Are Electric Guitar Lessons Right For You?

If you’re just learning how to play a guitar, and you want to take lessons, you may be wondering if you should take electric guitar lessons or acoustic guitar lessons? Which is best? Well, a lot of it depends on personal preference, but there are some pros and cons either way. In today’s post, I’ll talk about some of the pros and cons about starting out electric.

This may be too obvious to mention, but if you already have a guitar, and you like it, and don’t want to buy another right now, then the choice is made for you. If you have an electric guitar, you’ll want to take electric guitar lessons, and if you have an acoustic, you’ll start out on acoustic.

And really, does it make a big difference? For just starting out, either kind of guitar will be fine. All the same basics apply whether you’re playing an acoustic or an electric guitar. Your teacher may specialize in one or the other (though many teachers will be proficient on both kinds of instrument), and the content of your beginning lessons should be about the same either way.

You may also have in mind the kind of guitarist you aspire to be. If your goal is to just play for yourself, in your room, then you should play whatever kind of guitar you like to listen to. If you want to play folk songs, or acoustic rock, then an acoustic guitar will suit you best. But if you’re planning to play in a rock or metal band, then you may as well start right out with an electric guitar.

When I was a kid, starting out on guitar, I wanted to be like George Harrison. He was probably my very first guitar hero. I started out on an acoustic guitar, because my sister had one I could use. Then I saved up $13.00 (hey, it was 1966) and bought my own acoustic, not because I wanted an acoustic guitar, but because it was cheap. But as soon as I could, I got hold of an electric guitar and an amplifier. I still have that first electric guitar today (but it’s pretty beat up — see for yourself).

So in my case, my first two guitars were determined by what was available to me and what was cheapest. It wasn’t until I got my third guitar that I got what I really wanted. You may make your choices the same way.

But you may be in a different situation. Here’s another story from my life to illustrate the point. I stopped playing for many years and came back to it as an adult. By now I had a wide range of musical tastes, and I had a one year old baby in the house. First I borrowed a friend’s acoustic guitar, then bought my own, because as a middle aged father of a toddler, I knew I wasn’t going to be playing loud rock, even though I liked to listen to it. I also wasn’t really sure what kind of music I wanted to play, and I tried a lot of different styles before settling on acoustic blues, country, and folk music. Along the way, I did buy an electric guitar, but I sold it after a year or so because I hardly ever played it.

The point is, you may not know what kind of music you want to play just yet, or you may have other constraints, like a new baby, or roommates, or the elderly lady in the next apartment, that will determine your choice.

If you really don’t know what kind of music you’ll want to play, I’d suggest starting out with an acoustic guitar. It’s a little harder on the hands at first, but it’s more versatile, you’ll build better hand strength, and all the skills you learn will be transferable to electric guitar if you make that transition later.

On the other hand, an electric guitar can be a bit easier on the fingers at first, and offers the ability to play through headphones (so you really won’t disturb the neighbors. But if you want to play for friends, or take your guitar to the park or a picnic, you’ll have to lug along your amplifier and find a place to plug in. And if you later want to move to an acoustic guitar, you may find the transition a little more difficult at first.

I hope this post has helped to give you a little perspective on whether or not to start out with electric guitar lessons. Thanks for reading.