Until a few years ago, an electric guitar wasn’t a common first choice; many people, including music experts, assumed its acoustic counterpart to be the way for beginners. However, beginners are now choosing electrics, and it’s understandable why considering the versatility and playability they offer. If you’re only starting your guitar-playing journey and are specifically drawn to the sound and style of electrics, wondering if it’s the right choice, we’ve made a comprehensive guide to help you choose your first companion.
Is Electric Guitar OK for Beginners?
While an acoustic guitar provides ease of use and a strong basis for playing techniques, an electric guitar opens up many opportunities and enables beginning guitarists to focus on particular techniques. Unlike its acoustic counterpart, an electric guitar typically has thinner strings, a more slender body, and needs amplification to produce sound. It allows exploring different genres and styles as it offers a range of tonal possibilities. Here are some amazing reasons to purchase an electric guitar as your first instrument.
It Allows You to Develop Techniques and Skills
When beginner guitarists focus exclusively on electric guitar, they can concentrate on palm muting, string bending, vibrato, sweep picking, tapping, two-handed tapping and using effects pedals. These are techniques specific only to this instrument and can help you develop a unique playing sound and style.
It Can Help You Focus on Personal Musical Goals
If you love and are interested in playing genres like rock, blues, jazz and metal, starting directly with electrics can help you adjust your learning experience to those styles, achieving your musical goals more quickly.
It Offers Sound and Style Flexibility
Electric guitars are tremendously flexible in style and sound. You can experiment with different sounds and create your signature sound, as pedals and amps can help you shape and manipulate the tone.
It Allows You to Explore Different Genres
You may be unsure which genre you want to play at first. Electric guitars are suitable for a wide musical genre range that requires distortion, overdrive and intricate soloing. By starting with electrics from the start, you can explore them all.
How Do I Buy an Electric Guitar for the First Time?
Most electric guitar-buying guides have too much information about the different guitar parts, which many beginners find overwhelming and confusing. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll focus on factors such as versatility and playability to help you purchase an electric guitar that’ll be the best option for your musical goals and the style you want to develop.
Playability
Most electric guitars are constructed from a single piece of solid wood, unlike acoustic guitars, which need extensive body cavities to generate enough vibration to produce music. Compared to their electric siblings, solid bodies are more ergonomic and smaller. Electric guitars aren’t limited to wood vibrations; instead, they have pickups that transport the vibrations of the instrument to an amplifier by the use of magnets, thereby amplifying the tone. For musicians who want to customise their tone, amplifiers provide greater control and flexibility over their sound. Scale length, fret spacing and action are the three most important factors when choosing your first electric guitar.
Scale Length
The length of the scale is the distance from the saddle to the nut, and it significantly affects the instrument's tone and playability in a few different ways. A shorter scale makes for less string tension, helping chord bending and strumming. Playing challenging chords and exercises requires less stretching because there is less space between frets on lower-scale guitars.
The ideal scale length will depend on your playing style and personal preferences. A "standard" or "best" scale length doesn’t exist. For example, most Fender electric guitars have a 24" or 25.5" scale length. Younger players, players with small hands, players who like less string tension, and players seeking a more comfortable experience (albeit this is subjective) can all benefit from short-scale instruments.
Fret Spacing
The scale length determines the spacing between the frets on a guitar neck. The fret spacing gets wider on longer necks. Younger players or those with smaller hands may find playing on longer necks uncomfortable.
Action
"Action" refers to the space between the frets and the strings. Some players prefer a lower action, as pressing down to make a note requires less effort. Conversely, a high action might offer more space for better expression and attack. Short-scale guitars typically call for a higher action, giving the strings more space to vibrate. That’s a result of the strings being under reduced strain, giving them more space to wriggle.
Versatility
By plugging your electric guitar into an amplifier, you may use the knobs to control the volume and tone precisely. Most modern digital amplifiers come with LCD panels for effect presets. A fantastic technique to sound more like your favourite music is to alter your tone with amplifiers and effects. That’s especially true for genres like rock, where effects like distortion and reverb are frequently used.
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