Guitar for Beginners – Electric of Acoustic?

When choosing a guitar for beginners you're faced with the alternatives of buying an electric of an acoustic guitar. Which one is best to learn on? Which will you get more use from during your time as a guitar player? Which will cost more? These are all questions you should be asking yourself before you spend a dime on a guitar, and I'm going to help you evaluate each of those question in this article.

After reading this you'll know which type of guitar, electric or acoustic, will be better suited to your expectations as a guitar player, budget and style of play.

Know Your Type of Music

Are you a hard rock or metal fan? Or do you prefer the quieter sounds of a singer songwriter style? This isn't going to matter right away as you learn how to hold, tune and strum your guitar, but it is going to make a difference once your start playing chords.

For those of you who enjoy harder rock you're going to want that gritty sound you get of a distorted over driven electric guitar. It's the sound you enjoy, and likely the style of music you're wanting to learn to play from your guitar lessons. It makes sense then that you're beginner guitar be an electric with a small practice amp that has overdrive aka. Distortion capabilities.

If you're more into the mellow sounds of todays acoustic rock & pop tunes then an acoustic guitar is definitely the way to go.

Some people make their decision only on price or what a friend tells them. How ever you can end up disappointed pretty quickly if after you begin to learn you realize you can't play the sound you want to.

What's your Budget?

It's unfortunately impossible to avoid the price discussion here. In a perfect world we could all afford what ever guitar, or even two of them, that we want. Of course nothing is perfect and you must make a choice. 99% of the time hands down an acoustic guitar is less expensive for beginners. You don't need an amp with it and you can often get a soft case thrown in.

When buying an electric you can often get the case but you should also purchase a small practice amp and patch chord to get the most out of your new instrument. Apples to apples an acoustic and electric guitar is a similar price point. The amp is what puts the electric guitar in the higher price bracket.

If you're penny pinching to start learning guitar then an acoustic is the way to go. If you know you're going to want to play harder music when you advance your lessons go on the cheaper side of an acoustic knowing that it's just to start your lessons and you'll be moving to an electric later on.

What's Easier to Learn on?

Most teachers will tell you that an electric is easier for beginners. Why is that? Primarily because when you first start you don't have an calluses built up on your finger tips. As you learn to play guitar you're going to harden the ends of your finger tips from pressing down the strings. Until this happens your fingers are going to be quite sensitive and you won't be able to play for long.

The strings on an electric guitar are lower to the neck and a lighter gage. This means easier on the fingers. Of course the because of these lighter gage strings an electric guitar not played through an amp is very flat sounding and quiet.

In contrast the strings on an acoustic guitar are a heavier gage (thicker) and are raised higher from the neck (higher action). This gives a fuller sound that's also louder.

For a new beginner an electric will be easier to get started but after about the 3 month mark of practicing religiously you'll be good with either or. If you start with an acoustic just consider yourself in the beginner guitar school of hard knocks. You'll feel a bit more pain now, but your fingers will be tougher in the long run.