Best electric guitars for most beginners and hobbyists, priced around 200 bucks. A nice beginner electric guitar is one that is affordable yet comes with a decent set of features and more importantly sounds good in order to encourage the play to keep on learning. Here we have listed several such beginner electric guitars, great for learning to play the guitar; these are also excellent gifting options. You may skip to the best beginner electric guitar here on Amazon.
Introduction
With experience, you will realize that the components of the guitar play an important role in the overall tone of the guitar. For example, high-output pickups are a great choice for playing loud, aggressive music. The good thing for beginners is that these days you get great sounding electric guitars (and even packs) that offer outstanding tonal quality and value for money (in fact you have several choices for less than 200 bucks).
At this price point, you will find guitars that are really not ‘beginner guitars’, but then they are also not guitars for the intermediate players, these are somewhere in between. However, each of these are real value-for-money offerings.
These are perfect for beginner guitar students, looking for a good quality beginner guitar, and also for experienced players who’re looking for a cheap guitar as a backup. You may even use these guitar for practicing, jamming, recording and even to perform at smaller venues.
Comparison Chart
All the guitars reviewed here are around two hundred bucks, and for that you get a useful functional guitar that sounds & looks good. Most of these guitars come as a bundle, which means you get useful accessories such as Amp, gig bag, chromatic tuner, and more.
- best beginner electric guitar here on Amazon: Solid beginner guitar with decent electronics. 5 Position Switch with coil tap
- Epiphone Les Paul SL: Starter Pack, Single coil pickups, Battery operated mini amp.
- Squier by Fender Short Scale Stratocaster: 24″ scale length, Bundle with Frontman 10G Amp.
- Yamaha Gigmaker Electric Guitar Pack: Comes with PAC012 guitar, 20-watt amp, Picks, straps, strings, tuner
Do Consider Electric Guitar Starter Packs
When buying an electric guitar, you need an amp as well, and some accessories as well. Rather than buying them separately, you can also buy Electric Guitar Kits/Packs that includes everything (amps, case, and even lessons) to help you get started. They also offer good value for money.
Best Entry Level Electric Guitar for Beginners/Students (Including Kits)
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Here are some more popular ‘entry-level’ electric guitars, available for beginners.
Yamaha PAC112V Pacifica Electric Guitar
The Yamaha Pacifica PAC112V is one of the more popular electric guitar models, its a more affordable first guitar and has a nice, bright sound with good sustain. It looks more like a Strat, has maple neck and 22 fret rosewood fretboard. The PAC112 comes with two single-coiled pickups and a humbucker between them.
This classic Yamaha Pacifica guitar offers with outstanding value. [easyazon_link identifier=”B001HV67L2″ locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Buy on Amazon[/easyazon_link]
Yamaha Gigmaker EG Electric Guitar Pack
The Yamaha Gigmaker EG Electric Guitar Pack provides you with everything you need to start playing the electric guitar.
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When it comes to affordability, you can expect Yamaha to deliver a quality product for a reasonable price. The package includes the Yamaha Pacifica 012 guitar, known for their great tone and easy playability, suited for various genres and play styles. The kit is a good value for money, for beginners. All the components are basic though, and after a few years you may want to upgrade.
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Squier Affinity by Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar
If you’re looking for that classic telecaster sound and don’t want to spend a lot, go in for the Squier Affinity Telecaster. If you can’t have the name FENDER on the headstock yet, Squire is a great way to go. Great tuning stability, Maple fretboard on a classic maple neck and solid alder body, 2 single-coil pickups with 3-way switch, and volume and tone controls, are some of its cool features. Use it for playing rock, blues, country and more.
- C shape maple neck, maple fretboard,
- 6-saddle top-load bridge, 2 split-single coil pickups for great sound, 3 way pickup selector, 1 volume, 1 tone control
The Affinity Tele is not a very powerful guitar but an affordable guitar from a reputed brand. Its a great looking guitar, no fret buzz, no sharp edges, perfect intonation. It comes with a slim body, and nice finish. The bridge pickup offers nice sound, and the guitar is good for those who like single coil pickups (you don’t get that dual humbucker sound). The electronics and tuners seem solid and there’s no noise from the pickups. Add some distortion to the amp and this guitar comes to life.
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Squier Bullet Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar
Squier Bullet Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar (with Tremolo) features a basswood body, two single-coil pickups, and comes in multiple finishes, so you can choose the one that fits your personal tastes.
- Basswood solid body, Maple neck, rosewood fretboard. 21 frets, 25.5 scale length. 3 pickups, HSS, 5 way pickup selector, 1 volume and 2 tone controls. Tremolo with Cast Saddles
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The Squier BulletStrat is an affordable guitar that sounds great and can be used to play in a variety of music styles including heavy metal & clean jazz. You can always tweak the controls or the amps to get the right sound.
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Davison Guitars Full Size Beginners Electric Guitar Kit
Davison Guitars is known for making affordable beginners guitar kits. This kit includes a full Size electric Guitar with amplifier, case and useful accessories.
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Full scale/size 39″ solid wood electric guitar (maple neck). Humbucker pickup (for clean or rock sound). Practice amp with clean and overdrive/distortion settings. Bundled accessories.
Contoured body makes it easy to play for players of any size or age. And if you look at the price, it costs around what most junior packs cost.
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More Guitars
Epiphone LP-100 Electric Guitar
Classic Les Paul design and tone, more affordable version of the Les Paul. Open-coil humbucker pickups, mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard for easy playing, all-metal hardware. Mahogany body with maple top (delivers heavy tone), bolt-on mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard (easy to play), 700T/650R open-coil humbucker pickups and chrome hardware.
Epiphone LP Special II Les Paul Electric Guitar
Trademark Les Paul shape in an economical package, open-coil Alnico V Humbucker pickups for great classic sound and the Tune-o-matic bridge/Stopbar tailpiece combo for sustain and that Les Paul signature tone. Evergreen guitar with great sound quality, Mahogany body with maple top, mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard.
Checkout more Electric Guitars here…
Electric Guitars for Beginners: Factors to Consider
Here are things to remember in mind when looking for an inexpensive guitar (available for around 200 dollars or so).
- You do get budget guitars, something that cost around 150 dollars, but then you may not like it, especially if you’ve played before or have been playing for some time.
- And though most of these guitars are built with cheap materials, they are functional and definitely serve the purpose of learning. It will definitely not sound like a $500+ instrument though.
- The guitar strings used will also be of poorer quality, but that’s a small issue as you can easily get them replaced with better ones, and they don’t cost a lot as well. In any case, you need to keep spare guitar strings.
- These guitars also may not last for years, but then that is not its purpose. These are meant to be used for a couple of years, which should give you ample time to learn to play, and then you should upgrade to a better instrument.
- These are also great for kids, who usually lose interest in things quickly. If at all that happens, you’re not going to feel very bad about it.
- Most guitar players evolve after playing for a few months, and their knowledge about guitars also increases a lot. So spending less on your first guitar means you can spend more on your next guitar, whenever you’re ready to upgrade.
- Its better to spend around $200 to $250 on your first electric guitar to get a better deal overall. The better brands include Squier, Yamaha, Epiphone, and Ibanez.
- You can buy these from a shop or online, however you’re likely to get better deals and packages when you buy them online.
Some of these entry-level guitars, even though they’re inexpensive, are actually quite good (and not some cheap stuff). Sure, they are not sturdy or sound like the performance guitars used by pros, but these are fully functional, come with decent sound, and are built well enough for learning and practicing.
Closing Thoughts
It can be really exciting to buy your first electric guitar. It’s like a dream come true for most. However, buying the instrument is only the first step; you need to spend a lot of time to learn and master the instrument. Be sure to practice regularly, gain musical knowledge, and learn music theory. You might also need extra set of guitar strings, some extra picks, tuner, and probably some beginner books when you buy a Beginner Electric Guitar.
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.
Raul says
For learning and initial stages of playing the guitar, you definitely can’t go wrong with these guitar kits. Overall, these are great value for money beginner guitar packs that include everything that one needs to get started on the electric guitar. Comes with a practice amp and several useful guitar accessories.
These starter packs are affordable and also easier to play. These come with amplifier and some cool accessories.
PROS: Good looks & features, useful accessories, affordable, easy playing, holds the tuning well, amp is great for practicing at home.
CONS: Great for beginners but for performances, you’ll need to upgrade certain things such as the amp, tuners, strap.
Minor limitations but still a Great Starter Kit
The strings are not the best, the frets are not finished well (but can be filed off), the tuners adjust sloppily but not a big deal for beginners. But then its priced well and you get everything you need to start up.
Perfect for playing at home
It includes everything, even a headset (which is not mentioned in the description). Amp is cool, its loud enough for home use. It has Bass and Treble effects as well which is very cool. A guitar stand is also included which makes it easy to keep the guitar when not in use. The amp is more than is needed for a begining guitarist.