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How To Buy An Electric Guitar

So how should you choose a guitar? Take into account the following four factors:

1) Playability

2) Tone

3) Style

4) Sturdiness.

We'll go through why each is important now in turn

Playability for new players is most often defined as the ease in which the player can get an enjoyable sound out of the guitar. For acoustics, the most important playability factor is the action of the guitar, which is the distance between the strings and the fretboard. Too little, and the player will have to put up with consistent buzzing. Too much, and it will be too hard to fret the guitar. The depth of the cabin can also impede playability. For electrics, playability is less about action, and more about the thickness of the neck, as well as the weight of the guitar. This also plays into acoustics, but less so than action and cabin size.

Tone is the next great factor. In our experience, sustain is the most important tone factor to new players, since a guitar with weak sustain is going to discourage players who haven't built up their hand strength and finger calluses. For electric players, tone is usually more about how the guitar sounds with sound effects, but don't let this have too much impact on your decision. The clean sound is much more important, since you can always get distortion from the amp or effects pedal later.

Style Is Important

Don't underestimate the importance of style. If the player likes the way the guitar looks in their hands, they will stay with it longer. Even something as seemingly inconsequential as a color choice can have a major impact on the appeal of an instrument. Make sure you know the player's preferences before you make a purchase and keep in mind, while style is important, you should probably stay away from idiosyncratic guitars (resonators, 7-strings, flying V's, etc.) that can limit the player's choices going forward.

The final factor is sturdiness. Any starter guitar is likely to be dropped, abused, scratched and exposed to the elements. It's also important that the guitar stays in tune well, since new players also usually have difficulty tuning and restringing the instrument, and don't particularly want to spend their time doing these things.

Which Guitar Is Best For You?

So, having said all of that which guitar should you choose? Assuming that you don't believe that a particular model is a better choice for the above factors, we're partial to the package deals that are offered by the major guitar manufacturers. They've shown themselves to be effective introductions to the instrument, since they score well on all of the factors listed above. Also, since the packages are very popular, they also hold reasonable resale value for when it's time to upgrade your sound.

How much should you spend? Our basic rule is that if a starter guitar package sells for anything less than $199, it's probably a bad idea. Too many corners have to be cut to get a price point below that.

Guitar Packages

What else will the player need? A tuner, an amp for the electric guitars... if you choose the right package deal, all of that is taken care of and more.

Anything else to know? Smaller and younger kids may do better with shorter necks and scales.

Electric guitar players should have an amp with a headphone jack to make everyone in the house happier.

You may also want to become familiar with the parts of an electric guitar.

Let’s Buy an Electric Guitar

Buying an electric guitar

Buying a electric guitar does not have to be complicated! You’ve come to the right place to pick out your first electric guitar. If you don’t have time to do more research you can never go wrong by choosing one of our top three picks. Remember there is never any pressure with our 30 day trial period. You can buy an electric guitar and try it out at home before you are committed to keeping the guitar. That’s right, you don’t even have to worry about shipping costs or return fees. We want you to be able to try out the guitar of your dreams in your home today without any pushy sales person trying to make his commission by selling you the guitar that his boss wants you to have! With all of that said lets get down to business.

If you have a teacher or a friend that has plenty of playing experience under his belt, ask them for advice. Before you do that, look through the guitar and instrument magazines. Read the reviews and check the prices in the advertisements. Get a feel for what you can or can’t afford. Remember you can always checkout our top pick merchant for great prices.