Best beginner acoustic guitars to get started, or for gifting to your dear ones. The guitars listed here are full sized, lightweight, durable, ad have a nice blend of sound as well as aesthetic appeal. These come with steel strings and do not require an amplifier to produce sound. You may skip to the best beginner acoustic guitar here.
Introduction
Looking forward to gift a guitar to someone close, may be your child or grandchild? Do you have some free time in hand now and want to fulfill your long cherished dream of playing the guitar?
The acoustic guitar, no doubt, is one of the commonly used musical instruments in popular and folk music. So these options are best to start learning the ropes. The best part is that the skills and techniques that you pick here can easily be used / adapted to other similar instruments such as the electric guitar, bass guitar, banjo or even the mandolin.
The most notable difference between an acoustic and an electric guitar is that the acoustic types do not have to be plugged in to am amp for them to be heard. These are relatively larger in size and have a hollow chamber to magnify the sound that originates from the plucked strings (the bridge also helps transmit the vibration of the strings to the body).
You can definitely find cheaper guitars but they’re cheaply made and don’t stay in tune well, which makes learning & playing frustrating on those guitars. These are better guitars that pave the way for you to improve.
Comparison Chart
- Donner DAG-1C: Full Size cutaway guitar. Affordable kit with useful accessories
- Best Choice products Guitar Kit: Nice, affordable starter kit that offers value for money
- Fender Squier Dreadnought Acoustic: Guitar: Big sound at a small price
- Epiphone DR-100: Well-made acoustic guitar with a warm tone
- Fender CC-60S Concert Pack: Great for getting started with
- Yamaha Fg830: Solid top folk guitar with a loud and bright sound
- Martin Backpack Travel Guitar: Lightweight design
Best Acoustic Guitars for Beginners & Hobbyists
Here are some of the best guitar for beginners, that you may consider.
Entry-Level Steel-String Acoustic Guitars
Here are some popular steel-string Acoustic Guitars available.
Best Choice Products Adult Beginner Acoustic Guitar Starter Kit
Full length acoustic guitar with steel strings for aspiring musicians. All-wood body, synthetic wood fretboard, produces a bright sound. This kit includes a pick, digital tuner, pitch pipe, shoulder strap, an extra set of strings, and nylon case. Best Choice Products is a leading manufacturer of children’s products, though this guitar is not a toy but a real full-length guitar. This is a great affordable guitar with a great sound.
Epiphone DR-100
The Epiphone DR-100 is an excellent acoustic guitar for you if you’re a beginner; its nice sounding guitar with a warm tone, consistent in tone, and solidly built that will last you for a very long time. Read more…
25.5 Scale, Rosewood fingerboard, select spruce top, Mahogany body, 14-degree headstock provides more pressure at the nut.
Martin Steel String Backpacker Travel Guitar
Martin Steel String Backpacker Travel Guitar with bag. Features a Solid Spruce Top, Solid Tonewood Back and Sides, Unique Contour Neck Shape, Features 24-Inch Scale Length, Features 15 Frets. Read more…
Acoustic guitars for Serious Beginners
Here we are going to go through some of the entry-level guitars, but then just because these cheaper doesn’t mean you are buying some cheap stuff. You do get some nice options, and in most of the cases, lots of useful accessories as well to go along with your purchase. The sound quality and the overall packaging of these entry-level products have become much better over the years, so you could be in for some nice little surprise here.
Yamaha FG830
Part of the YAMAHA FG/FS 800 Series which has been around for a few decades now. This guitar has a louder sound in the low to mid-ranges due to the best bracing design used by Yamaha.
It looks beautiful and also offers good value for money. Great Sound & Looks, High quality Workmanship, Pretty looking, Included strings are good. You can choose from a wide range of finishes.
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Fender CD-60S Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
The bundle includes all the accessories you need to start playing right out of the box– Fender hardshell case, guitar strap, guitar picks, guitar strings, and a clip-on digital tuner. Suited for beginners and intermediate players. The Fender CD-60 dreadnought acoustic guitar feels like a much more expensive instrument. It comes with a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, die-cast tuners and an included hard-shell case. The dreadnought style body and scalloped “X”-bracing provides a bright, resonant sound.Chrome tuning knobs, “mother of pearl” style acrylic design around the soundhole. Available in Black, Natural and Sunburst.
Seagull Entourage Rustic CW QIT Acoustic-Electric Guitar Rustic
The Seagull Entourage guitar features solid cedar tops, wild cherry back and sides, cream double binding and a rustic burst custom polished finish, a slim neck with a 1.72″ nut width. Uses Quantum I electronics with built-in tuner. Read more…
Bristol by Blueridge BD-16 Acoustic Guitar
With good quality craftsmanship, good finish and great sounds, the Bristol by Blueridge BD-16 is recommended for those looking for a reasonably priced, steel-string acoustic guitar.
This is perfect guitar for beginners and intermediate level guitar players on a budget, its easy to play, sounds great and has a good overall quality. You can’t go wrong with this one if you’re looking for a less expensive yet great sounding guitar.
Highlights
- Low-to-mid priced guitar
- Spruce top with scalloped braces helps generate bright, full range sound
- Mahogany back and sides looks beautiful and also helps product robust volume and responsive tone
- Slim mahogany neck for fast, easy action
- Tonewood fingerboard ensures smooth playability
- Chrome-plated 14:1 die-cast machine heads for precise tuning
- Uses Steel Strings
- Beautiful guitar for beginner/intermediate player
- Pros: Affordable, Great for country music, Good craftsmanship
- Cons: Not a pro guitar, Dreadnought size can be difficult for young kids to play
This guitar is designed for the entry level/beginner musician. The size of the BD-16 guitar may not suit real young players, but is good for an older grown-up beginner (younger players can opt for the BM-16).
Bristol by Blueridge BD-16 Acoustic Guitar: Review
Named after the city of Bristol in Tennessee (origin of country music), this guitar is perfect for playing bluegrass music. Build with good quality materials & craftsmanship, the BD-16 is a good beginner guitar for fans of bluegrass music.
The overall build quality is good, sustain is excellent comparing other cheap acoustic guitars, the factory setting is nice (although you may adjust it) and overall this is a very playable guitar.
Here’s a demo video.
Specs/features:
- Dreadnought sized acoustic guitar
- 22-7/8″ scale length (which is slightly smaller). Total 20 frets – 14 have clear access.
- Laminate Spruce top with scalloped forward X-bracing
- Laminate mahogany back, sides & neck
- Natural high gloss finish
- 6-ply body binding
- Die-cast chrome plated tuning pegs
- Rosewood peghead overlay with decorative silkscreen design
- Slim mahogany neck makes it easy to play. It is attached to the body with a dovetail joint.
- The fingerboard is rosewood with a very flat 15.75” radius. Dot inlays are on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th frets.
- The nut width is 1-11/16”, and is made of ABS.
- The headstock has a rosewood overlay with the Bristol name and logo embossed on it.
- The bridge is made of rosewood with an ABS saddle.
With tops made of spruce, a fast neck with adjustable truss rod, made from mahogany, this is the perfect instrument to play traditional American folk music (or any other style for that matter). This is build using the same skill and quality materials that goes into the making of other pro-quality Blueridge guitars.
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The Bristol BD-16 Dreadnaught by Blueridge is a low priced, yet a well made, professional quality guitar. Its priced close to an entry-level guitar, but is sturdy enough with a good sound.
Fender DG-8S Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
Fender DG-8S Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar is a great beginner acoustic guitar, available for a reasonable price, and comes with gig bag, chromatic electronic tuner, instructional DVD, strings, picks and strap, basically everything you need to get playing.
- PROS: Excellent value for money
- CONS: You May have to change the strings
Main features:
- Solid Spruce Top, Laminated Mahogany Back and Sides
- X-Bracing, Chrome Die Cast Tuners
- Rosewood Bridge with Compensated Saddle
- Silkscreened Logo, White Plastic Nut and Saddle, Black Pickguard
- Body: Laminated Mahogany Back and Sides, Laminated Spruce Top
- Bridge: Viking-Style Rosewood with Compensated Graphtech Nubone
- Rosewood Fretboard
- Hardware: Chrome
- Additional features: Dual Action Truss Rod, White Dot Position Inlays, Simple Black/White Body Binding,
- Unique Features: 3mm dot position inlays, Mother-of-Pearl acrylic rosette, gold Fender headstock logo, gloss finish, Fender headstock shape, and Quartersawn scalloped “X” bracing
The guitar looks good and plays awesome. I would recommend this to any beginner as an excellent first acoustic guitar. The package includes everything you need as a beginner. There’s really no need to buy a sub-$100 guitar, when you get such a quality guitar along with all the accessories for this price.
Nylon-String: Classical Guitars for Beginners
Here are some excellent nylon-string guitars that you may consider:
Acoustic Guitars: Buying Guide
These are great guitars for those who are learning to play, these have warm sound, practical features, and are priced low. These acoustic guitars look beautiful, and are suitable for performances as well as for practice. The action on these guitars is also surprisingly good, considering most of these are beginner guitars.
Strings included are not bad, but you can always use guitar strings of your choice. You can upgrade to better quality strings for better sound and feel, but this is not mandatory if you’re happy with the sound.
Some of these models have tuning pipes, instead of electronic tuner. But I guess that shouldn’t be a problem. An electronic tuner instead of the pitch pipe would have been ideal for the beginner, but you can’t complain much about it, considering the price. Besides, tuners are available for less than 10 bucks.
While these are purely acoustic guitars, nothing stops you from setting up a pick-up and amp on this guitar (it would cost extra though).
Your Most Common Questions
Here are some questions which most beginner guitar players have in their minds:
Best Age to Start?
This one comes from most parents.
Well, most teachers suggest an age of around 8 years, as by that time the fingers are strong enough for the strings. However, you do get toy guitars as well for younger kids.
For grown-ups, the right time to get started is NOW.
Gauge and Size of Guitar Strings
The focus should be more on comfort while playing, and hence it is better that you start on a smaller gauge size and move up slowly. Smaller gauge, however, may not give you a bright & loud sound but it’s easier to hold down the strings.
Electric or Acoustic Guitar?
Kids usually start on the acoustic ones (nylon strings), however, there is no right or wrong answer here; it depends on your interests and what you are most comfortable with.
Eventually guitar players end up owning both.
Left or Right-Handed Guitar?
Right-handed ones are cheaper, obviously because they are made in BULK. You may not find a lot of options in the left-handed ones (especially for beginners).
So you could just pick one of the recommended ones here, and get started!
And anyways, you have to use both your hands, just as on a piano.
Other Factors
You also get several guitar accessories, and what you choose depends a lot on your interests. At times you may have to try out various combinations (in the case of picks) to see what works best for you.
As far as learning is concerned, it is best if you can practice every-day.
Most teachers recommend learning to play rhythm guitar first so that you know a few chords, learn to maintain the proper timing, and also strengthen your strumming hand. Once these are in place, playing lead guitar should be easier.
Your First Guitar
It is important to be practical when you buy a beginners guitar.
It means you really don’t need a $1000+ guitar to get started. Buying a phenomenal guitar won’t really help you learn any faster.
There are many beginners who get started and give up in a few months (in some cases, earlier). This is not to discourage you, but then it is also the sad truth, as learning to play a musical instrument can be frustrating slow in the beginning.
That is why we have listed some affordable, but good quality, options here: both acoustic as well as electric.
Recommended Guitars
Beginner guitars are becoming cheaper by the day, but at the same time they are able to maintain good quality standards.
The first couple of guitars I’m going to mention about are designed by the same craftsmen who make the world’s hottest-selling all wood acoustic guitar…the Takamine. These are the Jasmine guitars!
The Jasmine s35 is a well-made acoustic guitar with close attention to details. It feels and sounds very good for an entry level guitar. The Jasmine s35 is perfectly suited for a beginning guitar players. If you are looking for a bigger and fuller sound, then choose the Jasmine s34C over the earlier. It is rather light-weight, available for a few bucks more and perfect for amateur/recreational players as well.
Another great alternative for beginners in terms of great looks and sound, is the epiphone dr-100. Tuning can be easily done and the strings are easy to play on, doesn’t cause much finger pain.
The Yamaha FG JR1 3/4 size acoustic guitar is an excellent smaller-bodied acoustic guitar suitable for younger player or someone who is more comfortable with a smaller-bodied acoustic. It’s useful as a travel guitar as well. The has an impressive sound and construction, and comes with a gig bag.
The Yamaha FG700S is another great entry-level acoustic guitar, which comes with high-gloss natural finish. The action is perfect for a newbie. Basically, the Yamaha FG700S is a quality acoustic guitar available at really cheap price. You can even get the yamaha FG700S as a bundled package that is available with Hard Case, Strap, Stand, Polish, Tuner, Strings, Picks, Capo, Stringwinder and DVD. What else can one ask for?
Another couple of good options, especially if you’re looking for an acoustic guitar for easy travel are the washburn travel guitar and the Martin Steel travel guitar
The Squier by Fender has a fretboard that is easy to play, and considering a youngster just starting out this is strung with Fender light gauge strings, which makes easy on the fingers and enhances playability. The Squier by Fender electric guitar and the bundled amp are both adequate for a beginner as a practice rig.
Another nice guitar which comes with an equally useful amp is the Yamaha Gigmaker package. The bundles patch cords are of okay quality while the accompanying DVD is very informative.
If you are looking for a Les Paul styled guitar, then the Epiphone LP Special II Les Paul Collection electric guitar is the one you can have a look at. The guitar comes with light bendy strings. Overall, the finish and general balance of the guitar is great!
A fairly advanced digital guitar, which is more of a synth coupled with midi capability, is the You Rock Guitar YRG-1000 . It comes with 25 real guitar & 50 synth sounds. It is a midi controller guitar so you can easily connect it to a computer and work with popular music software programs. The pitch bend and modulation switches also work very well. For the money, one of the best guitar synth out there! It is suitable for music enthusiasts who want to enter the world of music production.
Bundled Packages Offer More Value
Some of these guitars are available in bundled packages, but things like strap and cables may not be of the best quality since these are budget guitars.
I personally think these are minor issues considering that the guitars themselves are of real good quality, and are priced attractively for beginners.
Also consider buying an inexpensive tuner along with the guitar, since you will be playing your guitar regularly!
The popular acoustic guitar packs are nicely constructed and sound reasonably good. Some of these also come with a built-in electronic tuner so that you can tune up and start playing right away! These guitar packs feature a great-sounding acoustic guitar and a host of essential accessories – Strings, Strap, Tuner, Guitar bag, etc.
These are excellent starter guitar packs, great for learning to play the guitar. You may replace the original strings with new ones (though not required). Not a big deal as strings need to be replaced on a regular basis anyway. It really has a nice tone and looks good as well.
To Conclude
Though we are talking about buying beginner guitars here, you will also need a few more related accessories to learn the instrument better.
This would depend on the type of guitar you choose, and also your budget. You may skip some of these to begin with but you will definitely need them somewhere down the line to become a better guitar player.
So assuming you are sure what sort of guitar you need – Acoustic (steel string), Classical (nylon string acoustic), Electric, or Acoustic Electric, you will also need to think about the following:
Consider buying a full sized guitar, and if its an electric one, get an amp, case and accessories.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
Michael Heath says
I am learning on the acoustic and it’s much easier on my fingertips. Of course, the neck is wider so that makes it harder to learn the fingering. There are trade offs in both.