Guitar for a Beginner Student

One of the best ways to help your son or daughter become successful in their lessons is to pick the right guitar for a beginner student. I don’t blame the parents who inadvertently chose something hard to play since parents generally don’t know what to look for in a guitar. They are just excited to get their child into lessons. But I know that without a full set up and new strings, or a new guitar, the student will not want to take guitar lessons for very long. And they will absolutely dread practicing.

Price Recommendation

I recommend spending at least $200-$300 if you are getting a new instrument-especially for younger students. If you are worried about spending the extra money for something they may not continue with, remember it is important to give them the best chance for success. Fender makes a very nice, inexpensive beginner guitar that will help make their lessons something they look forward to.

The Fender Squier is Perfect for New Students

Electric Guitar

To make things as fun as possible for the younger students, try a ¾ sized Fender Squier. These are perfect! As I type, Amazon has a package with a guitar, amp, picks, strap, cable, tuner, and strings for $279. This is exactly what I would recommend. For a teen or adult student, the same set up with a full-size guitar is $329. Well worth the investment and the guitars come in variety of colors. This will most certainly help their musical journey.

Acoustic Guitar

Acoustic guitars are nice, but probably the hardest to learn on. This is because the strings are so much thicker. They can begin to hurt the fingertips and be difficult to get a good tone on when starting out. If you prefer to use and acoustic, one idea would be to put light or extra light gauge strings on the guitar. This will help tremendously in giving the student a positive experience.

Guitars to Stay Away From

I am sure that First Act makes a guitar that could be decent. But in my opinion and experience, their intonation is generally off making the instrument sound out of tune. When the intonation is off, the guitar is out of tune as soon as a finger is placed on a fret. This happens even when each string has been perfectly tuned. I cannot remember ever playing a First Act guitar that sounded good. It can cost a lot of money to fix, more than the instrument is worth.

Also, by purchasing a cheap guitar, you may have to upgrade shortly thereafter anyway. This means spending even more money than would have been necessary.

Here is a link to a page where you can check out the ¾ size Squiers. Enjoy your journey, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.