What would be a good beginner guitar?

[Kanna]

I'm kinda interested in getting an electric guitar to play some music but I don't know what to get, since I would need an amp too is there any good starter bundle that is actually good or should I spend like $600+ to get into guitar?

[Tech87]

I wouldn't recommend a bundle.

Typically one or both of the parts will be junky.

 

If you can, I highly recommend you make your way to your local music store to check out the feel of a couple different guitars.

The different body shapes and neck shapes are a huge difference in your hands.

 

For example, I really dislike the body style of a Gibson Les Paul. 

They look great and sound fantastic, but the feel to me is really bad.

 

I also dislike the chunky necks of a Gibson SG.

Again, they sound nice and look fine, but feel really bad to me.

 

The only way I was able to tell this was by trying the different styles in person.

 

If that is 100% not an option for you, then I think you can't go wrong with a standard fender Strat style.

The body shape has been around forever and I would argue it's as standard as an electric guitar can get.

 

Another factor depends on the music you're going to be playing, as strats are best with light/classic rock or jazz style guitar.

A telecaster has a little more twang, which would be well suited for country.

 

Gibson and epiphones tend to be a little heavier and more aggressive with their pickups, and for that reason I think they're better suited for heavier rock.

 

Of course, any guitar can play any genre, but I think that's a fair generalization.

[Kanna]

8 hours ago, Tech87 said:

I wouldn't recommend a bundle.

Typically one or both of the parts will be junky.

 

If you can, I highly recommend you make your way to your local music store to check out the feel of a couple different guitars.

The different body shapes and neck shapes are a huge difference in your hands.

 

For example, I really dislike the body style of a Gibson Les Paul. 

They look great and sound fantastic, but the feel to me is really bad.

 

I also dislike the chunky necks of a Gibson SG.

Again, they sound nice and look fine, but feel really bad to me.

 

The only way I was able to tell this was by trying the different styles in person.

 

If that is 100% not an option for you, then I think you can't go wrong with a standard fender Strat style.

The body shape has been around forever and I would argue it's as standard as an electric guitar can get.

 

Another factor depends on the music you're going to be playing, as strats are best with light/classic rock or jazz style guitar.

A telecaster has a little more twang, which would be well suited for country.

 

Gibson and epiphones tend to be a little heavier and more aggressive with their pickups, and for that reason I think they're better suited for heavier rock.

 

Of course, any guitar can play any genre, but I think that's a fair generalization.

I'm going to check my local store, isn't the Les Paul pretty similar in shape to an acoustic guitar but less thick? I will probably be playing some different kinds of rock examples like some CCR and like Metallica 

[Kadzo]

I agree with @Tech87 and if this is your first instrument then trial in a physical store is crucial, we are all different and have different hands with different explanations what is suitable for you. So go there and check out a couple of different guitars and the best advice i can give it to you, don`t look just feel, we all made mistakes and bought an instrument due to looks.

 

After you find what is a suitable fret board and neck thickness and know what to look then maybe Thomann can help out with their awesome  choice.

 

If you decide to get a guitar for the love of god PLEASE do your self a favour  and do a proper setup (or give it to somebody to do it for you) it will ease the learning curve and the feel of the guitar can be totally different.

 

[Avocado Diaboli]

Depends entirely on if you already know how to play guitar or not. Because if you have absolutely no training, going to a music store and trying out a few guitars isn't really going to put you into a position where you can make an informed choice, since you have no way of determining if the neck shape, body weight, scale length etc. is suitable for you.

 

Your choice of Rock and Metal probably puts you more into humbucker pickup territory, because those tend to work better for overdrive and distortion and produce a fatter sound. The classic types of guitars are usually Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul and those are typically good places to start, though if you go with those, you'll probably end up buying from their respective budget brands, that'd be Squier by Fender and Epiphone by Gibson. Also, if you look at a few of the models, some offer a feature either called "coil-splitting" or "coil-tapping". From an electronic viewpoint, they're not entirely interchangeable terms, but from a sonic perspective, they allow humbuckers to mimick the sound of single-coils, which provides you with a more twangy sound suitable for blues, jazz an rock 'n roll, so they offer you more flexibility overall. 

 

Here's an overview of affordable Fender Squier Stratocasters with humbuckers: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/intl/st_models.html?price-first=77&price-last=350&filter=true&manufacturer[]=Fender&feature-44933[]=HH&feature-44933[]=HSH

 

And a few Gibson Epiphone Les Pauls: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/intl/lp_models.html?price-first=111&price-last=374&filter=true&manufacturer[]=Epiphone&feature-45003[]=HH&feature-45003[]=HHH&feature-45003[]=HSH

 

The only other brand of guitar that I'd recommend to total newcomers would be Superstrats by Ibanez: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/intl/st_models.html?price-first=77&price-last=350&filter=true&manufacturer[]=Ibanez&feature-44933[]=HH&feature-44933[]=HSH

 

There are tons of other guitar brands, but I would generally not go for one of them. Thomann's own brand for example is Harley Benton, so you can find a lot of cheaper guitars from that brand on their website and I would steer clear of those. Also, go and check out reviews of the instruments you're interested in, there are YouTube channels dedicated to reviewing guitars, amps and pedals.

 

If you're willing to spend a bit more cash for a guitar, I'm very partial to Paul Reed Smith (PRS) guitars. Obviously not the $5000 American models, but I have a few SE models from Indonesia and Korea. They're extremely compact instruments that still offer a decent scale length, have a very thin an comfortable neck - important for people like me with short fingers - and just an all around great sound for the price. And they generally look way more expensive than they actually are, PRS always put a lot of effort into making even their cheapest guitars look great, if that's important to you.

 

Amplifiers are a whole other topic and it always depends on what you're looking for sound-wise. Overall, the amp you choose has way more influence over how the guitar ends up sounding than the guitar itself. The only thing I would generally advise you against is buying a cheap solid-state amp. Even the cheapest valve amp is going to provide you with a better sound and especially better distortion than a solid state amp. There are a few hybrid amps, where the pre-amp has a valve or two in charge of overdrive and a transistor for the power-amp to make it louder and those can be decent. I'd generally avoid those all-in-one amps that offer tons off built-in effects like additional distortion, reverb or delay, because those effects are very cheap. So many guitarists bought their first Line 6 Spider amps and think whatever comes out of them sounds good when it doesn't. You'll soon notice that in general, products that do less things do the things they actually do much better than combo-products, so don't feel tempted by the cheapo entry amp or a multi-effects pedal that offers everything but with an end result that sounds awful. 

 

For combo amps, I currently own a Marshall DSL 40C. 40 watts is more than enough to play at home, so I would say you could also just go with the 20 Watt model and have a good time playing at home. It has one fewer pre-amp tubes, so the sonic characteristics are going to be different. The only thing I would suggest you do down the line is replace the integrated Celestion Seventy-80 speaker with either a Celestion Greenback or Celestion Creamback (I did the latter), it massively improves the sound of the amp, because the base sound can be quite harsh, but that's up to you. The thing with the Marshall is that it has what guitarists call a "British" sound, so more mids and not as fat sounding, good for classic rock but not high-gain metal, but you can enhance the sound through the use of boosters pedals or something like an Ibanez TubeScreamer. 

 

I'm honestly not equipped to advise you on cheaper American sounding combo amps, since my regular amp is a 30 year old Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and that's simply not something anyone should use at home. It's a 100W beast intended to fill an entire stadium, but it has a sound that's to die for. There are brands like Blackstar that offer a feature where you can change the sonic characteristics of the amp between a British and American sound, but I'd advise you to test those out before you buy one. I had a cheaper Blackstar amp a few years ago and looking back wasn't too impressed when I moved on to other things.

 

But the main takeaway here is that I wouldn't invest tons of money into either the guitar or the amp at first. You should first familiarize yourself with the instrument you're playing and gather some experience, so you have a good baseline of understanding when you eventually go out to hunt for your own style and sound. One thing you should not do is chase components of famous guitarists in order to emulate their sound, this invariably leads to disappointment because most of the nuance in their sound comes from their technique, not the guitars, amps and pedals they use. 

[Beerzerker]

8 hours ago, Kanna said:

I'm going to check my local store, isn't the Les Paul pretty similar in shape to an acoustic guitar but less thick? I will probably be playing some different kinds of rock examples like some CCR and like Metallica 

TBH you won't find a cheap Les Paul anywhere if it's the real deal.
Personally I've got a cheap one myself I got years ago (Washburn House of Blues) and it's... OK but certainly not a top of the line guitar and it's not a metal guitar either (Stratocaster copy), more like the name of it says BUT it can be modified to give a somewhat metal-like sound if I really wanted to.

A Fender Telecaster is more along the lines of Classic/Hard Rock such as Led Zeppelin since a Telecaster was the guitar Page used all along.
Metallica at one time used ESP guitars but there are others too - Be sure to research what you want to play and what makes the sound you want before settling on one to get while not breaking the bank - Good guitars and associated equip like foot pedals for example can go for a fortune and at this stage it's best to start off in a more basic, cheap(er) way for good reason.
For starting out a decent amp to practice with would be a Fender Mustang I/II (As an example) and it's not a big amp, just 20w so you won't blast the windows out with it by any means yet it's still a cheap, decent amp to start with. The above post has some really good suggestions you can go with too.

However I will say if you go too cheap that could ruin it for you too.

Get one that when you "Try" it sounds and feels about right, some guitars are heavy (Like my Fender Jazz 5-string bass) and nothing I'd want to spend hours upon hours with, if it isn't comfortable in using it and in how it plays too it's not for you. The way the frets feel is VERY important too, if it's easy to play that's what you want but if it's a chore to do anything with, leave it where you found it.
I'll add that a Luther can change the way it feels so definitely get the one you choose setup correctly, be picky about who does the setup. Ask around, anyone in the biz knows who they'd want for that kind of work but do expect to pay for quality work.

The overall deal is for it to be what you want and comfortable with what you get, how it sounds and to actually use too.

It all adds up to "You" and that's what to go for.

If you lose interest you haven't lost too much and it will sell, there are nice amps you can get cheaply and the cheaper guitar will also not be a real investment if you do lose interest.

[Kanna]

2 hours ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

- - snip - -

I have played acoustic guitar for like 6 years or more and well getting kinda boring it's the same set of songs and same sound, I will actually try to go to a music store and check what they have to offer and then try the feel on some guitars and see what fits me right. I will probably not cheap out on AMP since that I have learnt actually matters a lot to the sound like you said.

2 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

- - snip - -

I will probably go to a music store and try some different guitars in sound and feels.

50 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

- - snip - -

I will take that in account, but I will get whatever fits my needs it has just been hard to actually check due to well covid and stores being closed

[Avocado Diaboli]

1 hour ago, Kanna said:

I have played acoustic guitar for like 6 years or more and well getting kinda boring it's the same set of songs and same sound, I will actually try to go to a music store and check what they have to offer and then try the feel on some guitars and see what fits me right. I will probably not cheap out on AMP since that I have learnt actually matters a lot to the sound like you said.

What kind of acoustic guitar do you play? A western type steel string guitar or a classical nylon guitar? if it's the former, you might be in luck since those tend to have similarly styled necks as electric guitars, with largely identical fretboard curvature and string and fret spacing. If it's a classical nylon guitar, prepare yourself for quite a shock when you first pick up an electric guitar, because your fingers will absolutely not feel at home, since you're used to a flat fretboard with wider spacings, especially between strings.

[Kanna]

10 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

What kind of acoustic guitar do you play? A western type steel string guitar or a classical nylon guitar? if it's the former, you might be in luck since those tend to have similarly styled necks as electric guitars, with largely identical fretboard curvature and string and fret spacing. If it's a classical nylon guitar, prepare yourself for quite a shock when you first pick up an electric guitar, because your fingers will absolutely not feel at home, since you're used to a flat fretboard with wider spacings, especially between strings.

I think it’s a classical nylon I have but I have actually played an electric and well it wasn’t too different it’s just that the higher pitched strings was kinda small so my fingers didn’t go good on them but it probably depends on what strings the guitar has

[Tech87]

13 hours ago, Kanna said:

I'm going to check my local store, isn't the Les Paul pretty similar in shape to an acoustic guitar but less thick? I will probably be playing some different kinds of rock examples like some CCR and like Metallica 

Well, the les Paul does have a more rounded and thick body, but I wouldn't really call it similar to an acoustic.

 

Let me know how you make out at the music store. I'd love to hear what instruments you played, and what your thoughts are.

[Kanna]

48 minutes ago, Tech87 said:

Well, the les Paul does have a more rounded and thick body, but I would really call it similar to an acoustic.

 

Let me know how you make out at the msuic store. I'd love to hear what instruments you played, and what your thoughts are.

It won’t be for a while tho

[Beerzerker]

5 hours ago, Kanna said:

I have played acoustic guitar for like 6 years or more and well getting kinda boring it's the same set of songs and same sound, I will actually try to go to a music store and check what they have to offer and then try the feel on some guitars and see what fits me right. I will probably not cheap out on AMP since that I have learnt actually matters a lot to the sound like you said.

I will probably go to a music store and try some different guitars in sound and feels.

I will take that in account, but I will get whatever fits my needs it has just been hard to actually check due to well covid and stores being closed

Good to hear at least you're familiar with a guitar in general.

Knowing what makes a sound "What it is" with an electric is a new frontier to explore. The amp you've got, pickups in the guitar and whether they are active or passive, the foot pedals/boxes you use all adds up to the sound that's "You" once you find it.

Dig around and see what pickups can be set in place for what guitar you pick, humbucklers are the preferred pickup style as indicated earlier and a guitar with some variety in it's setup is nice but a proven setup type/style is what to really go with. Plenty of places and guys out there that have their setups dialed in, they can guide you to where you want to go.

Active pickups also has a more aggressive sound than passives do, personally both of mine are passive so I don't have a 9v battery to worry about.
For rock/metal you'd definitely want a good amp and foot pedal for a bit of distortion/overdrive you can kick in or out at will.

Personally ATM I only have two pedals, one for the guitar and the other for the bass, namely a Boss OS-2 for the guitar and a Way-Huge Swollen Pickle for the bass, that one being a killer fuzz box.
Boxes like these are an entire category of their own and you can get in deep with what box(es) to get, based on your style when you are ready for them.