What Guitar Should I Buy as a Beginner?
Don't start with the guitar you think you're supposed to buy. Start with the one that makes you want to play. A first guitar doesn't need to be expensive, complicated, or impressive. It needs to feel comfortable, stay in tune, work properly, and suit the kind of music that made you want a guitar in the first place. Get those things right and the rest can come later.
The rest of this page is how to get there without turning a first guitar into a research project: acoustic or electric, what to spend, new or used, what a setup is for, and what the brand on the headstock does and does not tell you.
Acoustic or electric?
Start with the music. If the songs that made you want a guitar are electric, buy an electric. If they are acoustic, buy an acoustic. If they are classical or fingerstyle, a nylon-string.
The advice to start on acoustic "to build finger strength" is repeated everywhere and it is mostly wrong. An acoustic has heavier strings, higher action and more physical resistance. For a lot of beginners that means more pain, slower progress, and quitting before anything clicks. An electric is physically easier to play: lighter strings, lower action, less effort from the fretting hand. It also needs an amp, so budget for both.
We have watched enough beginners come through the shop to know: the ones who start on the guitar they actually wanted to play are the ones who stick with it. If you truly do not know yet, start acoustic. It is more versatile for figuring out what you like.
How much should a beginner guitar cost?
For a new guitar, $200 to $400 is the useful range, and you do not need the top of it. Below about $150 new, quality control gets inconsistent and you can end up with a guitar that is genuinely hard to play. Above $400 you are paying for hardware, finishes and pickups you will appreciate later and do not need on day one.
Our new first guitars run $199.99 to $449.99, all Squier and Fender. The live list with prices is under beginner guitars. For electrics specifically, Best Beginner Electric Guitars Under $300 covers what to look for; for acoustics, Best Beginner Acoustic Guitars Under $300.
Budget for a setup too. A guitar that plays easily is easier to learn on, and a standard setup here is $79. On a first guitar it is the best money in the purchase.
New or used?
Both can be great, and the question is not really new versus used. It is whether this particular guitar is comfortable, works properly, and is one you want to pick up.
Used often gets the same budget to a better instrument. A $300 used guitar may have sold for considerably more new, which can mean better hardware, better pickups, or simply a nicer guitar for the money. Every used guitar we put on the floor gets a setup before it is listed. New has its own case: a warranty, predictable availability, and a clean starting point.
If you are buying used from a private seller, read the used guitar buying checklist first. Everything used we have right now is listed under used gear.
Why does everyone keep saying "get it set up"?
Because it matters more than the guitar. A good guitar can feel terrible if it has not been adjusted. String height, neck relief, nut height and intonation change how much effort every chord takes, and factory setups vary. Guitars also move in shipping and with the weather, and that is not abstract here: Upstate New York goes from humid summers to dry, heated winters, and wood moves with it.
High action is the most common reason a beginner struggles in the first month, and it is almost always fixable. If you are not sure whether yours needs one, Do I Need a Guitar Setup? covers what to check. If you are buying from us, we will tell you whether the one you are looking at needs one.
Does the brand matter?
Less than most beginners think, and more than none. At this price the brands that build to a consistent standard are the ones to stay with. Paul's version is short: any Squier is an excellent first guitar, and the Standard Series Fenders are excellent choices when the budget is there. Yamaha and Epiphone also build reliable beginner instruments; we do not stock them new.
What brand does not tell you is how the individual guitar plays. Two guitars from the same line can feel different, and a well set up Squier that feels right to you is a better first guitar than a more expensive one you do not enjoy picking up. Do not buy the logo. Later you will have opinions about neck profiles, pickups, scale lengths and fret sizes. That is part of becoming a guitar player. You do not need to solve any of it on day one.
Buying for a kid?
Size is the first question. A three-quarter size guitar has a shorter scale than a full-size electric, so the frets sit closer together, and it tunes to standard pitch like any other guitar. It is worth trying for a younger or smaller player who finds a full-size guitar awkward to hold; plenty of kids are fine on full size, so have them hold both. For a young acoustic player, a nylon-string is easier on the fingertips than steel. The common mistake is a cheap guitar bought online that looks fine and is painful to play: high strings, rough frets, tuners that slip. A kid cannot tell you the guitar is the problem. They just stop playing it.
Come in with them. In the shop they can hold the sizes side by side and you can see which one they reach for.
Try some guitars before you decide
If you are near Glens Falls, come in and play a few. You do not need to know what you are looking for before you walk through the door. That is part of what the shop is for. When you pick one up, forget the spec sheet for a minute and ask: Does the neck feel comfortable? Is it too big or too heavy? Do I like the sound? Do I like the way it looks? Do I want to keep playing it? That last one is the important one.
If you are buying online instead, buy from somewhere with a real return policy, and when it arrives and feels unusually hard to play, do not assume you are bad at guitar. It probably needs adjusting. Have it looked at before you decide the guitar, or guitar, is not for you.
The short version
- Play what you want to play, acoustic or electric.
- Spend $200 to $400 new, or the same on a good used guitar.
- Get it set up before you start.
- Try it in person if you can.
- Any Squier is a good first guitar. A Standard Series Fender is the step up.
When you are ready to start playing, private guitar lessons are available at the shop with Travis Gray. If you are an adult wondering whether it is too late, it is not.
We're on the second floor of The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls. The building went up in 1902 as a men's shirt factory and made shirts until 1996. Today it's home to more than 70 studios, shops and galleries, and now a guitar shop. Use the Cooper Street entrance and take the stairs up.
Come by and we'll help you narrow it down. Paul's Guitar Hideout is located at The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls, NY. Use the Cooper Street entrance and take the stairs up. If stairs are difficult or you're bringing in something you don't want to carry up, call or text us and we'll arrange access.
The Shirt Factory
71 Lawrence St., Suite 201B, 2nd Floor
Glens Falls, NY 12801
Wednesday–Sunday, 12–5 PM
(518) 217-8695 · info@paulsguitarhideout.com