Beginner’s Guide To Buying Your First Guitar

• EastCoast Guitars
• Choose your favourite type of guitar
• The guitar amp and accessories
• Handy tip: set your budget
• Consider trying the guitar in person before you buy
• Find out more

So you’re looking to buy your first guitar! Choosing an electric or acoustic guitar is a really fun part of stepping into the world of music and offers a unique way of expressing yourself visually and sonically. I’m going to highlight some of the features of a guitar you’ll want to look out for so you end up with the perfect instrument for the music you want to play.

EastCoast Guitars

Lots of brands make beginner guitars, but in my experience, there’s no better starting point than EastCoast guitars. Here’s why:

• They look and sound way better than other beginner guitars.
• A good guitar feels effortless to play. EastCoast punch far above their weight in build quality and playing comfort.
• There are loads of options depending on the type of guitar you like, from classic blues and country shapes to modern shred machines, and acoustics to bass guitars.
• They are extremely affordable, with some models available under £100.
• You can choose to buy one in a starter pack, which includes a guitar amp and the accessories you need to get started.

Have a browse of their catalogue and see which guitars stand out to you – basically, pick the guitars that look cool to you. This will put you in good stead for the next step…

EastCoast Guitars

Browse EastCoast Guitars

Choose your favourite type of guitar

Picking out the perfect shape and style of guitar comes down to two things: which one appeals to you visually, and which one provides the sounds you need to make the music you like.

First off, you’ve got to get the guitar that’ll continually inspire you to pick it up and practice every week, possibly a few minutes every day if you want to make super quick progress! You’re not going to get that from a guitar you don’t love to see at home.

The second aspect is linked to the type of guitar you get, as each one produces a different sound, and is generally associated with a handful of musical genres:

S-style guitars

Probably the most popular type of guitar ever made, the s-style is a jack of all trades serving up a distinctive ‘glassy’ tone. It’ll suit almost any form of music from rock to pop, blues to funk, and even extend to classic metal.

T-style guitars

The original mass market solid body electric guitar, the t-style has a delicate, twangy tone perfect for country, pop, rock, jazz and indie and punk genres.

Single-cut guitars

This term covers a very wide group of guitars, but most players would consider the legendary Gibson Les Paul to be the most famous single-cut. Blues, rock and metal is its speciality.

Hollow body and semi-hollow guitars

Predating any of the aforementioned styles, the hollow body or semi-hollow evolved from jazz and big band players’ need for more volume to keep up with other instruments. This is a warm, rich sounding guitar great for jazz, soul, country, rock and blues.

Offset guitars

Similar to a t-style guitar, an offset guitar’s lower bout of the body and top ‘horn’ protrude outwards to create a sort of off-centre puddle shape. Used in alternative rock, indie and more experimental musical genres.

Alternative body shapes

The world of electric guitars extends far beyond the traditional shapes, and anything that doesn’t fit the bill falls into a more generalised alternative category. Here’s you’ll find the likes of the Flying V, SG, Firebird, Explorer, the double cut like the PRS Custom 24, and other more uncommon shapes like the headless guitar.

Acoustic guitars

The original form of contemporary guitar, an acoustic is an extremely versatile, organic sounding instrument. You’ve got two choices: an acoustic with steel strings, with a comparable feel to an electric guitar, or as a more specialised classical instrument with nylon-strings.

An acoustic is ideal for songwriters and singers, and more broadly, country, rock, indie, jazz, Americana, and classical music, and for providing accompaniment in just about any musical genre.

Bass guitars

While an acoustic or electric guitar player generally gets creative control over rhythm, melody and helps add sonic textures, the bassist instead props up the rhythmic backbone and fills out the low-end frequencies of a song.

Basses can sound surprisingly different depending on the style of music but the most common are the p-bass and the j-bass. Find out more about bass guitars in our dedicated guide.

Kids’ guitars

Standard sized guitars can sometimes be too bulky or heavy for children to play. That’s why a lot of brands make kids guitars that are a half or three quarters of the size of a regular guitar. This simply makes it easier for little ones to hold and fret their instrument.

The guitar amp and accessories

If you’ve decided on buying an electric guitar, then you’ll need a guitar amplifier to go with it to make the most of the instrument’s pickups, which generate the sound from the strings you pluck.

You don’t need to think too hard about what guitar amp to get first. EastCoast take care of that with their electric guitar starter packs, which includes:

• The guitar
• A guitar amp
• A cable
• Protective gig bag
• Plectrums
• Guitar strap
• Clip-on tuner
• Guitar stand

… and any combination of these depending on the pack you select.

EastCoast Electric Guitar Starter Packs

Browse EastCoast Electric Guitar Starter Packs

EastCoast Acoustic Guitar Starter Packs

Browse EastCoast Acoustic Guitar Starter Packs

EastCoast Bass Guitar Starter Packs

Browse EastCoast Bass Guitar Starter Packs

Handy tip: set your budget

It’s quite easy to overspend on a guitar as a complete newbie with all the bells and whistles more expensive instruments offer. Get used to playing and to practicing first, and you can always come back and upgrade or buy more gadgets like guitar pedals to customise your sound.

If you’d like to push the boat out a little further with what you get as a beginner guitarist, then a budget of £350 is a good upper limit to abide by. That will get you a premium EastCoast starter pack with a luxurious single-cut L1 guitar and a higher wattage (louder) guitar amp. That also gives you more scope to explore some alternative brands like Squier, Epiphone, and Ibanez, Divitone and Jackson for the budding metal guitarists.

Consider trying the guitar in person before you buy

If you’d like some more help or you’d just like to get a feel for some guitars in person, then why not head over to the Andertons shop in Guildford – a 45 minute train journey from central London – where our friendly team of experts will take you through all your options!

Find out more

Want to know more? Check out our guides on the best electric, acoustic and bass guitars for beginners. Some top affordable brands to look out for include Alvarez guitars and EastCoast guitars!

• Check out our other learn articles for more guitar and music tips.
• Read more about how to clean your guitar here.
• For the next step, check out our blog on upgrading from your first guitar here.