When it comes to beginner guitars, most used to just be flat out garbage.
Horrible intonation, sharp feet edges, in general just really bad QC and craftsmanship.
After a few minutes of playing you’d feel as angry as this woman I found on a free stock image search. (This picture just cracks me up, I had to add it)
Luckily, It’s not that way anymore. You don’t have to be that woman (or man). There are TONS of INCREDIBLE guitars you can get nowadays, without breaking the bank.
With tons and tons of Guitar manufactures out there, you can get high-quality Guitar‘s nowadays for legitimately a tiny fraction of what they used to cost. It’s seriously awesome…….and I’m serious when I mean a tinnnnyyy fraction.
In history there’s literally never been a better time for a beginner player (or any guitar player really) to get their hands on a great guitar.
Here’s ten inexpensive beginner guitars I found surprisingly good. Thanks for reading!
#1) Ibanez GRX70QA – Perfect Guitar for shredding
It’s insane to me we live in times now where you can get guitars this good on a budget. Absolutely blows my mind.
This guitar in particular is definitely geared towards metalheads. As with most Ibanez guitars is the case.
Even if you’re not into metal, this guitar is worth checking out because of how good of a deal it is.
#2) Jasmine S-35 – INSANE VALUE ACOUSTIC
Absolutely absurd value if you’re looking for a acoustic guitar that has a very sweet, and full tone…
Personally, when it comes to cheap acoustics I don’t think any beginner acoustic can beat this one just because of how beautiful they sound.
The build quality on these is just incredible, and it’s similar to that of and extremely high price Guitar. But why is this?
Turns out, Jasmine is made by the high-end brand – Takamine. If you haven’t heard of them before, well you just must not be around guitars often. Takamine Is a hugely sought after brand and many incredible acoustic players play on them
#3) Epiphone Pro 1
This guitar is literally stupid easy to play, and is PERFECT for the beginner because of it.
A TON of beginner and cheaper guitars have the problem of being really hard to play, with neck profiles that aren’t in your favor and high action so the strings hurt like hell when you press down. Not fun.
What’s surprisingly refreshing about this guitar is that EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING on this guitar is built so that it’s easy on the hands. This is absolute incredible for people who just don’t have the hand strength yet to play as easily as they’d like.
What’s crazy to me, is they really went through and looked at every detail of an acoustic and made it absolutely the easiest possible to play. Seriously everything they could’ve done they did, super impressive move by epiphone.
#4) Orangewood Guitars
WORLDS BEST SOUNDING ACOUSTIC GUITAR??
Honestly, according to Marty Schwartz (absolute legend in the guitar teaching world – would be weird if you don’t know who he is) this is the worlds. Best. Starting. Acoustic.
It’s hard to argue with the legend, especially considering he’s played on hundreds of guitars over the years.
I’ll admit however, I wasn’t stunned until I HEARD this guitar. It’s a mouth drop moment. You do NOT find guitars in this price range with this tone. Very full bodied and warm. I’m deeply impressed by these guitars.
#5) Monoprice Indio
FLABBERGASTINGLY inexpensive, and actually……really……..nice.
I first started looking into this guitar because of the actual amount of ABSURD hype surrounding it. Seriously, if you go on YouTube and browse for guitars when you’re bored like I do you’ll find LOADS of people talking about how they’re………..STUPID STUPID cheap, but shockingly nice. (And I straight up mean shockingly, watch the video below and you’ll be as confused as I was I promise.)
Seriously watch this video below. When you do, close your eyes at 17:00 in when he plays it against the fender and try to distinguish when he switches between guitars……it’s almost impossible to.
#6) Yamaha Pacifica 112
I have so much to say about this guitar, but since this is a list based on inexpensive guitars that are surprisingly good……..and if I dragged on and on about this guitar I’d probably lose some readers…..I’ll just say this.
This guitar felt INCREDIBLE to play. I always thought that Yamaha guitars were junk (I’m not sure where I got that idea) but one night I picked up my friends and I was legitimately and truly shocked at how easy they are to play on. Yamaha really impressed me when it comes to playability.
BEST BUDGET GUITAR OUT THERE? I wouldn’t go that far to say that, but the review below he certainly thinks so. I’ll say, it’s a great guitar. Also this review is 100% worth watching. He makes some great points.
#7) Firefly Thinline (Almost always sold out)
I’m very very confused with this model. This is the absolute BEST you can get in this price range. Hands down, no question. It’s honestly taking the guitar world by storm, other guitar brands should be EXTREMELY worried. I would pay 4x what they’re asking for this guitar and STILL feel like I was robbing them.
Which of course, is why they literally can’t keep them in stock.
The only chance you really have is if you join one of their fan groups online (quite a few on Facebook) and basically keep your eyes absolutely peeled for updates on when they come out with more.
#8) YAMAHA FG800
It really pains me to say this, but I really love this guitar.
I used to really dislike Yamaha guitars, but really they are an incredible steal.
What’s most interesting about this one in particular, is the tone. It’s a very bright, beautiful sounding tone. Very sweet…..a LOT like a Taylor which of course, is a higher end brand.
Honestly, this guitar sounds and feels like a high end brand. It’s very strange to say that. They’re very nice guitars. Definitely worth checking out.
The best thing about these though, is that while staying generally in the same budget…..there are a bunch of options including electronics. Usually for budget guitars you have to shell out a lot more if you’re going to get the add-ons.
#9) Epiphone SG400 PRO
Most likely, you’ve seen one of your favorite
players play one of these guitars before.
They’re absolutely fantastic mainly because they feel really good to play…….and sound incredible. For electric guitars, you don’t usually find stuff in this price range that sounds this good.
There are some downfalls to this guitar however. This guitar is very very geared toward rock/metal styles of music. If you think you’ll be playing other styles on it, well you can….but it’s probably not your best choice.
Man, I love how these look though.
#10) Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster
Telecasters sound absolutely amazing, but what I’ve always loved about them is how perfect they feel to play.
The fretboard just is so slightly curved, that it feels like butter when you play it. For me personally, I can play on a telecaster four hours and hours on end and never feel any pain at all in my hands. I think this something to do with the width of the neck and the curvature of that as well, not just the fretboard……but I do think the fretboard is really what does it for me personally.
Anyways, apart from that….telecasters have their own unique sound that is absolutely stunning.
Definitely worth checking out.
BONUS: Jackson JS32 Dinky (for metalheads)
I had to throw in just one more guitar…….specifically one for metalheads.
I LOVE and ADORE these guitars, before I even really understood that they were good guitars. When I first started and watched my favorite bands play these, I always just really digged how they look. Especially the headstock.
These guitars are literally built for metal in every way, they’re awesome for playing super fast licks or chugging away before a breakdown.
They’re super durable to, so when you gig you don’t have to worry about these getting messed up at all.
If you’re into meta even slightly…..check them out. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Last Words:
I hope you enjoyed this article!!! These are just some of the guitars I’ve found over the years to be a really good deal.
You can pretty much find deals like this nowadays anywhere, there absolutely so many guitars now that are affordable and great that it’s honestly mind blowing. Even ten, twenty years ago this wasn’t the case at all. Thirty or forty years ago absolutely forget it. You had to for up a LOT (and I mean a serious amount of money) to get something that played good. A lot of guys way back in the day bought guitars from catalogs like sears and when I tell you they were bad……I mean they were BAD. These guys probably destroyed their hands playing these things.
Luckily for you since this is not the case……you’ll have a ton of options to choose from. It’s honestly gotten to a point where it’s almost to hard to make a decision because of so many options out there. It’s seriously crazy all the options, and new stuff they’re coming out with everyday.
My advice to you, if you’re looking for an inexpensive guitar you’ll love……go hit up your local music store. Do it over and over and really get a feel for which guitar you liked the most. Make sure you really love that guitar by playing it for awhile. Give it at least thirty minutes before you consider anything. This is honestly the best way to figure out what really works for you.
Thanks again for reading this article!!! Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave any comment/feedback you can!