Best Electric Guitars for beginners

What Should You Look for in a Beginner Electric Guitar?

I do not think a beginner needs a particularly expensive guitar. The guitar still has to be playable though.

Learning is difficult when your fingertips hurt, the chords buzz and your hands will not move at the same time.

If the strings are sitting miles above the fretboard, everything will be harder. Pressing down a basic chord takes more effort and the guitar can pull notes out of tune.

The same goes for tuning problems and loose electronics.

When you are new to guitar, it is hard to tell whether the awful sound is coming from the instrument or your playing. Even a new guitar may need a basic setup after delivery. That doesn't mean there is something wrong with it. The neck, string height and intonation may only need some adjustment.

All three guitars here have an HSS pickup layout. That means there is a humbucker near the bridge and two single-coil pickups. The humbucker has a thicker sound and normally works better when you add distortion. The single coils are brighter.

For a first guitar, having both is useful. You can try a clean sound, blues, rock and heavier music without buying another guitar.

You also need to check what comes in the box.

The Donner and Squier include amplifiers and accessories. The Yamaha does not. A pack is simpler when you are starting with absolutely nothing. Buying only the guitar gives you more choice but also creates another list of things to buy.

Donner vs Yamaha vs Squier: What Is the Difference?

The Donner DST-100 is the cheapest complete setup here. There are a few versions of the Donner pack sold online. The most common bundle includes the guitar, a small amplifier, bag, tuner, capo, cable, strap, spare strings and picks. Make sure the listing you choose contains the same items because some Donner packs look almost identical.

The Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 is different because you are buying only the guitar. It has one humbucker, two single coils, one volume control, one tone control, a five-way switch and a tremolo bridge.

The Squier Affinity Stratocaster HSS Pack is the most expensive of the three. It comes with the guitar, Fender Frontman 15G amp, padded bag, cable, strap, picks and three months of Fender Play.

With the Donner, you get a lot in the box for the money.

With the Yamaha, most of the cost is going into the guitar.

The Squier costs the most but is still a complete pack.

Is It Better to Buy a Starter Pack or a Guitar by Itself?

A guitar pack is easy - You open the box, plug the guitar into the amp and start playing. Well you proably start out by making noise, probably a lot of noise.

The Donner is the cheaper way into the three. The amp and accessories are basic but there is enough there to start learning.

The Squier costs more.

The Frontman amp has a clean setting and an overdrive switch. Leave the overdrive off when you want a cleaner sound and press it when you want some distortion. That gives you two different sounds to mess around with while learning your first songs. Another positive is that Fender Play (their online tutorials) is included for three months.

The Yamaha is only the guitar. You will need to buy the amp, cable, tuner, strap and bag separately unless you already have some of them. This will probably cost more once the whole setup is finished. The upside is being able to choose the amp yourself instead of taking the one included in a pack.

For someone opening their first guitar on Christmas morning, I would lean towards a pack.

If the beginner is already borrowing an amp or has been learning for a while, the Yamaha might be more favourable.

How Much Should You Spend on a Beginner Electric Guitar?

There is no point spending thousands on the first guitar. There is also a point where going too cheap can cause problems.

The lowest priced packs may have rougher fret edges, higher strings or a small amp that sounds a bit thin. Some will arrive ready to play while others may need more work.

The Donner is for keeping the first purchase down.

The Yamaha becomes more expensive after adding the rest of the setup but may last longer before you start looking for another guitar.

The Squier costs the most at the beginning but already has the amp, bag and cable.

One other thing to remember is that the beginner may not stick with it. Some people pick up guitar and never stop. Other people lose interest once they find out how long it takes to change between two chords properly.

That happens.

The three choices here let someone have a proper go without spending an enormous amount first.