To find your next guitar, you’ve got many choices. As an early guitar player, you will have to choose between a Fender Stratocaster (Fender used to be one of the big boys, and it was in the forefront of electric guitars), the Les Paul (that guitar has many variations), a Gibson Les Paul (most people consider Gibson to be one of the best guitars available), or a Gibson Telecaster (it’s a good-ish guitar and one of the most popular) . The Gibson Telecaster has the best specs because it’s a Gibson. The Fender Stratocaster is the most common guitar that beginners use today, but it’s a bad choice. With so many options, there’s a certain risk of the guitar that you buy being too “basic” or being too heavy for your playing style. You want something that’s got a little more to it than just playing songs on a bass. The more options, the more likely you’ll be to pick a guitar that suits you. You can’t go wrong with any of these guitars, they all sound great, and they all have their pros and cons.
The Fender Stratocaster is definitely the most commonly used guitar in the world, but it can be considered dated. The top end of the guitar has a few flaws that affect how it plays, including the fact that it has no tone knobs and a single pickup, which is really a mistake on the part of most buyers. It’s not the Stratocaster that you buy, it’s the Stratcaster that you get. The Gibson Les Paul has more features than the Stratocaster, but they’re also a little “basic”, as the guitar has five strings and a tone knob. The Gibson Telecaster has the best specifications in terms of a pickup and quality of materials, but you have to be careful to select a guitar that’s perfect for you. A guitar that’s great for beginners may not sound as good as a stratocaster. A guitarist needs to pick a guitar that works well for his playing style in order to get the most out of that instrument.
Check out our guide for the best guitar brands for beginners, and learn how to pick a neck or a bridge tuner for your electric guitar.
This article was originally published in Guitar Player magazine, March 2003, and has been published every year since. For more great guitar buying tips, check out Buy Guitar Guide: Tips and How-To’s. You can also sign up to receive this magazine
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