What Are Good Electric Guitars for Beginners?
Deciding which electric guitar to buy and learn on is the first significant problem that a budding guitarist has to face. Cost, sound and playability are among the most decisive factors when choosing your first electric guitar. You also need to purchase an amplifier as well as a guitar cord in order to get the most out of your instrument.
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Guitar and Amp Packages
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Many leading guitar companies such as Ibanez, Epiphone and Fender offer electric guitar and amplifier combo packages for an affordable price. These packages are convenient places to start because they come with everything needed to begin playing. Some department stores offer their own, inexpensive beginner electric guitar packages as well. To get a better guitar, select a starter kit from a known and respected guitar company as opposed to one from a department store, but if price is a prime concern, the department store starter kits are perfectly acceptable instruments on which to learn.
Squier
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Squier is Fender's economy model brand of guitars. They offer many of the famous Fender guitar designs such as the Stratocaster and the Telecaster, but the price -- and quality of the parts -- is significantly less than that of a standard Fender. Squier guitars tend to have a snappy, twangy sound to them, well suited for blues and country music. The frets on most Squier guitars are relatively high, making them easy to feel under your fingers.
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Epiphone
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Epiphone is like the Squier line of guitars, but high-end Epiphone guitars are well-made instruments and these top-shelf guitars are significantly higher quality than the best Squier guitars. Epiphone, like Squier, offers some of its parent company's most well-known guitars like the Les Paul and SG guitars. Because of the Humbucker pickups that come on most Epiphone electric guitars, Epiphone guitars tend to have a full, warm sound ideal for playing rock and roll and heavier music. The frets on an Epiphone are relatively low, which requires you to put less pressure on the string in order to fret it, but may also be difficult for a novice to feel, making it hard to find the correct fingering for certain chords.
Yamaha
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Yamaha is another company that makes reasonable guitars for beginners. The Yamaha Pacifica guitar series are well-made instruments for beginners. The Pacifica has a Humbucker pickup in the bridge position and single-coil pickups in the middle and neck position. This allows the Pacifica to provide both the thicker tones of an Epiphone and the twangy tones of a Squier. The best way to determine which Yamaha -- or any other guitar -- model you prefer is to examine each of the instruments in your price range and play them, if possible, before purchase. This advice holds true for any guitar you will ever get, regardless of your guitar experience.
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