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Best Guitar for Beginners (2026 Guide) (Updated)
Introduction Choosing your first guitar can feel overwhelming. With so many options—acoustic, electric, different sizes, and price ranges—it’s easy to get stuck. ThIn this guide, we’ll break down the best guitars for beginners, what to look for, and how to choose the right one for your goals. Acoustic vs Electric: Which Is Better for Beginners? Acoustic Guitar (Best for Simplicity) Pros: No amp required Great for singer-songwriters Simple setup Cons: Harder on fingers (thicker strings) Less versatile for some genres Best for: Casual players Learning chords Folk, pop, acoustic music Electric Guitar (Best for Versatility) Pros: Easier to play (lighter strings) Works for rock, blues, metal, pop More sound options Cons: Requires an amp Slightly more setup Best for: Rock or modern music Players who want effects and tone control Best Beginner Guitars (Top Picks) Best Beginner Acoustic Guitars Fender Classic Design Series Yamaha FG & FS Series Taylor Academy, Baby Taylor, Taylor GS Mini, and Taylor 100 Series. Ibanez GA Series Best Beginner Electric Guitars Squier Sonic, Squier Affinity, & Squier Mini Series Ibanez miKro, GIO, and other inexpensive guitars Jackson JS series How Much Should You Spend? Most beginners should aim for $300–$500, but there are more options for those who want to experiment further. $100–$300 Guitars Entry-level guitars Good for testing the waters $300–$700 Guitars Best value range Better tone + playability $700+ Guitars Long-term investment Higher-quality materials What to Look for in a Beginner Guitar Playability (Most Important) If it’s hard to play, you won’t stick with it. Look for: Comfortable neck Low string height (action) Size & Fit Smaller players → consider smaller body guitars Kids → look for ¾ size Build Quality Stays in tune No sharp frets Solid construction Essential Accessories Tuners: essential for making sure your guitar is in tune before practice and performance. Capos: required to play many of your favorite songs - a professional guitarist staple. Straps: essential if you want to stand and play. Gig bags & cases: have a gig? Want to jam at your friend's house? You'll need a carrying case or bag to keep your guitar scuff-free. Get Started Playing After you find your first guitar, here are some steps you can take to get started playing your favorite tunes. Tune your guitar every time before you play Learn a few basic chords (G, C, D, Em) Practice 15-30 minutes daily Sign up for lessons Frequenty Asked Questions (FAQs) Is acoustic or electric better for beginners? Both work—choose based on your music style. What’s the easiest guitar to play? Electric guitars are usually easier due to lighter strings. Do I need lessons? Not required—but helpful for faster progress. Click here to learn more. If you have any questions, please come visit us or reach out to us via phone!
The Best Fender Guitar Dealer in Northern California
Great Article from Pro Audio & Musical Instrument Retail Excellence Publications
Why You Need A Vintage Guitar
Bananas at Large is excited to be carrying Vintage® Guitars! Play anything from rock and roll to country with these Vintage solid body and semi-hollow body electric guitars. They are the quality of guitars three times the price. Made from Mahogany and with double coil pickups, the Distressed LP Style Single Cut Electric Guitar will give you one of the most recognizable guitar sounds of the genre – real ‘Black Magic’. Get those deep and rich tones with all of these LP Style guitars. With its classic looks, the V52MRBS 52 T-Style Electric Guitar gives you exactly what you expect – killer tones and superb playability. Play all the bright, twangy sounds with any of these T-Style guitars. We’ve curated this collection of guitars just for you that are designed and engineered by industry legend Trev Wilkinson. Also offering acoustic-electric parlor guitars that are perfect for the road, and a relic’d bass guitar for less than $450, these instruments are dialed in to what musicians want and expect from an instrument. With the perfect distressed look or a flawless polished finish, these guitars are designed to exacting standards at a great value. Whether you’re playing at home or on one of the world’s biggest stages, you’ll get rock solid tone. All under $550, these guitars are great for beginners and professionals at an affordable price. Try these out in stores now! You’ll want one of these in your lineup.
Guitar Health Monthly Maintenance
Have you ever wondered what is the best way to store your guitar? How often you should change your strings? We offer re-string and tune-up services that include some of these best care practices for your instrument. 1. Change your strings every month- When played on a daily basis, Guitar strings start to lose their tone and become dead. With exposure to air and the oils in our finger tips, strings start to patina over time, making it very hard to play and glide your fingers across the frets. By changing the strings often, you also help keep your guitars hardware in tip top shape, i.e: tuners, bridge & frets. New Guitar Strings Dead Guitar Strings 2. One at a time- When you are about to change your strings remember, only change one string at a time. If you have an electric guitar there can be parts of the bridges that will fall completely loose without the strings holding it in place and many other components that can move depending on the guitar, affecting the intonation. There can be up to 200lbs of pull on the average guitar neck when tuned to pitch. If we remove all of the strings from the guitar, that pressure is released and can cause damage to the guitar if not set back up properly by a tech. 3. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate your fretboard- The wood on your guitar was once a living breathing tree needing hydration to survive. Well that rule of thumb still applies even though that wood was cut and is now on your guitar. Close your eyes and imagine what the dirt in the Mojave Desert looks like. Picture the cracks in the ground. The same thing can happen to your fretboard. If this does happen, the wood begins to separate from the frets (made from nickel) causing the frets to raise up unevenly. It becomes impossible for the guitar to stay in tune. There are several fretboard conditioners on the market and the only other thing you'll need is a micro fiber cloth to rub the conditioner into the fret board and clean off the excess. 4. Clean your strings- It is a good habit to clean your strings after each use. I use a product that I have come to love called Fast Fret which helps coats the strings, which is very helpful. The cleaner comes with a small micro fiber cloth to wipe the strings after playing, and helps wipe off the oils from your fingers, increasing the longevity of your strings and frets. 5. Don't forget about me- Where is the best place to keep your guitar? There are a few options of how to store your guitar. There are several different types of guitar stands and wall hangers to keep your guitar safe. Your guitar case is a vital tool to keep your guitar safe during transport but don't store it away in the closet or under the bed and forget about it. Guitars are meant to be played and believe it or not, playing your guitar on a normal basis is part of keeping your guitar healthy. I keep my guitars out and on wall hangers for easy access to practice and record with. If your guitar is on a stand in the room you mostly reside in, you'll be more inclined to play it. Hope these tips were helpful. Make an appointment to bring in your instrument today! Please e-mail or call us at (415) 457-7600. Happy playing!
What is a guitar setup and why you need it?
Written by Teresa Topaz So, what is a guitar setup? A guitar setup is a series of adjustments made to an electric or an acoustic guitar to ensure proper health and playability, and is considered “basic maintenance”. Performing a setup addresses changes a guitar goes through over time and returns it to its proper condition. We offer re-string and setup services here at Bananas at Large. If you bring your guitar in, please let us know a bit about your playing style and preference of tunings so we can tailor the instrument setup specifically for you. There are many steps involved in performing a setup, let’s review what those steps are. 1. What is a truss rod and what does it do? Most acoustic and electric steel string guitars built after late 1970's - 1980 have a truss rod in the neck of the guitar. Most nylon string guitars, however, do not have a truss rod. The truss rod is a long rod that runs down inside the neck of the guitar. Adjusting it will either give or take relief away from the neck, causing the strings to raise or lower off the fretboard. Depending on whether you have an electric or acoustic guitar, the truss rod can either be accessed where the headstock meets the nut and fretboard (most electric guitars and bass guitars), or under the neck accessed through the sound hole (most acoustic guitars). The truss rod's nut style will determine whether you need a hex key, nut driver, screwdriver, box wrench or mini screwdriver. If you’re not sure which one you need, it's always a good idea to refer to the manufacturer's website to ensure the right fit. On an electric guitar, the truss rod is accessible at the base of the headstock. To tighten the truss rod, turn your tool to the right, and to the left to loosen. Make sure you make small quarter turns each time, as a small adjustment can sometimes be all you need. To adjust the truss rod on an acoustic guitar, find the hex shape located at the bottom of the neck through the sound hole. Turn your 90 degree angle hex key to the right to tighten, and to the left to loosen. Adjust, check and tune. Repeat these steps as needed. 2. What is 'action' on a guitar? Action is how high the strings sit off the fretboard. If the guitar’s truss rod is tightened, the action becomes lower. If the truss rod is loosened, the action becomes higher. Now what is the difference, and why would you want high or low action? If you are beginning to play the guitar or are an advanced player but mainly play in standard tuning then you will probably want to have a low action set on your guitar. If you play in alternate tunings and slide, you will want to have a slightly higher action set on the guitar. Playing a slide on the guitar causes more pressure to be applied to the frets, potentially causing fret buzz if the action is too low. Once you have adjusted the truss rod to achieve a straight neck, well will check the action. It's always a good idea to measure the action height with a 1.0 hard pick at the 12th fret. If it fits perfectly between the fret and the low E string with little to no room on either side then you have achieved a low action. If there seems to be quite a bit of space on either side of your pick, your bridge will have to be adjusted which we will cover in the next step. 3. Adjusting the bridge & nut Adjusting the bridge allows us to manipulate the action, as well as intonation. There are several different types of bridges for an electric guitar. For instance, a Tune-O-Matic bridge that we would find on a Les Paul style guitar has the option to be raised or lowered by adjusting the thumbwheels. There are several different heights we can place the bridge in and each setting will create a different feel. Finding the sweet spot of proper bridge height, action and intonation can require finesse and patience. On an acoustic guitar, there are no screws to raise and lower to adjust the height, so we have to file down the saddle by hand to the appropriate height. Filing down the saddle requires the precision of a trained eye and is best left to a professional. Next we'll look at the nut of the guitar (*nut: most commonly bone or composite, a nut is placed where the headstock meets the fingerboard which has filed slots to hold each individual gauged string in place). If you’re experiencing fret buzz, a good place to look is the nut. If a string is sitting to low in the slot, it will cause fret buzz. To fix this, we either need to add bone dust and glue to raise the slot or replace the nut all together. Note: Do not change the gauge of strings on your guitar without making the necessary modifications to support it. Guitars come stock with certain gauge strings so be sure to look that up on the manufacturer’s website to continue using the correct strings and avoid issues. 4. Cleaning your frets Frets get dirty over time and buildup can collect on the sides of the fret wire. To clean this, grab your fret cleaner, a pick or toothpick and a few paper towels. Drizzle a few drops of the fretboard cleaner on the frets, and take your pick or toothpick and start to scrape the buildup off the frets and fretboard, wiping with a paper towel. Repeat these steps until your fretboard is clean. To polish the nickel silver frets on your guitar, I use Nevr-Dull. Grab a small amount and gently buff the discoloration off of your frets. Repeat this step all the way up the fretboard. If your frets are too tarnished and the Nevr-Dull is not working, you may need a Crown and Polish. *Nickel silver frets: Composed of 18% Nickel, 80% Copper and small trace amounts of Zinc, Lead and Cadmium. High grade Fret Wire consist of more Zinc and less Copper. 5. Hydrate, polish & re-string One of the most important steps of a setup is hydration. Trees need hydration to survive and the same rule of thumb applies even after parts of that tree have been transformed into a guitar. Absence of moisture and heat are a guitar's worst enemy and can cause irreversible damage of cracking and splitting (*Picture seen below of a dried out soundboard with cracks through the wood). Using a fretboard conditioner along with an overall guitar polish and a micro fiber cloth to hydrate your guitar, along with changing the strings every 4-6 weeks (sooner if you’re playing more often) will help keep the guitar in good health. 6. Intonation Now that we have all of the strings back on the guitar and have tuned it to standard tuning (E A D G B E), our next step is to intonate the guitar. Intonation means that the instrument is in tune with itself and all the open strings and every note on the fretboard rings at the correct pitch. If you have ever tuned your guitar and noticed when you play a chord it sounds out of tune it probably means that your intonation is off. Guitars can be affected by the elements of weather which can affect the intonation requiring periodic intonation. To intonate your guitar, we need to first start with tuning it to pitch, preferably with a strobe tuner. Once it's in tune, check the same string’s pitch at the 12th fret. If the pitch matches open to the 12th fret, then you can move on to the next string. If it’s sharp, the string must be slightly lengthened at the bridge until both pitches (open and at the 12th fret) are in tune with each other. If the string’s pitch at the 12th fret is flat, we need to shorten the string length at the bridge. Remember, less is more with small quarter turns. Repeat these steps on each string until the guitar is fully intoned. If you own a Floyd Rose, this can be a much more difficult setup so please have a professional tech or luthier perform this action for you. 7. Buff and polish Now that we have completed the setup on the guitar, the last step is to buff the guitar using a high quality micro fiber cloth and a guitar polish and conditioner. Spray your polish on several spots of the guitar and use your cloth to buff out any smudge or finger marks. I tend to polish the entire guitar, front and back and after a set up the guitar should look as good as new. Hope this article help you to understand how to practice the best techniques to ensure your guitar’s health. We do offer re-string and setup services here at Bananas At Large so please feel free to contact us for more information. Please leave any questions in the comments below and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
The new 2017 Fender American Professional Series
Buy now In-stores and Online. Welcome to the next chapter! At Fender, they live and breathe electric instruments. They never rest—pushing craftsmanship to its limits, they design, test and endlessly experiment to create the best instruments on the planet. Built in Corona, CA, the American Professional Series is for players who are constantly pushing their artistic boundaries. Fender’s American-made instruments are the standards by which all others are judged. As musical styles evolve, driven by visionary artists, Fender is, and has always been, at the heart of it—crafting premium instruments to unlock every player’s creative potential. What Is the American Professional Series? Fender launched the American Standard Series of guitars and basses in 1987, and the collection has been Fender's flagship line for serious artists and players for nearly 30 years, but beginning December 7, 2016—Fender has replaced the venerable line with the new American Professional Series. Combining Fender's longstanding history of quality, handmade craftsmanship and industry innovation, the American Professional Series features 92 different guitars and basses and offers a number of unique enhancements. American Professional Series instruments are available in a variety of ash and alder body styles, including newly designed Stratocasters, Telecasters, Jazzmasters, Jaguar, Precision Basses and Jazz Basses. Each guitar features rosewood and maple fretboards, and the series introduces three new colorways: Sonic Gray, Mystic Seafoam and Antique Olive. Other colors included in the series are Olympic White, Black, 3-Color Sunburst, Sienna Sunburst and the return of classic Butterscotch Blonde available only on Telecaster models. How Is The American Professional Series Different From The American Standard Series? To create the American Professional Series, Fender revisited a number of elements on each instrument. Here is a quick overview of the key differentiating features: New Pickups Simply put, pickups are the heart and soul of an electric instrument’s voice. The American Professional series features their newest pickup offering: V-Mod single-coil pickups. Updated versions of our classic designs, modified for modern performance, V-Mod pickups are packed with authentic Fender tone. V-Mod pickups, and the newly redesigned ShawBuckerTM humbucking pickups are voiced specifically for each position, bringing out the nuances of your playing. New Models They’re excited to add three new models to the American Professional Series: the Tele® Deluxe, Jazzmaster® and Jaguar® guitars. The left-of-center Jazzmaster and Jaguar models are particularly prized for their unique style, feel and flexible control schemes. New Colors Three new colors—Sonic Gray, Mystic Seafoam, Antique Olive—are joined by the revival of a true classic, our instantly recognizable Butterscotch Blonde (available only on Tele models). Shop Now!
New for 2017! Taylor "The Academy Series" Shop Now!
Designed to make a full-featured Taylor playing experience more accessible than ever, these guitars distill all the essential elements of a great guitar into a more affordable option. With the Academy Series, Taylor cleared a path to the most inviting guitar experience an entry-level player or anyone on a budget could ask for, from a comfortable feel to pleasing tone to performance reliability, all at an affordable price. The combination of a narrower 1-11/16-inch nut width, 24-7/8-inch scale length, and light gauge strings serves up a buttery string feel that fingers will love. And on the guitar body, an armrest improves the playing comfort. These guitars deliver the best playing experience a customer could ask for in this price range. Choose from the Dreadnought Academy 10e, Grand Concert Academy 12e, or nylon-string Grand Concert Academy 12e-N. Browse Models
