Guitar For Beginners - Acoustic Or Electric?

You're just starting out on guitar, and need a guitar to start practicing on. Do you want an acoustic or an electric guitar to start with? The answer will depend on what type of music you really want to learn to play. Some players have a bias as far as the first beginner's guitar is concerned, current company included. We believe that the first guitar should always be an acoustic, or an acoustic-electric, for a couple of reasons.

An acoustic guitar doesn't have the sound effects or volume of an electric, and its tone is more true. If you really want to develop an ear for playing music you need to be able to recognize guitar scales, chords and chord patterns. With all the distortion and special effects offered by electric guitars this pureness of listening will get, well ... distorted!

An acoustic guitar is portable. If you want to take it places, on trips, to parties or coffee houses, you won't have to worry about dragging along an amplifier. An acoustic-electric is the best of both worlds: you can play one with or without amplification. And if you get around by bike or bus, acoustic or acoustic-electric is the way to go: you can backpack a guitar, but not an amp!

One advantage that an electric guitar holds over an acoustic is the ease of playing. Electric guitars are built with speed and ease of playing first and foremost in mind. The neck of an electric guitar is narrower and thinner and allows for a range of fast and complex playing styles common to rock, blues, jazz and metallica.

Another factor to consider is your budget. A dependable, affordable acoustic guitar can be had for $250 to $300.

You don't need to spend a ton of money to get a good start guitar, but don't cheap out on one either. Cheaply made guitars can hurt your hands and make playing miserable, and then you're discouraged when you could be having fun. You can get a wide selection of good playing guitars for $200-500 depending on your budget. If you do decide to go electric, you will need to buy a decent amplifier as well as the guitar. Solid practice amps are available for $30-50 and offer 10 to 15 amps worth of power, which will not exactly rock the house but will provide some decent amplification for your practicing.

When you decide on your first guitar, bear in mind you may end up not really wanting to play. The demands of daily practice, learning to read music, and developing callouses on the fingers will often set the serious guitar devotee apart from the aspiring but inconsistent beginner. Once you have begun to play and feel confident you can reward your early efforts with your true "dream" guitar and it will be well worth the wait.

Barbara Salerno is an amateur guitarist and creator of http://www.guitar-playing-for-beginners.com, which offers online guitar lessons for beginners. She is also a licensed acupuncturist and writes about acupuncture, alternative health and metaphysical subjects.

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