What kind of acoustic guitar should a beginner buy

At the start of your playing career, some factors that more experienced players favour — like different woods for bodies and necks — are less of a concern when it comes to choosing the best beginner guitar for you.

The important thing when starting is to find a guitar which is comfortable, sounds good and has that all-important lure to keep you coming back to it.

MusicRadar The No. Included in this guide: 1. The best beginner electric guitar — style, sound and sophistication. Neck: Maple. Scale: Fingerboard: Maple.

Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. Neck Pickup , Tone 2. Middle Pickup. Hardware: Chrome. Left-handed: Yes. Reasons to avoid - '50s neck is a bit of a handful.

Yamaha Pacifica V. One of the best beginner electric guitars with long-lasting appeal. Body: Alder. Fingerboard: Rosewood.

Pickups: Alnico V bridge humbucker 2x Alnico V single coils. Controls: Volume, tone with push-pull coil-split , 5-way selector switch. Hardware: Vintage-style vibrato with block saddle.

Left-handed: Yes Pacifica J. Reasons to avoid - Tremolo action isn't very smooth. Squier Bullet Mustang HH. This affordable short-scale model is one of the best electric guitars for beginners. Body: Basswood. Fingerboard: Laurel. Pickups: 2x high-output humbuckers. Controls: Volume, tone, 3-way selector. Hardware: Modern hardtail bridge, standard tuners. Left-handed: No. Finish: Imperial Blue, Black. Reasons to avoid - Pickups will need upgrading eventually - Short scale might make it feel a bit toy-ish.

Gretsch G Streamliner. Body: Laminated maple, semi-hollow. Pickups: 2x Broad'Tron humbuckers. Controls: Neck volume, bridge volume, tone, 3-way pickup selector.

Why We Liked It - We love the simplicity and size of this acoustic guitar. Strings - Bundles can be a great way for you to save time and money on the basics. If your guitar comes with a pack of strings, try to change and tune them on your own the first time around.

The best place for any novice to start before picking a new guitar is to decide what body style, size, design, and bundle you're looking for. After reading our reviews, then you should know better which of these options are right for you. For example, a dreadnought body will be fine for a larger guitarist but for a child or smaller adult then you'll probably want to pick a scaled-down model. It can also be useful to know what it is from a bundle that will be important for you.

You'll likely save a lot of money by buying a product that's part of a bundle, but if you've already got some accessories then you can just focus on the instrument itself. Overall, it's always important to get the best value for money.

The products on our list all tick this essential box. Now that you've seen some awesome instruments, let's move onto the important FAQs that you might be asking. There is a wide range in prices when it comes to a beginner acoustic guitar.

We recommend purchasing a bundle if you're a complete novice, as it will offer you better value. It will also provide you with all the accessories that you'll require to get up and running. Always check the reviews for bundles, though, as some manufacturers will throw in some low-quality products knowing that buyers will be attracted by the number of extras rather than their quality.

Finding the right acoustic guitar might seem like a bit of a challenge if you're a complete novice. Each question has many answers, and those answers will point you straight to the best acoustic guitar for you! The question of what strings are the best for beginners is a widely debated topic. There are many great brands that offer a huge range of options when it comes to strings.

When strings stretch, they have to be re-tuned. The Epiphone DR is a great cheap acoustic guitar for a beginner because it offers a lot of volume, a bold tone, and it's a user-friendly, playable size. It's a great option for a wide range of budding guitarists, as it allows for easy chord transitions. It's also very reasonably priced when the quality is taken into account. It might not come as part of a bundle, but that doesn't matter, as this is one excellent product.

The Yamaha FG provides the best overall quality for beginners. It delivers the famous reliability that's associated with Yamaha. This manufacturer has a superb reputation for its entry-level instruments, and this one is no exception. You can't go wrong with this product at all. For a child, then the most important aspect of the instrument is its size. You want to make sure it's right for the child, otherwise, they might be reluctant to practice because of how uncomfortable they are.

It's also large enough for mum or dad to have a practice too. When you first start learning to play the acoustic guitar, try learning chords separate from strumming. Mute the strings by placing your palm flat over them, and just transition from chord to chord with your left hand.

This will help you to get to grips with the chord shapes without needing to worry about your right hand at the same time. The most popular woods are mahogany and spruce, but plenty of guitars feature other woods with different properties. If you've enjoyed this review by Music Critic , please leave a positive rating:.

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Epiphone DR Acoustic Guitar 3. Donner 36'' Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Package 7. How to buy a beginner acoustic guitar? Which guitar strings for beginner acoustic? What is a good cheap acoustic guitar for a beginner? Best acoustic guitar for beginner adults? Best acoustic guitar for beginner children?

At a glance: Our top 3 picks. Beautiful rosewood bridge Large, easy to play dreadnought body Click here for price. Epiphone DR Acoustic Guitar Vintage design with understated, eye-catching looks degree headstock for easier chord playing and less confusion when transitioning High-grade materials that enhance the sound and durability of this product Click here for price.

Yamaha FS Solid Top Small Body Acoustic Guitar Many different styles to choose from Smaller body for smaller fingers and arms, which is also good for teaching children Everything is included in the kit to get you started with this instrument Click here for price. Dreadnought Body As you'll find out from this article, there is a range of shapes and styles when it comes to the body of an acoustic.

Everything is Included That's right. Tightened Headstock The headstock plays a much more important role than many musicians think. Small Body Style The small body offers a host of benefits. The Whole Kit It comes with everything you need. Alden Acosta : Product research. Mason Hoberg : Supplemental writing. Jason Horton : Editing and Illustrating. The videos have been embedded in accordance with YouTube's Terms of Service. The individual product images were sourced from their respective manufacturers' websites, promotional materials or supporting documentation.

Publication of our July Edition resulted in the following guitars coming off the recommended list above, but you can still see our analysis of them:. Thank you, this really helped a lot. My son wants to start playing and I had no idea where to start.

I now feel Confident that I will be making the right purchase for him. I am learning to play guitar and the only chord I am having trouble with is C. Having short large fingers means that the G string does not ring clear. Should I look for a guitar with a larger nut or switch to Nylon. Both have been recommended to me by guitar players. Larger nut widths, which is what nylon string guitars tend to have, are easier to play with thicker fingers, so I agree with the advice you have received.

Maybe you could go into a large guitar shop and try a few different options to see what feels best for you. As a result of our September update the following came off our recommended list above, but you can still read our analysis of them:. I am also a senior person considering learning how to play the guitar for the first time. There is a small music store in my neighborhood that I am planning on purchasing my guitar.

The store only carries two companies and Teton Guitars is the larger of the two. My question is do you recommend Teton Guitars? What do you think of this model? Thanks for any recommendations you may have. Teton is a brand that isn't sold by any of the major online music gear stores so they don't feature very prominently in our research. The handful of ratings and reviews I've seen for the brand are good, but we have no rating data on the model you asked about.

I recently purchased an Ibanez SGT for my husband for his birthday. How does that compare to the Ibanez AW54 listed above? I am a singer and want to learn guitar. The main difference between the two models you mentioned is the wood used for the back and sides, which is laminate okoume for the FS, and laminate rosewood for the FS While laminate rosewood will definitely look better, the difference in tone between these two laminate wood is not going to be enough to justify the price increase.

And with the FS having substantially higher ratings, market response seems to agree with my opinion. In case anyone is interested, here's a link to the ratings of both the FS and FS We haven't created one, but we do list the nut widths of all the guitars above under Specifications in their individual descriptions.

A senior beginner here. I appreciate your advice on guitars for beginners. I have also come across the Epiphone Hummingbird Artist acoustic, and am interested in that as well. Just wondering if you would have any thoughts on any or all of the above. Thanks very much for your time. The Yamaha FG 's edge is its solid spruce top, while the Epiphone Hummingbird 's advantage is its aesthetic appeal.

Note that we don't have data for the FS, but being from Yamaha, I wouldn't be surprised to find it doing just as well. Although outside the scope of this guide, the guitars you mentioned are reasonably priced and similarly rated. So it'll mostly boil down to your preference: either you want to go for a solid top with conventional appearance, or a premium looking guitar with laminate top.

We have removed one of the guitars from our recommendations due to a lack of availability but you can still read about it: Fender CD All Mahogany. Skip to main content. Fender CCS. Ibanez AW Gretsch GE. Yamaha APX Yamaha C40 MkII. Cordoba C3M. Disclosure We recommend all products independently of 3rd parties including advertisers.

The Best Acoustic Guitars for Beginners. Yamaha FS Other fans of this small-bodied guitar from Martin include Hollingsworth and musician Christian Lee Hutson both of whom have collaborated with Phoebe Bridgers and Bright Eyes.

If the idea of a smaller-bodied guitar appeals to you, but you want to spend a little less, two of our experts recommend this option from Gretsch, which is similar in size to the Little Martin.

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