Buying guide for Best electric guitars
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There aren’t many things that automatically make you look cool like an electric guitar. Whether you dream of being B.B. King, Slash or Hendrix himself, you don't need to wait until your skills improve to get your hands on a good one. Some of the best electric guitars for beginners drip with just as much cool as any other.
An electric guitar has some obvious differences from the acoustic kind. Instead of audibly vibrating strings amplified by a hollow resonating chamber, electric guitars use magnetic pickups to detect vibrations and transform them into sound. Most electric guitars have slender, solid or semi-solid bodies, and their strings and frets are typically easier to strum and bend. At the same time, electric guitars obviously need electricity to work and an amp to output their sound.
There are many kinds of electric guitars out there, and some high-end models range from expensive to priceless. You don’t have to bust the bank, however, to get an electric guitar of your own. We’ve chosen a selection of electric guitars that are friendly both to beginners and wallets, but which also can provide years of musical coolness for more advanced players. Our top pick? The Yamaha Pacifica 112V Electric Guitar, a well-built, versatile model that’s perfect for all kinds of genres.
Editors’ picks
Yamaha Pacifica 112V Electric Guitar
Editors’ Favorite
Style: Stratocaster | Frets: 22 | Pickups: H/S/S | Body wood: Alder
Yamaha is often more associated with concert pianos than electric guitars, but its build quality and dedication to craft is undeniable. The Yamaha Pacifica PAC112V is one of the best entry-level electric guitars in its price range, capable of serving any enthusiast’s primary guitar for years to come.
The Pacifica has an alder body with a glossy finish, and a bolt-on maple neck with a satin-finish rosewood fingerboard. It features Alnico V pickups in an H/S/S configuration that makes it highly versatile and suitable for a variety of genres, including pop, rock and blues. A vintage-style tremolo with block saddle similarly allows for a range of effects without becoming too unstable or complex for beginners.
The Pacifica’s Superstrat-style body is comfortable to play both sitting or standing, with fit and finish superior to many competitors in its price range. It has 22 frets with medium fret wire and a five-position lever switch.
Fender Squier Debut Series Stratocaster Electric Guitar
Great Value
Style: Stratocaster | Frets: 21 | Pickups: S/S/S | Body wood: Poplar
The Fender Stratocaster is, for many, the definitive electric guitar. Fender’s value mark, Squier, delivers on this legacy while still being within reach for beginners. The Fender Squier Debut Series Stratocaster delivers that classic Strat feel and clean, bright tone.
The Squier Debut Series is a 21-fret Stratocaster with a lightweight body made of satin-finish poplar. Its C-shaped neck is easy to hold, with a laurel fingerboard on a maple neck. It features ceramic pickups in an S/S/S configuration, providing a clean, clear sound made for precision in blues, pop and rock. Volume and tone knobs allow you to adjust your loudness and sound quality.
The Debut Series Strat uses a synchronized tremolo bridge with block saddles for note bending and other effects, with a five-position blade switch. Its classic Stratocaster design makes it easier to reach higher frets, and it comes with a month’s worth of access to online lessons and videos.
Donner DST Electric Guitar Kit
Best Complete Starter Kit
Style: Stratocaster | Frets: 22 | Pickups: H/S/S | Body wood: Poplar
You can always trust Donner to pack a beginner’s musical instrument with value. The Donner DST Electric Guitar Kit gives you a versatile Donner DST-100S electric guitar, an amp, fabric case and a slew of accessories to get anyone started straight out of the box.
The Donner DST-100S is a Stratocaster-style electric guitar, comfortable to play while sitting or standing. It has a solid poplar body and bolted maple neck with a purplewood fingerboard and 22 copper-nickel frets. Its H/S/S pickup configuration includes a power 203S humbucker for versatile play across many genres. It has a vintage-style tremolo, volume and tone knobs, and a five-way switch.
As a complete kit, the Donner comes with a rechargeable 5W mini amp with aux in and a headphone port. The kit also comes with a gig bag of luggage-quality 600-denier fabric, capo, whammy bar, strap, set of picks and extra strings.
Ibanez GIO Series GRX70QA
Great for Beginners
Style: Stratocaster | Frets: 22 | Pickups: H/S/H | Body wood: Poplar
A first-timer’s electric guitar needn’t look boring. The Ibanez Gio GRX-70QA, with its Stratocaster looks and polished woods, looks like a star instrument, and it’s got the sound profile to match.
The Ibanez GIO GRX70QA catches the eye immediately with its polished quilted maple topwood. Its body wood is solid poplar for lightness, and it has a slim, bolted maple neck optimized for speed and dexterity, with a 22-fret jatoba fingerboard. Using Ibanez’s Infinity R pickups, its H/S/H configuration lends itself to both tight, pure tones and heavy distortion, such as in hard rock or metal.
The GRX70QA has a T106 tremolo bridge with six independent saddles for precise adjustments, though beginners may want to avoid doing too much. It has a single tone knob, a volume knob and five-way switch.
Epiphone SG Special
Best Lightweight Humbucker Guitar Under $200
Style: SG | Frets: 22 | Pickups: H/H | Body wood: Alder
Epiphone is a highly regarded entry-level brand for Gibson Guitars, known for its Les Paul and SG heritage. The Epiphone SG Special stands out among beginner guitars for its SG shape, double humbucker pickups and powerful, heavy sound.
The Epiphone SG Special sports the telltale Gibson SG shape, with short horns and double cutouts. Its body wood is mahogany and alder, with a maple neck, angled headstock and rosewood fretboard. Two open-coil humbuckers in an H/H configuration create a warm, thick sound ideal for classic rock and metal, but suitable for blues as well.
A fixed Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece makes tuning more stable, especially for beginners, and helps facilitate string changes. Single volume and tone knobs along with a three-way pickup selector offer straightforward control, with the tone knob integrating a kill switch as well.
Types of electric guitars
There are a few ways to categorize electric guitars, from their shape, to their internals, to their sonic characteristics.
Style
Electric guitars can be differentiated by their style, that is, their look and design, the length and number of their horns and the depth of their cutaways. Some of the more popular styles include:
- Stratocaster: This is the iconic guitar of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and others. Created by Fender, it features contoured double cutaways.
- Telecaster: This is also by Fender, played by Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen, among others. It has a single horn and cutaway, known for bright tone.
- Les Paul: This one is named after its signature player, who co-created it with Mary Ford. It’s a thicker single-cutaway guitar from Gibson, also played by Slash and Jimmy Page.
- SG: A double-horned, double-cutaway design also from Gibson, with a heavy sound that helped define AC/DC and Black Sabbath.
Brand
If you’re shopping for an electric guitar, you should familiarize yourself with the most famous brands and manufacturers, such as Fender, Gibson, PRS and Ibanez.
- Fender: Created the Stratocaster and Telecaster, with bright, articulate tones for beginners all the way to legends
- Gibson: The company behind Les Paul and the SG, typically with warmer, heavier sound
- PRS: Paul Reed Smith guitars, well-known for high-end instruments
- Ibanez: Known for the GIO series, and favored by heavy-metal shredders
- Yamaha: The biggest musical instrument maker in the world, with excellent build quality
- Epiphone: Gibson’s lower-priced sister company
- Squier: The lower-cost, entry-level mark of Fender
Body construction
You can also sort electric guitars by body construction, basically whether or not they have a resonance chamber or some other hollow interior.
- Solid: This type is solid wood with no resonance chamber. Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Pauls and many more are all solid-body instruments.
- Semi-solid: This has a solid main body but hollow wings. This design reduces feedback and increases resonance. Many semi-solid models come from Gibson.
- Hollow: Like an acoustic guitar, these electric guitars have resonance chambers and work best in jazz or vintage styles.
Considerations for selecting an electric guitar
Tonewood
The term "tonewood" refers to certain varieties of wood that have tonal properties which improve the sound a guitar makes. Popular tonewoods for guitars include maple, mahogany, rosewood, walnut, swamp ash, basswood, alder, and ebony.
Depending on the type of wood, it may give you a warm or a bright tone, or something in between the two. Many guitars are made from a variety of woods, with different kinds used for the body, neck, and fretboard.
While the material a guitar is made from will make a slight difference to the tone, you'll find a huge range of factors at play. So, unless you're a self-confessed audiophile, don't fret over the type of wood used. As long as it's quality wood, you should get an excellent tone.
Pickups
Pickups "pick up" the string's vibrations and turn them into an electronic signal. They're among the most important parts of an electric guitar, and they help dictate the kind of sound it produces. Most guitars have combinations of single coil pickups and double coil pickups (more commonly known as humbuckers) in S/S/S, H/S/S, H/S/H or H/H configurations.
- Single coil pickups give a brighter sound that can cut through the mix, so are often favored by guitarists who like clean solos, or who prefer a high, treble-rich sound. That said, with enough overdrive, they can sound gritty enough for punk or grunge.
- Humbuckers are made from two single coil pickups wired out of phase with one another. They have a fuller sound and are usually used for heavier music.
Although less common, you can also find guitars with active pickups — such as EMGs — which incorporate a preamp for higher output and better sound control.
Tips
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Consider your heroes: When first starting out, a lot of people choose an electric guitar similar to the one their musical hero plays or played — it may help achieve a similar sound to that of your favorite band.
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Count the frets: Most electric guitars have 22 frets, but some boast 24, which will allow you to play the full octave over the 12th fret. This is perfect if you like to play in a higher register, but unnecessary for the majority of guitarists.
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Insure it: An electric guitar can be a big purchase, so it's worth getting insurance to cover theft or accidental damage. Some retailers offer this at the point of sale.
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How long is the scale?: Scale length is the length of the string on a guitar, from nut to bridge. A longer scale length feels tighter to play and gives a brighter tone. A shorter scale length offers a warmer sound.
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Small guitars for children: If you're getting an electric guitar for a child, consider a half-size or three-quarter-size guitar, which will be more manageable for small hands.
How we analyzed
In compiling this article, we relied on hours of research about electric guitars, their origin, features, capabilities and history. We studied how electric guitars work, from their pickups to their bridges and everything in between. We evaluated each model based on their type, setup, configuration and build quality while also taking into account their playability, price, and any accessories that come with them.
FAQ
Q. Should I buy an electric guitar on its own, or a starter pack for a beginner?
A. If you're a beginner or you're looking on behalf of a beginner, you'll probably want to start with a fairly basic guitar, just in case you don't like playing. You can also find sets or starter packs that come complete with a small practice amp, a lead, a strap, and other useful items for new guitarists. These usually work out cheaper than choosing the items separately, but not significantly cheaper, so don't worry if you have your heart set on a guitar that doesn't come as a starter pack.
Q. What type of neck construction is the best?
A. Electric guitars either have bolt-on, set neck, or neck-through neck construction. Bolt on necks are simply bolted onto the body, set necks are set into the body and glued, and neck-through construction is where the neck extends all the way through the body. The latter is generally considered the best and most durable, but won't be found on cheaper guitars.
Q. What are all the knobs and switches on my electric guitar used for?
A. Most electric guitars have several control knobs on the body. The amount of knobs and what they do can vary, so it's worth experimenting, but we'll go over the most common configuration. The majority of electric guitars have three control knobs and one switch. One control knob is for volume and the other two are for tone, with one controlling the neck pickup, and the other controlling the bridge pickup. The switch is to change between using the neck or bridge pickup.
