The best electric guitar for a beginner?

With the basic starting chords it's as easy on acoustic as on electric, at least it was for me. When it got to bar chords it was easier on electric but wasn't that hard on acoustic either.


Ponrauil

It's harder to take chords and pick with an acoustic guitar with steel strings than it is on any electric guitar.

The easiest to start with is a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar, but that's not much use if you plan to play rock.

Ice

Well I don't know what else to say except that that's not how I lived my beginning times.
I don't know, maybe the time spent on the piano and saxophone made my fingers more agile and stronger to start on the guitar than the random beginner...


Ponrauil

I started out with a nylon stringed accoustic, pretty cheap and I still have it after 11 or so years. i'd say it's a pretty good option.

Well thanks guys will bear all that in mind and do a bit of 'window shopping' and try both types before i buy anything..Think most of my mates started on an acoustic so I guess its the way to go...no point rushing it I guess.

I’ve always wanted to learn how the play the guitar, but my hands are to clumsy for that and I’m left handed.

I'm left handed but we always had guitars in the house (right handed) so I just learnt right handed. It might seem odd to start off with but, seriously, if you haven't already started to play on a guitar that's been strung left handed then it's just as easy to start right handed. Saying that, it's no big deal to get it stung for you.

I found the transition from any acoustic guitar to electric quite easy - technique and style is better developed from an acoustic, in my opinion. Electric guitars have always been so much easier to play for me!

That's not totally true. Nylon stringed acoustics are easier on the hand and chords etc. are easier because of the larger distance between the strings, but all the necessary techniques for playing electric guitar, like bends, vibratos, pull offs, tappings not to mention whammy bar tricks are impossible with a nylon stringed acoustic. Metal stringed acoustics on the other hand are much much harder on the hands than a regular electric guitar.

I started out on a nylon stringed acoustic, learning classical guitar, and it didn't really help at all in the rock playing. When I've taught children who want to learn to play rock, I've always started straight with electric guitars. Acoustic is a totally different beast.

Ice

Hmm...I found nylon stringed acoustics much harder on the hands than electric! But I agree, some things are harder on acoustics.

And hey, I started out on classical as well! But I found that it helped in that I moved from classical to jazz/blues before rock. Classical defiantely doesn't help in playing rock, but its just a matter of being a more rounded player. I think acoustic, while different, helps to develop technique, that's all.