A Guide To Your First Guitar Rig

Written by Happy NGD on December 4th, 2009

First off, this is going to be about electric guitar for beginners. There is a debate on whether or not a person should start on acoustic or electric. A lot of people believe that they should be starting on acoustic but I am in the camp of “play what you want, it doesn’t really matter”.

So, back to the electric beginner rigs.

First off, I guess I should define what I mean by a “rig”. That’s what I call it anyway. Well, a rig is everything you need to play guitar so this means a guitar and amp for the most part but can also include things like your guitar picks, strap, effects pedals, patch cables and that sort of thing. To me, they all make up your rig.

The first thing that you want to think about is the type of music that you are going to be playing. Whether or ot you are going to be playing rock, country, metal or any other genre will definitely influence which guitar and amp combo you will decide on. I will concentrate on rock, country and metal for this guide. Now, of course you can play any genre on any guitar but some guitars are just better suited for a specific style of music. Here are some perfect examples of some beginner guitar and amp combos depending on the type of music you decide to play. Since it is for beginners, I am also choosing lower priced items as well since beginners stereotypically start at a lower price point — let’s say we have about a $400 budget for both a guitar and amp:

Rock

For me, I believe that one of the best basic rock guitars has to be the Stratocaster – some people may argue with me but it is my personal opinion. Now, usually beginners aren’t so lucky to have the cake needed to buy the real thing so it is best to look at good copies of these types of guitars. Now the cool thing is that for beginning rock guitar players, there are some excellent guitar packs out there that include the guitar, amplifier, and more to get you started. Check out these great guitar beginner packs on eBay (the best place in my opinion to get a good deal):

Click here for the guitar and amp pack combos!

Now, if you want to buy the guitar and amp separately and you want the real thing in a Fender but have that beginner player budget we talked about earlier, check out the made in Mexico Stratocasters on eBay or other online marketplace. To do so just search “Stratocaster MIM” or “Stratocaster Mexico”.

Click here to see what I mean.

Look through the list and you should be able to find one for somewhere between $200 – $300 which will leave you with $100 – $200 for your amp. And this would be my pick for the amp to get to go along with it:

Click here to see the amp I would choose.

Country

Now really, for country, you can get any one of the combos you see when you click the link above. It will all do just fine. The only thing that I find that would be better for country is a Telecaster style guitar. My taste though. If you are looking on ebay, my opinion is pretty much just like the Stratocaster for rock…go for the Mexico made ones.

Click here to see some excellent examples of what I mean.

Now, you will probably need to pick and choose with these because there will be a number of different guitars out there for this search and pick the ones that will fit in your budget and give you money left over to buy the amp to go with it.

Now, as far as an amp, personally (and reallu, I am going to recommend the same amp for every music genre because it will do them all) is the Vox AD15VT. Just check out the specs and you will see why. Tons of preset tons ranging in all different genres.

Click here to see the amp.

So that should cover country music.

Metal

For metal, you are eventually going to be learning some crazy riffing and shredding (well, you’ll learn different types of that with all types of music too). For this genre though, I can’t think of a better guitar for beginners than Ibanez. and luckily, there are even some awesome guitar beginner packs that Ibanez puts out as well.

Check out the Ibanez guitar packs.

Any one of the packs that you see when you click the link above will be perfect for what you need.

Now, if none of these suit your fancy, here are some examples of some good ecomony prices guitars and amps that will suit just about any style of music. Click any of the links below to see what I mean:

Guitars
Jay Turser
Agile Guitars

Amps
Marshall
Fender

Now, it’s time to learn. Whether you are into country guitar lessons or rock guitar lessons, you will be on quite a journey.