Best Beginner Acoustic, Electric Guitars for $200
Looking for the best beginner guitar to get started? Here are some of the best options in acoustic and electric guitars available for less than $200, perfect for for beginners.
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?
Here are some of the best guitar for beginners, that you may consider. They all are in the sub $200-$250 range.
Beginning Acoustic Guitars for Less than $100
Here are some popular steel-string Acoustic Guitars available for around $100.
Jasmine s35 (by Takamine)
Jasmine by Takamine S35 Acoustic Guitar is a great affordable guitar for beginners, and even intermediate players. Available for less than 100 bucks, this one is durable and has a great sound. Read more…
Want something with a cutaway design, a bit smaller and easier to play? Checkout the Jasmine S34C NEX.
Squier SA-100 (by Fender)
The popular Squier SA-100 Acoustic pack comes with a new Dreadnought that includes a laminated spruce top, die-cast machine heads, real rosewood bridge and fretboard, and nickel-plated frets. With all this improvements, this guitar plays and sounds better than ever. It also has an electronic tuner built-in so that you can tune up and start playing right away. Read more…
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, and priced just around 100 dollars. Read more…
Beginner Acoustic Guitars for Less than $200
Here are some popular steel-string Acoustic Guitars available for under $200.
Yamaha FG700S
A great entry-level 6-string acoustic guitar, that is not only beautiful but also offers the best value for money for an acoustic. Great Sound & Looks, High quality Workmanship, Pretty looking, Included strings are good. Read more…
Fender CD-60 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
The CD-60 from 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. Available in Black, Natural and Sunburst. Read more…
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…
Nylon-String: Classical Guitars for Less than $200
Here are some excellent nylon-string guitars that you may consider, available for just over hundred dollars.
Yamaha C40
The Yamaha C40 is an affordable, classical guitar perfectly suited to beginners and young learners, and from a brand that is quite popular & trusted in this price range. Read more…
Cordoba C3M Classical Guitar
A popular model, the C3M is a full-sized, handcrafted guitar, built with the traditional Spanish fan bracing, a solid cedar top and mahogany back and sides. The C3M also has a hand inlaid wooden rosette, a rosewood fingerboard, and gold tuning machines with pearl buttons. The “M” in the title stands for its light matte finish. Read more…
Best Electric Guitar for Beginners for Less than $200-$250
Here are some popular Electric Guitars available for around $200.
Squier by Fender “Stop Dreaming, Start Playing” Set
This set features a great-sounding, sweet-looking and easy-playing Squier SE Special guitar with three single-coil pickups; plug it right into the included 10-watt Squier SP-10 amp with headphone jack. Accessories include an instructional DVD, an electronic tuner, guitar strap, gig bag, guitar cable, guitar stand and picks—everything you need to Stop Dreaming and Start Playing! Read more…
Fender Starcaster Strat Electric Guitar Bundle
Want something affordable, good looking, and easy to play? The Starcaster by Fender Strat electric guitar is one of the most popular beginner package out there in the market. You can get different tones from this guitar using the different settings of it’s 3 single-coil pickups. Read more…
Epiphone LP Special II Les Paul Electric Guitar
You now get that trademark Les Paul shape in an economical package, including to 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. Read more…
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.
Do you insist on using a particular brand? In that case, if you’re looking for good fender guitars, then you may check out the Starcaster by Fender. It is available as a packaged bundle. Another Fender worth exploring is the Fender SA-100 acoustic guitar which comes with gig bag, instruction book & guitar pick assortment.
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 yamaha FG JR1 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?
Want a guitar that looks like a much more expensive instrument? Try out the Fender CD-60. It’s a great looking acoustic guitar!
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.
The Full Size Black Electric Guitar is another attractive option which comes bundled with amp, case and accessories pack. This is a great electric guitar and amplifier combo set! Comes in a pretty case and has great sound. It’s a sleek looking guitar and the amp does a pretty job as well.
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.
Looking for Bundled Packages?
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!
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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:
Guitar Amplifiers
Guitar Effects
Guitar Accessories
Guitar Books, Learning Software, Videos, DVDs
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