Beginner Guitarist Buyer’s Guide — South Bay Guitar Lessons

So you or your child is excited to start learning how to play guitar? That’s awesome. But what guitar is right for you? Acoustic or electric? Nylon-string? How about amps?

Keep reading for suggestions on some great, affordable entry level options. The links go to Amazon which generally has a free return policy on guitars (which is great because guitars aren’t cheap to ship) and are affiliate links which means any purchase goes to help support this site at no extra cost to you.

Entry level acoustic guitars

Steel string

FA Series Fender Dreadnought

A solid beginner full size acoustic guitar. Comes with gig bag, tuner, picks, and spare strings.
$180 on Amazon

Yamaha GigMaker Deluxe Acoustic Guitar Package

Another solid full size choice. Comes with gig bag, tuner, picks, strap, and spare strings.
$300 on Amazon

Ibanez PF2MH PF Performance 3/4-Size Dreadnought

A good choice for younger students. This 3/4 scale acoustic guitar from Ibanez includes a gig bag, tuner, picks, and strap.
$180 on Amazon

Yamaha APXT2 3/4-Size Acoustic-Electric Guitar

This acoustic-electric guitar can be plugged into an amp or speaker for extra volume. 3/4 scale makes it a good choice for younger students.
$248 on Amazon

Yamaha C40 Full Size Nylon-String Classical Guitar

A standard full-size nylon-string acoustic. Classical guitars like these can be easier on the fingers for beginners but produce a different, more mellow sound than steel string acoustics.
$190 on Amazon

Yamaha CGS102A Half-Size Classical Guitar

Another nylon-string guitar but 1/2 scale. Perfect for very young beginner guitarists.
$160 on Amazon

Entry level electric guitars

Note: You’ll see lots of bundles on Amazon and elsewhere that include amps as well. I’d avoid these as the amps are generally very poor quality. The amplifier is just as important as the guitar when it comes to your sound. Having a good amp will make you sound better and make guitar a lot more enjoyable at first.

Fender Squier Stratocaster

Entry level version of the iconic stratocaster. Solid, versatile beginner guitar from Squier, a subsidiary of Fender.
$150 on Amazon

Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC12

Yamaha’s entry-level take on the stratocaster. A bit more expensive but higher quality. Also a good pick for beginners.
$260 on Amazon

Ibanez GIO Series GRIbanez Gio GRGR131EXG121D

Full size starter electric guitar from Ibanez. A good choice for students who want to play rock, metal, or other heavy types of music.
$286 on Amazon

Epiphone Les Paul 100 E1

Another iconic guitar model, the Les Paul, from Gibson subsidiary Epiphone. This entry level model is a solid choice for any style of music.
$269 on Amazon

Amplifiers

Amps are extremely important to your sound on electric guitar. Most are going to come with at least “clean” and “overdrive” channels that you can switch between. Nowadays, they’ll come with several other modes from light crunchy overdrive, to high gain heavy metal sounds, as well as built in effect like reverb, chorus, and delay.

An amp’s wattage will generally tell you how loud it is. The amps below are all solid state amps (as opposed to tube amps which are much more expensive and where wattage works a bit differently). 20-50W is all you need for a basic practice amp you’ll play at home.

Make sure you also pick up a ¼ inch cable to connect your guitar.