What Is The Best Guitar For Beginners

What Is The Best Guitar For Beginners

A question I get asked frequently is what is a good beginner guitar?

I understand that beginner guitarists want some good advice and guidance

Therefore here is some generic advice I pass onto my students when they first start taking guitar lessons

Please note there are always exceptions so please take this advice as generic

What To Be Aware Of

What you need to be aware of when you first start learning guitar

For those first few weeks of learning notes, open chords and scales e.t.c what you may not know is that your finger tips are going to get very sore

This is unavoidable, your finger tips have very sensitive skin, and lots of nerve endings, pressing down very hard on guitar strings takes its toll

At this point, many people tend to give up

Because not only did they underestimate the dedication required to learn the instrument but they simply did not understand just how sore their finger tips would get

What Is A Good Beginner Guitar To Get Advice

Many beginner guitarists want to start with an electric or a steel string acoustic guitar, they are told it’s fine, that you can play what you like

This is usually due to the style of music they want to play

Or due to the guitar their favorite guitarist uses

This is true, of course you can, you can choose to do many things, however it may not be wise to do so

After over 35 years of playing, and teaching I have this advice for what is the best guitar for beginners:

For the first six months of learning guitar, choose a Yamaha C40 nylon string student model guitar

This is a good beginner guitar as the Yamaha brand in my opinion for quality and price make very good student guitars

Of course you are free to choose any other nylon string guitar

Once you have been learning for 6 months you will have developed some decent tough skin on your finger tips

You will also have built some strength and dexterity into your fingers and hands as the nylon string guitars tend to have wider necks than their steel string counterparts

If a wider neck scares you, it is possible to purchase a nylon string guitar with an acoustic neck

And if you still wish to learn on a steel string guitar then your fingers will be ready

I’d like to point out that you can still learn the same style of guitar played on a steel string on a nylon string

Meaning you won’t be wasting any time from a learning perspective

This is of course entirely a practical course of action

This is my advice to anyone who is newly considering learning guitar

Not Sexy But Practical

I know it’s not the ‘sexy’ option. Guys want to grab an electric and get stuck into learning cool riffs, shredding, picking, finger style; I get it.

But it is like learning a language, you develop the discipline through mastering the rudiments, you don’t immediately start with complex conversation and advanced slang, the school raises your awareness slowly and works on very simple, basic principles.

Same with learning guitar. Starting with a nylon string guitar teaches us many things

We learn to appreciate the nature of guitar music, how to produce good tone, basic strumming patterns and build strength into our hands

Once you’re producing a good sound on a nylon string guitar you can play anything

So if you are serious about learning guitar, if you wish to become an accomplished player, if you wish to respect the journey of learning, I recommend beginning with a very modest, Yamaha C40 nylon string guitar

For the princely sum of around $200 you have your practice guitar ready; get this baby sounding sweet, and your finger tips conditioned and you will be ready to move to a different instrument if you wish

Try to indulge your fantasy of being a ‘rock God’ by purchasing an Ibanez ‘Gem’ and you are likely to fail, it will look very cool leaning against your Marshall stack, but you will sound like a sick cat

This is what I have for you, it is not the sexy path, it is the hard, true path of the guitarist

Nonsense About Learning Guitar

There is a lot of nonsense spoken about learning guitar, a lot of short cuts, and expensive online training websites will invite you to pay them a lot of money for the feeling you are now part of their exclusive club; don’t be deceived.

The discipline is rigorous, the learning journey is not easy, but the fruits of your work will pay off, and you will become a genuine player

In a world where poseurs and charlatans are trying to impress you with their high speed shredding, you will be a true musician, with an authentic musical soul, you will be able to move people with your vibrato, bring genuine joy, spiritual comfort and if you wish, over time be able to shred like there is no tomorrow

Finally What Is The Best Guitar For Beginners

Begin with a nylon string guitar, start with the rudiments and you will become a true guitar player

This maybe not what you want to hear, but it is a valid, experience based conclusion based on the careers of many players, including my own

I hope you have found this useful

Feel free to leave questions or feedback in the comments section