Best Beginner Electric Guitars

Guitar Lessons

For anyone beginning to play the guitar today that wants an electric guitar, instead of an acoustic, there are some great choices from a variety of different companies at bargain prices. Most of these instruments will be made offshore in China or in an Asian Pacific country.

Due to improvements in design, and computer aided machinery, you will have access to a much better instrument than those made back in the 1960’s or ‘70’s, like the instruments that I learned on.

Squier Guitar Package

An electric guitar player will also need an amp, and there are a variety of small or medium amplifiers to choose from to fit your budget. Most of these will  be solid state amplifiers, however with the advent of digital signal processing, you can find solid state amplifiers that almost rival tube amps, and sell at a reasonable price, and are loud enough for you to play in a band.

1957 Fender Stratocaster 

When I started playing guitar at age 13, in 1965, I was fortunate that my Dad was willing to spend $150 for a decent guitar. He purchased a used 1957 Fender Stratocaster. I wish I had kept it.

1964 Kay Model 803 amplifier

He spent another $25.00 for a small Kay model 803c tube amp. This was a basic 4 watt, three tube, class A amplifier with no effects. I still have this amp. Back in the day it was not loud enough to be heard over a drummer. But was a nice practice amp.

Mid 1960's Silvertone 1457 with amp in case

Most of my friends started out on budget Silvertone guitars and amplifiers.

Mid 1960's Silvertone Twin Twelve

Those guitars were not all that great, but a Silvertone Twin Twelve amplifier was very nice amp and affordable for a garage band.



So let us look at some present day electric guitars that I can recommend.

Epiphone Les Paul

All Epiphone guitars are now made in China, but the factory has great quality control. The Epiphone Les Paul Special Vintage Edition retails at $149.00 and comes in a variety of colours. I am not certain what kind of wood the body is made of, but the bolt on neck is made of mahogany. I like this guitar because it has a tune-o-matic bridge, and a stop tailpiece. It also has two Epiphone open coil humbucking pickups. The neck pickup puts out a warmer tone than the bridge pickup. The tuning machines are enclosed, it it comes with a single master volume and master tone control, plus a three way toggle switch to chose the pickup combination. Gig bag or case is sold separately.

Les Paul SL

Epiphone offers a few other instruments in the $120 to $150 price range. Due to the single coil pickups, and wrap-around tailpiece on their Epiphone Les Paul SL that music stores are pushing, I would not recommend this instrument. 

Epiphone LTD Special 1

Another excellent Epiphone electric guitar to start with is the Epiphone Limited Edition SG Special-I Electric. This is based on Gibson’s SG double cutaway shape, and has similar features as the aforementioned Les Paul model; twin open coil humbucking pickups (which eliminate external noise), a master volume, and a master tone control, along with a three-way toggle switch for pickup selection. The bolt on neck is made of mahogany, and the tuning machines are enclosed. This guitar does have a wrap-around bridge.  It comes in 3 different finishes.

As with most Epiphone and Gibson guitars, the scale is 24.75”, which is standard length for a normal guitar.

Squier Stratocaster

Fender has been selling an offshore brand called Squier since the 1980’s. At first this brand was made in Japan. Some of those guitars were so good that when CBS sold Fender to FMIC (Fender Musical Instrument Corporation), the new company did not have a production facility, so for a period starting in 1982, three companies, Fujigen Gakki, Tokai Gakki, and Dyna Gakki built Fender guitars in Japan for the American market.

That same year, since Fender was losing sales to Japanese and Korean companies that were selling “replicas” of their instruments at a much lower price, the new Fender management decided to take them head-on and created the Squier brand, and still has been a successful venture building and selling replicas of their famous instruments that are produced offshore.

Presently there are two types of Squier guitars; The Bullet, and The Affinity. There are several differences between the two versions. The Bullet sells for a lower price, while the Affinity series sells for about $50 more.

Squier Special Edition
Bullet Strat

Both instruments feature the classic Strat design, but the Bullet features a body of usually undisclosed wood, a rosewood fretboard, covered tuners, and three ceramic single coil pickups, along with a 5-way pickup selector.

The Affinity model features an Alder wood body, like on a genuine Fender Strat, a maple fretboard, dye cast tuners, a five position pickup selector, and three high output pickups.

However for a beginner that wants to learn the guitar, and perhaps progress to a genuine Fender instrument, the Bullet Stratocaster would be an excellent choice.

Mini Strat

For a child or an adult with small fingers, Squier also offers the Mini Stratocaster. This 3/4 size instrument features 20 frets instead on 21 found on the normal sized 25.5” scale Stratocaster. It also does not have a tremolo unit, but instead had a six piece adjustable bridge/saddle unit. It does have a maple fretboard on its 22.75” scale neck, and comes in a black or white finish.

The Squier Special Edition Bullet Strat retails for $130, and Sea Foam Green or Red Sparkle.

The Mini Stat retails for $130 and comes in black or white.

Squier Bullet Tele

Squier Guitars also offers the Bullet Telecaster in a few different models. The Squier Limited Edition Bullet Telecaster features a maple neck with a basswood body, and a rosewood fretboard, plus the other amenities found on the Bullet Strat, only in a two pickup guitar. It is available in Red Sparkle or Blue. This guitar sells for $130.

Squier FSR Tele

The Squier FSR Bullet Telecaster comes in Butterscotch Blonde, and has a maple fretboard. The body on this instrument is made of Basswood. I sells for $150.

If you need a left-handed instrument, the Squier Affinity Strat or Tele's sell for around $200. The Bullet version does not come in a lefty model.


Ibanez guitars have been around since 1935. They began importing copies (or replicas) of US made instruments in the mid to late 1960's, and are responsible for the "Lawsuit" guitars.

Ibanez Lawsuit Les Paul copies

The a lawsuit was settled out of court before going to trial. It was known as Gibson vs Elger, Gibson Guitars/The Norlin Company, filed suit against a company based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania known as Elger Music. The owner, Harry Rosenbloom, had entered into an agreement to have Ibanez build acoustic guitars for his store.

Part of his agreement with Ibanez made Elger Music the exclusive distribution center for Ibanez guitars. It is a long story, but a settlement was reached and Ibanez began building its own unique style of electric guitars, instead of copying existing US guitars. Since then, Ibanez has come up with some excellent offerings. The Ibanez company uses a variety of guitar manufacturing companies, that build guitars to their specifications, and then puts their name on the headstock.

Ibanez Mikro GRGM21

The Ibanez Mikro GRGM21 Electric Guitar is built for Heavy Metal style of playing, and comes with a short scale of only 22.5” for quick work on the 24 fret board. It comes with two Ibanez Powersound humbucking open coil pickups, a hard tail six piece adjustable bridge saddle, and a pointy headstock. It is available in Metallic Purple, Walnut Sunburst, or Candy Apple Red. The fretboard is rosewood, with shark tooth markers. The guitar has twin offset pointy cutaways, and retails for $150.

Ibanez Mikro GRGM21M

The Ibanez Mikro GRGM21M Electric Guitar is a similar guitar, with the same features as the MIkro instrument, but has a maple fretboard with dot inlays. It also features twin Powersound pickups, a 3 way toggle switch, a master volume and a master tone control. It is available in a black or white finish.  It too sells for $150. A case or a gig bag is sold separately for either instrument.

Ibanez GRX20

One other suggestion is the Ibanez GRX20 electric guitar. This is a normal sized guitar, with two Ibanez humbucking pickups. The body is made of Poplar, and the neck is maple, with a New Zealand pine fretboard. The advantage of this guitar is the Ibanez FAT-6 Tremolo bridge. This guitar comes in blue, black, or the GRX20W comes in white. It retails for $150.



In 1975, Mr. Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo, which provided custom replacement parts for guitars. At this time, ESP also began making guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market.

 ESP replacement parts were first introduced into the US in 1983 and began crafting custom instruments for local New York artists between 1984 and '85.and in exporting to the Americas.

ESP M10

This company now offers some low cost beginner instrument in the $130 price range, such as the ESP M10 guitar which features a bolt-on 25.5” scale neck, a black basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, that has mini dot markers, and 22 frets, The pickups are specially made for ESP, and are controlled by a master volume, and master tone knobs, and a three-way selector switch. The strings pass over a six piece adjustable bridge saddle, and attach through the body, on the instruments back. It retails for only $130.

ESP EC10

The ESP EC10 has some of the same features on a modified Les Paul shaped satin black body. The bolt-on neck scale is slightly shorter at 24.75”, and instead of a six-on-a-side headstock, this instrument comes with a three-on-a-side style head stock. It retails for $140.

Yamaha is another Japanese based company that has been building electric guitars since 1967. In 1990 they launched their Pacifica line up. Yamaha currently offers two models priced at $180.

Yamaha PAC012

The Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 is a solidbody electric guitar. It has a comfortable maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard, versatile HSS pickup configuration or humbucker in the bridge position and two single coil pickups in the middle and neck position, and a master volume, and tone control, with a five way blade pickup selector switch on a white pickguard.  The body is made of agathis, and is available in black or metallic blue. It also features a vintage-style chrome tremolo.

Yamaha PAC012DLX

The Yamaha Pacifica PAC012DLX HSS Deluxe guitar is a very similar guitar, but is available in a sunburst finish with a black pickguard. Both sell for $180.

Ibanez AM53 & AS53

Any hollow body or semi-hollow body guitar will start at around $300, and have similar features to the solid body models.

In my experience, if you are going to play in a band, you will need at least a 15 to 30 watt amplifier or better. Anything less is fine for practicing at home.

I have a Roland Micro Cube that puts out only 4 watts of power, but it is fine for home practice.

Line 6 Spider V

The Line 6 Spider V 20 gives a lot of useful sounds with it's 16 presets. It will give you anything from a clean acoustic guitar sound, to insane heavy metal crunch. It has lots of features for recording, a USB port, and a built-in tuner. It has built in effects such as reverb, echo, chorus, tremolo, and phasor.


It is light and pumps 20 watts of power into a heavy duty 8" speaker, which is a well made and rated for higher volume. It sells for $130. I own an older version of the Line 6 Spider, and I really like this amplifier.

Fender Mustang LT25

Fender offers a 25 watt version of their Mustang amplifier, the Fender LT25, with a lot of preset sounds, and built in effects. It has an 8" special design speaker and retails at $150.

Fender Champion 40

The Fender Champion 40 watt amplifiers sells for around $200, and is packed with many useful sounds, some are  modeled on older Fender tube amps. It also has two channels, many built in effects, and a 12 inch speaker. It is compact, but loud enough for gigging.

Acoustic G35FX

Acoustic Amplifiers has the G35FX Lead Series Amp for only $120. It comes with a 12" speaker, two channels, spring reverb, and delay and chorus effects.

Marshall MB30GFX

For $230 you can get the Marshall MB30GFX amp which has four channels, Clean, Crunch, OD1, OD2 and pumps out 30 watts. It has built in effects, and reverb.

From Guitar Center Used Instruments

I suggest basing your search on these instruments, or something similar, but look for used gear. You will be able to save 50% or more and get a great instrument of amplifier. Most dealers carry used instruments/amps that they take in on trades.

If you have any other suggestions for readers, please leave a message

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