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"My choice for the best standard electric guitar for a beginner"
This is a low cost electric guitar that I am quite thoroughly impressed with.
I've played this guitar and recorded it (the recordings are a little further down the page), and the only thing cheap about
this electric guitar that I could find is the price.
My first choice for a Best beginner electric guitar
Squier by Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar Candy Apple Red Maple Fretboard
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The Squier Stratocaster is an inexpensive alternative to the standard Fender stratocaster.
Before I get to what makes this guitar a Best beginner electric guitar, let me tell you about the guy who owns it
Martin is a guitarist in his 50's who owns and runs a small recording studio. He has many guitars hanging on his studio wall.
Until recently he had an American custom Fender Stratocaster and the Squier.
He sold the custom and kept this one.
I never played his Custom, but according to him the Squier plays better and sounds better.
Here are some reasons why I chose this as a best beginner electric guitar
1.) Squier is made by Fender, the most popular guitar company in the world (But hey, you knew that right?)
2.) The choice of woods on this guitar are excellent. A maple neck with an Agathis body. Although some of the best sounding
Strats have an Alder wood body, agathis is still a great choice.
3.) Great sounding pickups.
4.) This is not a guitar that you'll later sell. It's one you'll keep, even if just as a backup guitar.
If you set this guitar up properly, you've got a guitar that's both a pleasure to play and quite versatile sound wise.
I've always favoured the bolt on neck construction for beginner guitars, especially on Fender Stratocaster style guitars,
mostly because they're so much easier to customize later, and replacement parts are very easy to find
Here are some sound samples I recorded of this guitar
Bridge pickup overdrive mp3
Bridge overdrive solo mp3
Neck overdrive (Rock me baby)
Clean - All positions (1 Meg)
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Beginner electric guitars for kids 10 years and under
Small children won't get by so easily on a regular size guitar, mostly because the frets are spaced a lot further apart.
Fortunately, there are quite a few well made smaller guitars for young children, and people with very small hands.
If that's the solution you need then here's a good resource for that - Kids electric guitars
If you're keen on getting started with guitar lessons, one of the
top guitar courses invites you to sign up for their free introductory 6 part mini guitar starter course - Here
This is one of my favorite guitar courses.
Things to consider when searching for the best electric guitar for a beginnerThe first thing
to consider when buying an electric guitar for a beginner is this.
A beginner needs a guitar that's going to make his learning easier and enjoyable.
You might ask "what if I give up?" or "what if I lose interest?".
Well, let's say you bought a really cheap guitar, then decided guitar just wasn't for you, and threw the thing into the back
of the garage to collect dust.
Money down the drain and more junk in the garage.
A bad cheap guitar has almost no resale value and there's little pride in owning one
Let's go to the other extreme. Say now you buy a really expensive guitar like a "Paul Reed Smith" or a Gibson.
Firstly, those guitars are highly overrated and very expensive.
Before somebody gets mad at me, let me explain why I say that.
There are four things that determine the real value of a guitar
1.The wood used to build it
2.The playability of the guitar ie How close the strings are to the neck of the guitar
and the comfort of the shape and
thickness of the neck.
3.The electronics ie the pickups, switches and controls.
4.The hardware, like the metal used in the bridge and quality of the tuners etc
Paul reed smith guitars and Gibson have all these things pretty much sorted,
but there are a lot of less expensive guitars
with good quality construction and hardware,
that won't cost you too much.
Speed versus strength and how that relates to playing the guitar
This is a guitar lesson that affects the beginner guitarist as well as some more advanced guitar players.
As a beginner guitarist, before you even buy your first guitar,
it's important to understand how negatively a badly set
up or cheap guitar can impact your progress when learning how to play.
If you've already bought a guitar, that's alright - There are some instructions further down the page to help make your guitar
as playable as possible.
Here's the issue - Less strength, more speed.
The harder you grip the guitar in order to play chords or lead runs,
the slower you're going to be, and the longer it's going to take to make progress.
When you learn to play guitar on an inferior guitar,
or should I rather say "a barely playable guitar", you may just be
setting yourself up for failure.
I hate to be so blunt, but it's really important that you strike up a balance between strength and speed, and there are some
guitars out there being marketed as beginner guitars that shouldn't be allowed on the market at all.
Fortunately for us,
most of them are acoustic guitars.
The main reason these guitars are no good is because of the unnecessary amount of pressure needed to press the notes, never
mind an entire chord.
Make your electric guitar play like the best
The major difference between a standard guitar and a top of the range guitar is in the minor details and the final preparation
Guitars that leave the production line of major guitar companies like Ibanez, Washburn, Yamaha, Epiphone etc, have only been
given the most basic final setup.
Companies like these all use fairly decent wood and hardware, and their paint finishes are generally excellent, but the one
area which is sadly neglected, is the final stage of the fretwork.
Many times, the best electric guitar for a beginner can end up as a great guitar for any level of playing ability, let me
tell you what I do first to every guitar I buy.
I take it to a guitar luthier
The reason I take my guitar there first, is so that he can level and crown the frets
What do I mean by "Level and crown the frets"?
Firstly, in case you don't know, "Frets" are those metal bars on the neck of the guitar that you place your fingers behind
in order to press a chord.
Secondly, the reason you would want to level and crown the frets is because, by doing this, all of the frets will be an equal
height above the fretboard, enabeling the strings to be set as low as possible to the fretboard, which makes it so much easier
to play.
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