Lets face it, shopping for an electric guitar or any guitar for that matter is a tedious and time-consuming process, and this is especially true for beginner's electric guitar. What makes one guitar different from another? Is a guitar that costs $1000 better than one that is $500 or$100? Well more often than not, my experience has been...

It can be overwhelming especially for beginners looking at all the different electric guitar models trying to make a decision to what to buy. And when you add amps, effects, and everything else involved you end up saying to yourself...

Well I'm here to help answer that question.

Let me just say for the record that I'm far from an equipment expert. There are plenty of "gearheads" out there that get something new every month. These guys always have the latest and greatest...but I find these guys can hardly play a lick because they're too busy buying all their gear!! I've always been a "just let me play" kind of guy. But its always nice to have friends like this so you can go over to their place and try out all their stuff :-).

This page has the beginner in mind so if you've been playing for a while you're probably going to think "well, duh!?" But my goal here is to discuss what you need and your different options. Please keep in mind that everything below is solely the opinion of this author.

1) What kind of beginner electric guitar should you buy and how much should you spend?

If you're a beginner just starting I don't recommend spending any more that $500, if that much. You can usually find something to learn on for $2-300 or even cheaper at a flea market or online. You don't need anything more than that, especially if you lose interest. I've only gone through 3 guitars in my life, the first being a cheap Dean that I got for Christmas out of a Sears catalog. I then got an Ibanez 560 Frank Gambale model that I ordered from SunCoast Music for Christmas when I was 16 or 17. I had that one for a long time up until 4 years ago when I went guitar shopping for the first time and got a custom made Ibanez S-Series that listed for $1500. At that point I was advanced enough that I justified paying that much for something good.

The point is don't spend an arm and a leg right off the bat unless you are seriously interested in the instrument. I would focus more on playing and getting better than getting all the different gear.

Its tough to make recommendations but I've always been partial to Ibanez :-)...but there are a lot of good guitars and companies out there. The best thing I can recommend anybody looking for an electric guitar is to go to the store and play different models. This is the ONLY way you can figure out what works best for YOU. Then you can start haggling the sales clerk at the store about prices :-).

Obviously, buying online will give you significant discounts. You can find lot's of great bargains at Musiciansfriend.com. I bought one of my Yamaha acoustics from them and I'm quite happy with the customer support, and I also received it in a couple of days. But if you are going to buy online then PLEASE try to find one you like and play it yourself before you buy it. Also when looking, stick with an electric guitar that is in your price range, even if its not the model/brand you had in mind when you started out.

2) What about amplifiers?

Again, this is something that you have to go to the store and try for yourself before you make a decision. I have a Crate GT-200that I played my Ibanez through at the store when I went shopping that day 4 years ago. For amps you most definitely get what you pay for. Mesa Boogie are the best amps I've heard, but I never could afford them. Depending on your budget, try to make the best decision based on quality vs. your personal budget. Again like I said earlier, you will get significant discounts online, but you will definitely want to hear how your electric guitar sounds with the amp you're looking at.

Always take your electric guitar to the store and play it through all the different amps you're looking at. That way you'll know exactly how it sounds before you buy.

3) What else do I need?

Well if you have an electric guitar and amplifier you'll need a few other things. Some of them are optional...and mostly a matter of preference. But for that lets go to a different page.

Let me just re-state that the information here is solely the opinion of this author.

So you've bought a guitar, so what else do you need? If it were me, I would say you would need the following:

• A foot switch for clean/dirty channel on your amp.
• 3 or 4 cords of varying length.
• Possibly a wireless unit (if you're going to be playing shows).
• Guitar picks (duh!)

This is obviously an abbreviated list and there are probably more things you'll need

Now the question becomes one of effects. Well I have a Digitech RP-7 (which is about 4 years old) and while its a little tedious to program it has a lot of different effects...more than enough for my needs. I would say that the only ones I use regularly are the wah pedal, chorus, flange, delay, and some extra distortion/overdrive from time to time. In other words...

Whether you choose to use effects or not is entirely up to you. You can spend $79 on a delay pedal, or you can have an entire system that's worth $10k+. But what I will tell you is that you should not rely on them if you're a beginner. Yes, they do make you sound better than you are, but you don't want to use them as a crutch. They are not a substitute for practicing. Let me summarize effects the following way...

If you have Eddie Van Halen's exact set up, you still will not sound like Eddie...but Eddie will sound like Eddie with a $50 practice amp!

I hope that makes sense...