If you are a beginner who is looking for an electric guitar to learn on, you may not want to spend too much on a high-end guitar just yet. Thanks to modern manufacturing techniques, there is a wide selection of well-built, great sounding, low- to mid-range electric guitars to choose from. Note that being low-cost doesn't mean they are of poor or low quality.

Although there are hundreds of electric guitars which would make fine beginner guitars, below are some popular makes and models of the better low cost electric guitars that are popular among beginner players.

Go for what appeals to you and for what your favorite artists play. Don't be sidetracked by advice from people who don't share your tastes. Like clothing, electric guitars offer a way to express yourself visually as well as sonically.

Price will still be a key factor in deciding which guitar to purchase. When buying for a beginner—especially younger players—you may be hesitant to spend too much without knowing if the recipient will stick with the guitar. That’s perfectly reasonable. There are guitars to fit just about every budget. Just keep in mind that the better the guitar the new player starts with, the more likely they will be to continue learning and playing. An instrument that’s hard to play or won’t stay in tune will deter even the most enthusiastic beginner.

If money is not a problem, go buy the highest-quality instrument you can afford. We say it because better instruments are more inspiring to beginners as well as old hands. Quality instruments also have greater resale value, either to trade up or to sell if the muse dies altogether.

 

How an electric guitar works
Electric guitar body types
Pickups & Electronics
Hardware
Tonewoods

 

Basic Guitar Anatomy

 

How An Electric Guitar Works

While styles and models may vary, electric guitars operate on the same general principles. The pickup mounted on the electric guitar’s body functions as a magnetic field. When a metal string is plucked and vibrates, it generates a current. That current is transmitted by the pickup through a preamp circuit with tone controls to the guitar cable, and in turn to the amplifier. The amplifier boosts the signal and modifies it with various tone controls and effects, depending on the amplifier's design and capabilities. The signal is then output to a speaker, which converts it to sound waves. The type of pickup(s), tone controls, strings, playing techniques, and other factors built into the guitar's design all influence the signal that is sent to the amplifier. In short, each component of the guitar affects how the guitar sounds.

 

Electric Guitar Body Types

There are three basic types of electric guitar body styles, each with its own characteristics: the solid body, the hollow body and the semi-hollow body.

 

Solid Body

The solid body electric guitar is the most common body type and is made from a solid slab of wood. Solid body guitars can range from a simple, single-pickup model, to an ornately figured and decorated, multi-pickup instrument with a slew of electronic options. Although solid-body guitars don’t produce as much resonance as hollow-body models, the woods used still have an impact on the instrument’s sound.

Ibanez GRX70QA Solid Body Electric Guitar

 

Hollow Body

As the name suggests, these electric guitars have bodies that are hollow—much like an acoustic guitar—and produce more resonance due to their design. These guitars usually feature an archtop, and are more prone to feedback. Many jazz guitarists prefer the hollow body for its full, rich tones, and deep bass response.

Ibanez AF75 Hollowbody Electric Guitar

 

Semi-Hollow Body

Similar to the hollow body, the semi-hollow body has more resonance than a solid body. However, semi-hollow guitars are designed with a solid center wood block that adds stability and sustain, and helps cut down on feedback. Many blues players like the warmth of the semi-hollow and the increased attack and sustain offered by the center block. Semi-hollow guitars can be great for a wide variety of music - from blues and jazz to punk rock.

Ibanez AS53 Semi-Hollow Guitar

 

Pickups and Electronics

Aside from the body style, the pickups and electronics have the greatest effect on the way a guitar sounds.

The most basic, original pickup design is a single-coil pickup. It’s composed of a single magnet with fine wire wrapped around it, creating a magnetic field that captures the strings’ vibrations converting them into an electronic signal. Single-coil pickups tend to be bright and crisp sounding. The tone they produce cuts through dense band sounds well, but they are also prone to generating hum and are subject to magnetic interference. Many great artists play guitars equipped with single-coil pickups. Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Merle Travis and many others are famous for their use of single-coil tone

 

Humbucker pickups 

These were designed to deal with hum while also offering tonal characteristics beyond those of single-coil models. This design incorporates two single-coils wound together in series, with the polarity of the magnets arranged opposite each other. This design helps to eliminate hum. Hence it’s name. Humbuckers usually have a thicker, louder, more powerful tone when compared to single-coils. While they are very versatile, humbuckers lend themselves to rock, heavy metal, and jazz styles. Famous guitarists who use humbuckers include Slash, Jimmy Page, Joe Pass, and Duane Allman.

Not nearly as popular as single-coils and humbuckers, piezo pickups can be found on electric guitars as well. These crystalline sensors are usually embedded in the saddle of an electric guitar. Piezo sensors operate on mechanical vibration as opposed to magnets to convert sound from vibrating strings into an electric current. Piezo pickups can be used to trigger synthesizer or digital sounds much like an electronic keyboard. Most often, piezo pickups on an electric guitar are used to simulate an acoustic guitar tone. Piezo-equipped guitars often also include magnetic pickups to expand their tonal versatility.

Active Pickups and Electronics

Some guitars are equipped with active pickups that require batteries as an energy source and incorporate a preamp for sound-shaping. Active electronics may also include filters and equalization circuits for added sound control. Guitars with active electronics generally have a higher output than magnetic pickups and produce cleaner, clearer sound. Most guitar pickups are passive.

 

 

Pickup Switching and Other Controls

Most electric guitars feature multiple pickups. Some will have two or three single-coils. Some will have two or three humbuckers. Many offer a combination of single-coil and humbucker pickups. This combination offers the player a wide range of tonal options. Pickup configurations are often abbreviated by referring to single-coils with an "S" and humbuckers with an "H." The placement of each pickup is indicated from the neck down towards the bridge. Thus an SSH configuration has single-coils at the neck and middle positions and a humbucker at the bridge.

The placement of pickups on the guitar's body has a significant influence on the tone they generate. Pickups located near the bridge sample the strings where they have the least overall motion. The result is accentuated treble sounds or "bite." Pickups located nearer the center of the strings—closer to the neck of the guitar—produce a tone characterized by more midrange and bass sounds.

Scale Length

Scale length refers to the length of the string that vibrates, and is measured from nut to bridge.

A longer scale length usually offers a tighter feel in string tension, with a brighter shimmer and well-defined low end. A shorter scale length offers less tension, which facilitates easier string bending. It also can make it easier to play for smaller hands. A shorter scale offers a generally warmer tone.

Neck Construction

The neck, which extends from the guitar body, includes the fretboard and headstock on which the tuners are mounted. It contains a metal truss rod that prevents neck bowing and twisting, and can be adjusted to help the guitar maintain consistent pitch. The fretboard is usually made from a thin layer of rosewood or ebony, although some models, usually with maple necks, have a fretboard made of the same wood as the neck. Most fretboards have position dots or other markers inlaid in the fretboard. Some models have markers on the upper edge of the fretboard offering the player easy visibility.

The neck's profile and width affects the guitar's playability and the player's comfort when fretting. While most necks are either "C"- or "U"-shaped, the width and depth of the neck in relation to the player's hand is an important consideration. Players with smaller hands should seek out narrower, shallower necks while those with larger hands will most likely find beefier neck profiles more comfortable.

 

Tonewoods

Since a guitar’s sound is primarily determined by the interaction of the strings vibrating and the magnets in the pickup, you might wonder why wood makes a difference. In fact, the wood has a significant effect on the way a guitar sounds. The resonance from the wood determines how long the strings vibrate and the shape of their motion. Wood also allows the pickup itself to move. This combination makes wood an important factor in the overall tone of the guitar.

Maple is the most common wood used to make guitar necks. It is very hard and dense, and often has attractively detailed grain patterns referred to as figuring. Maple also has a very bright overall tone. Due to it’s figuring and its tonal characteristics maple is often used for a veneer or top laminate on more expensive solid body guitars. It is also used as a top wood in some archtop guitars, where it is usually laminated. Its hardness brings out the trebles in a guitar's sound. It is also often used for the fretboard where it adds definition to the sound. 

Rosewood is the most common wood used for electric guitar fretboards. It is very dense and hard and can be quite beautiful, ranging in color from almost black to variegated brown and blond. Rosewood is occasionally used in electric guitar bodies, but this makes the guitar quite heavy.

Ebony is a very hard, dense wood that is used primarily on fretboards of more expensive guitars. It has a silky feel and is usually almost entirely black.

Ash is a common body material in solid body guitars. It is harder than mahogany and very resonant. This gives the guitar ringing sustain and bright tone with a well-defined mid-range. A light colored wood with attractive grain figuring, it is often given a transparent finish. Swamp ash is a particularly appealing, detailed wood used on higher-end guitars.

Alder has tonal characteristics similar to ash, but is less costly and is not as highly figured. It is one of the most common body woods on solid body electric guitars. It is usually light tan in color, although it’s often covered with an opaque finish.

Agathis is similar to alder in appearance and tonal characteristics, though not quite as resonant. It is commonly found on newer, more affordable guitars.

Nato is also known as Eastern mahogany, and offers a warm resonance. Nato is very strong, and is most often used in the necks of less expensive electric guitars due to it’s cost effectiveness.

 

Electric Guitar Hardware

Guitars feature many different styles of hardware which have different uses. There is usually a direct relationship between a guitar’s cost and the quality of its hardware. Better hardware can make a difference in a guitar’s tuning stability and versatility. As you can imagine, this is an area where many improvements and upgrades can bring a host of benefits to the user. The most significant hardware components are tuning machines, bridges and tailpieces.

Tuning Machines

Also called tuners or machine heads, these geared mechanisms, usually mounted on the guitar's headstock, hold the strings in place and allow tuning the instrument by adjusting string tension. Most modern tuners have enclosed, permanently lubricated mechanisms. Strings are held in place on posts that are attached to knobs, which are turned to adjust string tension allowing the guitar to be tuned. Some tuners are designed to lock in place. This provides more tuning stability, and helps prevent strings from slipping loose from the tuner. It also makes changing your strings a little easier.

Bridges and Tailpieces

These two components work in tandem to influence tone and playability. The bridge is mounted to the lower portion of the guitar body. The strings are routed over it before terminating on the body or on a tailpiece. Bridges are designed to compensate for varying string lengths, gauges, and metals, ensuring that the strings remain in tune with each other. Bridges usually allow adjustment of the string's length to bring each string into tune along the entire length of the fretboard. This process is called intonation, and is an important part of setting up a guitar for optimal performance. Some bridges permit string height adjustments that affect the the ease with which the strings can be fretted, and is often referred to as the guitar's "action."

Locking vibrato: Often referred to as a Floyd Rose bridge after its inventor, like the two-point rocking tremolo, it provides individual intonation and height adjustments. It rocks on two bolts in the top of the guitar and is spring-loaded. The difference is that it clamps down on the strings at both the bridge and head nut. The result is rock-solid tuning, even when the vibrato arm is used radically.

 

 

Your playing experience won’t be complete without some essential guitar accessories. These include:

• picks (for strumming or plucking the strings)
• tuner (to help you tune each string accurately to the proper pitch)
• strap (to secure the guitar to your body)
• extra strings (strings get old and sometimes just break and need to be replaced)
• hard shell case or gig bag (to protect the guitar when in transit or not in use)

Electric players will want the following:

• amplifier (to actually hear the sound of your guitar)
• cable (to connect the guitar to the amplifier)
• headphones (for quiet practice—moms and dads will thank you)

 

Of course, 50 years of continuous innovation has created far too many designs in all aspects of electric guitar manufacture to cover here, but this foundamental guide should give you a basic framework for understanding what you read as you browse MusiciansEmpire's wide collection of electric guitars.

 

Personal Preference

Have a sense of how you plan to use your guitar, and a basic understanding of how electric guitars work, as well as how different woods and components affect their sound. But regardless of the features or the price tag, the guitar that fits your style will be the one you will enjoy for years to com.