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3 Best Electric Guitars for Beginners – 2019 Edition

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Are you into rock music, blues, or maybe metal, and want to start learning to play the electric guitar? Or maybe you’re looking for a beginner electric guitar as a gift for a lucky someone?

If so, this question must have crossed your mind:

Which beginner electric guitar should I get?

There are literally hundreds of electric guitar types being manufactured everyday, all of which are marketed to beginner students. How would a newbie be able to choose?

With my help of course 🙂 My name is Tom Fontana, I have been a guitar teacher for 15+ years. After receiving what seems like 100’s of letters over the years asking for advice on which electric guitar is best for beginners, I decided to write this article to provide guidance.

best-electric-guitar-for-beginners

As this is an in-depth (long) guide, here is the table of contents to make navigating it easier.

The Shortlist

After reading countless online reviews, forums, and of course, taking into account what I’ve seen my beginner students play, I headed out to Guitar Center to test a list of about 10 electric guitars.

To keep things comparable, I used the same amp with all of the guitars, a Vox Valvetronix VT20 (this amp is the best $180 you can spend on guitar gear).

After playing them all, I’ve narrowed the list of the best beginner electric guitars down to these 3 candidates.

Dean Vendetta
XM ~ $130

Ultra budget, light weight first guitar that delivers on it’s promises

Squier Affinity Stratocaster HSS ~ $200

Single coil + humbucker pickups = wide tonal range

best-beginner-electric-guitar-squier-affinity-stratocaster-hss-1

Epiphone Les Paul Studio ~ $360

No nonsense guitar for serious beginners & even intermediate players

best-beginner-electric-guitar-epiphone-les-paul-studio-1

There are literally hundreds of beginner electric guitars to choose from, so filtering down to 3 recommendations was not easy. After loads of reading and testing, I believe these 3 guitars hold the best value for beginner guitarists. Let’s have a look at them, after which, I’ll review them in detail.

Dean Vendetta XM Squier Affinity Stratocaster HSS Epihone les paul studio
Body Paulownia, satin finish Alder, glossy finish Mahogany, satin finish
Neck Bolt-on maple Bolt-on maple Hand-set mahogany
Fingerboard Rosewood, 12″ radius Rosewood, 9.5″ radius Rosewood, 12″ radius
Frets 24 medium jumbo 21 medium jumbo 22 medium jumbo
Pickups 2 humbuckers 2 single-coil, 1 humbucker 2 humbuckers
Controls Volume, tone, 3-way pickup selector Master volume, tone 1. (neck pickup), tone 2. (middle pickup), 5-way pickup selector 2 x volume, 2 x tone, 3-way pickup selector
Bridge Tune-o-matic Synchronous tremolo Tune-o-Matic/Stopbar
Tuners Chrome Chrome Chrome
Scale length 25.5″ 25.5″ 24.75″
Nut width 1.69″ 1.61″ 1.68″
Color variations 2 4 4
Made in China China China
Price About $130, check Amazon and Guitar Center for discounts About $200, check Amazon and Guitar Center for discounts About $359, Guitar Center for discounts

Dean Vendetta XM – Unbeatable at it’s price point

I have to admit, I didn’t think I would find an acceptable guitar for $130. I mean, I’ve bought more expensive toys for my kids. Make no mistake though, the Dean Vendetta XM is not a toy. It is a real instrument. Obviously it’s nothing special, but still. It played well, held it’s tuning, everything worked.

Of course, it needs a setup before you start playing it, as there were some intonation issues, and the action was a bit high, but this was to be expected. The piece I tried also had a few fret ends which irritated my hand, but those can be filed down during a setup as well.

So how can this guitar be so cheap?

One of the main reasons is the wood used for the body of the Vendetta XM. It’s made out of Paulownia, which is a budget tone wood from East Asia. This is a light weight wood, that sounds totally acceptable when played with a proper amp. Being so light weight, I would guess the longevity of the guitar won’t be very impressive. But hey, this is a beginner’s guitar for $130. You won’t keep it around for decades.

The guitar is built for rock, as demonstrated by the double humbuckers, and the 24 fret, thin neck. The base XM does not have a tremolo, lots of people complained about this. So Dean created the Vendetta XM Tremolo, in case you want to fool around with it. Not important for beginners though.

All in all, the Dean Vendetta XM is a totally acceptable first guitar.

If you took a fancy to this guitar, have a read at what others say about it. I picked out a few comments from around the internet, but you can read hundreds more by clicking the big buttons below.

You can’t get better for the money, but you can easily get worse for more money.

Tylerhttps://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/dean-vendetta-xm-electric-guitar

I’ve played all the other guitars in the price range; squires, epiphones, yamahas, the whole deal and this is absolutely the best for beginners and cheapies. I love this thing and I’d never get rid of it.

keavaderhttps://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/dean/vendetta_xm/

I am very pleased with this guitar. The neck was almost perfect out of the box. I had to loosen the truss rod about 3/4 turn to get rid of some slight buzzing on 2 strings. I am sure a professional could easily perfect it for me. The intonation was spot on.

Regina McFarlandhttps://www.amazon.com/Dean-Vendetta-XM-Electric-Guitar/dp/B000GBAR5G

Reviews on Amazon

Reviews on Guitar Center

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