitar playing skills.
What are the disadvantages of an electric guitar?
While I recommend an electric guitar as the first guitar for beginners, but there are certain disadvantages of an electric guitar as well that you should take into consideration:
Expensive than Acoustic Guitar: Because an electric guitar has electronic parts such as pickups, selectors and require an amp of a multi effects processor to run, you will need to have a slightly higher budget to buy an electric guitar as your first guitar. This might be a setback for beginner guitarists especially those hobby guitarists who are unsure if their hobby will last.
Requires some extra technical know-how: To learn and play an electric guitar, just knowing how to play a guitar is not sufficient. You’ll need to have some basic knowledge about running an amp and connecting it with your guitar, dialling in the amp settings or selecting the presets. Moreover, an electric guitar also has some extra components such as the volume and tone knobs and pickup selectors that you’ll need to know about, although it’s not really that difficult to learn.
Strings can break easily: Because electric guitars have slightly lighter gauge strings, especially for a beginner guitar, these strings can break very easily, especially if you’re a beginner, while tuning your guitar or bending the strings. So, you need to be a bit more cautious while using an electric guitar.
What are the benefits of acoustic guitar?
The next, and probably a more popular option for a beginner guitar to get started is an acoustic guitar. Well, at least all my guitarist friends including myself started on an acoustic guitar and then we transitioned to an electric guitar. So, let’s discuss the benefits of acoustic guitar for a beginner guitarist:
Affordable: Now there’s a wide variety of acoustic guitars available in a market and there are some very cheap options also available that are very popular among beginner guitarists with limited budget. And because Acoustic guitars do not really need an amp or any other equipment to run, they are normally the preferred choice for beginner guitarists.
Best for learning chords: Chords are normally the first thing that every beginner guitarist wants to learn so that they can quickly start playing their favourite songs. All guitar teachers also normally start with teaching guitar chords. For rhythm playing, acoustic guitars are a popular choice among beginner guitarists (although you can learn and play chords on an electric guitar as well).
Easy to carry: Although an electric guitar is bulkier than an electric guitar, but it’s very light weight and because you don’t need an amp to play it, you can easily carry it with you anywhere you want to play, and perhaps attract the crowd.
What are the disadvantages of an acoustic guitar?
There aren’t really a lot of disadvantages of an acoustic guitar, probably that’s why beginners prefer it over an electric guitar but yes, if an acoustic guitar is not properly setup and has a high action, it can really be very tough on fingers, especially for beginner guitarists and can become a nightmare to play. But as long as you have a decent acoustic guitar that is well setup, you’re good to go.
Is it okay to start with a cheap guitar?
Some very cheap acoustic and electric guitars are made very poorly and often have bad intonation, high action, and overall, are difficult to play. I would recommend you to stay away from those guitars and at least buy a guitar that is playable. That’s the only way you will be able to get yourself motivated to play the guitar, otherwise you will very soon get tired of the hobby.
Having said that, nowadays even cheap guitars, especially those made in China are getting better and better in terms of playability and build quality. So if you get your hands on a decent quality guitar within your budget, that’s great.
Alternatively, there’s always a market for used instruments where you can find some branded, high quality guitars in your budget as well. But before buying a used guitar, it’s better to take someone who knows a little about guitars so that you don’t purchase a damaged guitar.
Should a beginner get an expensive guitar?
Expensive guitars are expensive for a reason, they have a higher build quality and, in case of an electric guitar, have better electronic components and type of wood. Moreover, an expensive guitar will always sound better than a cheap guitar because there’s a reason for it being expensive. So if you have a budget and you think you’ll stick with the hobby, I would highly recommend you get a better quality guitar at a higher price as that will last you throughout your guitar journey, sometimes even a lifetime because guitars don’t really break that easily.
I started my guitar playing journey with a very cheap Yamaha F310 Acoustic guitar and then gradually shifted to an electric guitar. Everyone’s musical journey is different and a lot depends on how you get started. To stick to a hobby, it’s important that you enjoy it on your own as well and therefore, I would highly recommend you to invest some good amount of money in your first guitar.