So you want to be a guitar player. You need to buy or rent a guitar and you have no idea how to choose your first guitar to learn with. You probably have visions in your head and memories of what a guitar looks like, but you are still unsure which guitar is going to be the easiest route to harnessing your manual dexterity, strumming your first chords and melodies, joyfully planting the seeds of your future musical proficiency. Picking the right guitar is highly recommended you do from an educated position.

Most of my beginner guitar students have no idea how to pick the right guitar for someone that is learning, and can they be blamed? Of course not; the world of guitars and guitar-related gear is extremely sophisticated and diverse. The prospect of shopping for a guitar is further hindered due to some common myths and circulating opinions on what’s best for a beginner to learn with.

There are a few mainstream opinions that I do not necessarily agree with and encounter with nearly all of my students:

1) Beginners should start out on an acoustic guitar.

The main I disagree that acoustic guitars are the go-to guitar is because of issues related to an acoustic guitar’s string gauge (thickness of each string). Beginners will have a hard enough time starting out and encountering pain on your fingertips from pressing them down for extended periods of time against the strings. Those of you without stringed instrument experience will also have trouble summoning the required strength to push down these strings, and the harder you have to push your fingertips down, the more your fingertips are going to hurt. It usually takes a few weeks up to a few months for any sign of callouses to show up depending on how often you practice. Once the callouses show up, your skin is harder and you will feel a significant reduction in pain. The gauge of an acoustic guitar’s strings are usually much larger than that of an electric guitar. Because of this, the electric guitar will be much easier to play initially and you will be able to play for longer because your fingers won’t be so sore that you have to take a break from playing. String gauge is a big factor for all these reasons, and it also leads me to my next topic.

2) Beginners should start on a classical acoustic guitar.

Many students will come to me with their first guitar being a classical acoustic guitar. This is often a big problem for beginners. A common reason they show up with a classical guitar is because the salesperson at the music store recommended they start on a classical due to the nylon strings that are on 99% of all classical guitars. These strings require the least amount of strength to press down and do not cut into your fingers nearly as much as steel strings do. But what these sales people seem to be dismissing or unaware of is the much greater width of the fretboard on a classical acoustic guitar. What this translates into is that the strings will be further apart and your fingers will have to stretch even further in order to play all the beginner chords. Stretching fingers is already hard enough for beginners. When it is a child that shows up with tiny hands, I really wish that I was there to help them and their parents pick out their guitar with them. My solution for those that really want to try nylon strings is simple: have them strung onto a steel-string acoustic guitar instead of a classical guitar. Now you have the best of both worlds. Easy strings and a thinner fretboard. Once you have built up callouses, you can then decide if you’d like to switch to steel strings.

3) Electric guitars are not for beginners.

This is just wrong. Many factors make an electric guitar the right choice for some, including a small string gauge and a thinner fretboard. Remember that these translate into less pain, less strength required to press strings down, and less stretching to reach separate strings simultaneously.

Electric guitars are also ideal for those that have family members or roommates that don’t want to be disturbed. With an electric guitar, you can play it without an amplifier or with a set of headphones and jam away into the night when everyone else is asleep, for example.
Electric guitars also have a much more diverse array of sounds they can create. While an acoustic guitar will always have the same general sound, using an electric guitar with an amplifier and effects will give you worlds of possibilities that an acoustic guitar just can’t touch. This is not to say that someone would not or should not prefer the beautiful and simple sound of an acoustic instrument (another reason to eventually have an acoustic AND an electric). This large variety of sounds could include sparkling clean sounds akin to that of an acoustic guitar, or the famous and popular heavy electric guitar sound made famous by rock music. If this is something you want to create and love to hear, then owning a guitar capable of that will be much more inspiring for you; this will result in you playing more, practicing more, getting better faster, and overall having a lot more fun with the instrument. You can still play the same music on an acoustic guitar, but it won’t sound nearly the same. Decide what sound from a guitar you want to hear, acoustic sounds or electric sounds, and let that be another factor in choosing which guitar to buy.

So there you have it. There is certainly more than meets the eye when choosing your first guitar, and there are many common beliefs about the process. A beginner could start out with either an acoustic or an electric guitar.

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