Best Electric Guitar for Beginners

20 Feb by Guest Contributor |

5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 14 Minutes

Best Electric Guitars for Beginners · Source: Bonedo

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Thinking of buying an electric guitar for beginners, but don’t know which one to get? Don’t despair – our comprehensive buyer’s guide to electric guitars is here to help! Before you decide on a specific model of electric guitar, it helps to think about what exactly you want from your future instrument and how you’ll be using it.

Electric guitars are available for all styles and in all price ranges

Many types of electric guitars are associated with certain musical genres based on their tonal characteristics. For beginners who are trying to find their way through the jungle, this is a great place to start. Needless to say, there are many guitarists who swim against the tide and use their guitars in ways not typically associated with them. However, if you’re just starting out and buying your first electric guitar, you’re well advised to focus on the tried-and-true models.

In this buyer’s guide to electric guitars for beginners, we take a closer look at the most common and most important electric guitar models and their individual strengths. We’ve focused on the instruments that have had the biggest impact on electric guitar development and have therefore served as templates for model variants by other manufacturers. These days, most brands offer instruments that are inexpensive while still offering decent quality that ensures that you’re off to a great start.

Gibson Les Paul: the traditional rock and blues guitar

Gibson Les Paul Traditional TS 2015

The Gibson Les Paul is the prototype of the so-called singlecut models and is considered a typical rock and blues instrument. A Les Paul and a Marshall stack (combination of amp head and cabinet), and all is right with the world! Thanks to the pickup placement in combination with the tonewoods used – usually the body is made of mahogany with a maple top – the Les Paul delivers fat, assertive sounds. Even though the Les Paul is often associated with distorted sounds, it also feels at home in other styles such as jazz or pop, especially in the neck pickup position, and can confidently be called an all-around guitar. Singlecut models usually have a comparatively short scale length (length of the freely vibrating string between nut and bridge) of 628 mm, which makes them easy to handle, especially for beginners.

The first Les Paul saw the light of day as early as 1952 (initially equipped with P-90 pickups, then from 1957 also with humbuckers). It was a huge success right from the start and shaped the sound and history of rock music like few other electric guitars.

Famous players of the Les Paul:

Slash
Gary Moore
Joe Bonamassa
Jared James Nichols

Fender Telecaster: Not just for country and blues

Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar for Beginners

Fender AM Special Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster is considered the world’s first mass-produced solid-body guitar and was introduced as early as 1948 (initially under the name “Esquire”, later “Broadcaster”). T models are known for their “twang” – a lyrical description of their wiry and piercing sound – and can cover a wide range of musical styles.

A typical feature of the Telecaster is the combination of two single-coil pickups, a maple neck with a long scale length, and an ash body with string-through-body construction (strings are fed through the body from the back). Although the Telecaster was initially developed primarily for country and blues guitarists, T models enjoy great popularity in all types of pop and rock music due to their direct response and straightforward design.

Famous players of the Telecaster:

Keith Richards
Greg Cook
Andy Summers
John 5

Fender Stratocaster: the most popular and best-selling electric guitar

Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar for Beginners

Fender Stratocaster American Standard MN OW

The Stratocaster was developed by Leo Fender in 1954 and, despite some initial difficulties, is today considered the best-selling and most frequently copied electric guitar design of all time. The Strat introduced the now ubiquitous double cutaway design with two body cutouts for maximum accessibility of the high frets. Their shimmering and treble-rich sound is still considered the benchmark for many styles of music.

Traditional ST models consist of an alder or ash body with a maple neck and feature three single-coil pickups that can be selected individually or in their intermediate positions. With five sound options to choose from and the then-revolutionary vibrato system, the Strat quickly gained a reputation as the most versatile electric guitar and was used by countless legendary pop, funk, blues, and (hard) rock bands. To meet the demands for more oomph, Fender and many other manufacturers of ST-style models now also offer instruments with powerful humbuckers in the bridge position (Fat Strat).

Famous players of the Stratocaster:

Jimi Hendrix
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jeff Beck
Ritchie Blackmore
Eric Clapton

Gibson SG: an icon of rock since 1961

Gibson SG Standard 2015

The SG design was originally developed by Gibson in 1961 as a successor to the Les Paul Standard. The most striking feature of the new guitar was a radically revised thin body made entirely of mahogany with two minimally offset, sharply cut cutaways (double cut). Even though the SG, like the Les Paul, has a short scale length and two humbuckers in the bridge and neck positions, it is considered a bit crisper and more dynamic than its big sister and is able to cover a wide range of styles. Beginners will like the fact that the SG tends to be relatively inexpensive compared to the Les Paul and is comfortable to play due to its slim design. Thanks to famous users like Angus Young or Tony Iommi and a steadily growing fan base, the “cool axe” continues to be one of the most recognizable symbols of rock music.

Famous players of the SG:

Angus Young
Tony Iommi
Pete Townshend
Derek Trucks

Hollowbody or semi-acoustic guitars: from B. B. King to Dave Grohl

Gibson Midtown Custom EB

Semi-acoustic guitars are electric guitars with a partially or completely hollow body and are therefore often referred to as hollowbody guitars. With their warm and full clean and crunch sounds, they are especially popular with jazz and blues guitarists. However, musicians such as Dave Grohl, Alvin Lee, Ted Nugent, and Steve Howe have proven for decades that semi-acoustics can also rock.

Since guitars with a hollow body are prone to feedback (especially at high volumes and distortion levels), the industry has taken various measures over the decades to counteract this. In addition to making the body smaller (Thinline design), this led to the development of the partially solid design (popularized by the Gibson ES-335) with a solid wood insert between the neck and the end of the body (sustain block). This “compromise” makes it possible to enjoy the open, transparent sound of a semi-acoustic with the advantages of a solidbody guitar and is still considered a typical feature of the popular F-Hole guitars (in reference to the F-holes in the body to the left and right of the bridge). But beware: There are of course also semi-acoustic guitars without a sustain block (ES-355, Epiphone Casino, etc.).

Famous players of semi-acoustic electric guitars:

John Lennon
Dave Grohl
B.B. King
Noel Gallagher

Heavy metal guitars

Epiphone 1984 Explorer EX

The terms “heavy guitar” or “metal guitar” stand for electric guitars that deviate from the traditional shapes in terms of design and features and are specifically designed for hard rock and metal. From a purely visual point of view, these guitars have their roots in Gibson’s Explorer and Flying-V models launched in 1958. Manufacturers such as Charvel/Jackson, Dean, ESP, B.C. Rich or Ibanez brought some very distinctive instruments to the market in this genre.

In addition to the extravagant body shapes, the pickups also play a very important role for a characteristic heavy sound. Heavy guitars almost exclusively use humbuckers with the highest possible output power, which drive the amp with a powerful signal, causing it to produce a heavily distorted sound. Often, active pickups are used, which produce a high output level and are less susceptible to noise. The necks of most heavy guitars are built quite slim, which is beneficial when it comes to playing fast riffs and leads. With these instruments, you also have to decide between a tremolo bridge and a fixed bridge.

Famous players of metal guitars:

Dimebag Darrell (Pantera)
Jeff Hanemmann (Slayer)
Herman Li (DragonForce)
Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper)
Kirk Hammett (Metallica)

When 6 strings aren’t enough: 7-string and 8-string guitars for the metal low end

PRS SE Custom 24 7-String Sapphire

7-string and 8-string guitars are equipped with an additional low B string or B and F# strings, respectively, and are mainly used in modern metal genres with heavily distorted guitar sounds. These “extended range guitars” have a very wide but thin neck and usually a scale length of over 648 mm. Since 7- and 8-string guitars aren’t fundamentally tuned lower (like the baritone guitar), but are merely “extended” by lower strings, they can usually be used and played without much adjustment. An 8-string guitar can cover the entire range of a 4-string electric bass in so-called drop-E tuning (E-B-E-A-D-G-B-E).

Guitar icons who play 7 or more strings:

John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders)
Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy)
Stephen Carpenter (Deftones)

Baritone guitars: the dark force in rock and metal

Danelectro Wild Thing Baritone

Baritone guitars are specially designed for lower tunings and are tuned a fourth (B-E-A-D-F#-B) or even a fifth (A-D-G-C-E-A) lower than a standard guitar. Unlike 7- or 8-string guitars, baritone guitars thus do not have an extended range, but sound lower overall. They’re also strung with thicker strings than standard electric guitars due to the longer scale length (around 700 mm).

The baritone guitar has seen a rise in popularity in recent years and is the first choice when a massive low end is required, for example in metal and its many varieties. If you’re eyeing a baritone guitar, be sure to familiarize yourself with the different ergonomics: these instruments are not only a good deal longer, but also quite a bit bulkier and heavier than a standard guitar. In terms of the shape, there’s hardly a design that isn’t available as a baritone model. Even the good old Telecaster is one of them.

Famous players of the electric baritone guitar:

Duane Eddy
Buckethead
Brian ‘Head’ Welch (Korn)

Buy an Electric Guitar: Our Recommendations

Singlecut electric guitars up to 1000 Euros

Up to 200 Euros

Harley Benton SC-200 BK Student Series

Customer rating:

(85)

Available for 109.00 € at

Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT Classic Series

Customer rating:

(455)

Available for 149.00 € at

Epiphone Les Paul Special VE VSB

Customer rating:

(44)

Available for 189.00 € at

200 to 600 Euros

Epiphone Les Paul Studio LT HCS

Customer rating:

(14)

Available for 239.00 € at

Kramer Guitars Assault 220 FR Black

Customer rating:

(43)

Available for 349.00 € at

Epiphone Les Paul Studio Smokehouse B

Customer rating:

(9)

Available for 448.00 € at

Larry Carlton L7 BK

Customer rating:

(5)

Available for 549.00 € at

600 to 1000 Euros

Epiphone Jared James Nichols Gold Glory

Customer rating:

(12)

Available for 679.00 € at

Guild Aristocrat P90 VSB

Customer rating:

(4)

Available for 749.00 € at

DAngelico Premier Brandon Niederauer Atl

No customer rating available yet

Available for 699.00 € at

ESP LTD EC-401 Black

Customer rating:

(100)

Available for 839.00 € at