Equipment

What Equipment Do I Need?

Try going to your local guitar shop. I use PMT Professional Music Technology https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/stores/romford/ they are online and have shops all over the country.

Let them know what your budget is and what musical styles you’re into, which can affect what type/make of which guitar you may choose. Ask them to show you what they have in your price range, there are many great guitars and amps out there and I have listed a few i can recommend

Electric Guitar Lessons Shopping List

  • Electric guitar
  • Guitar tuner
  • Padded gig bag or case
  • Guitar picks
  • Guitar cable
  • Guitar practice amp with headphone socket
  • Music stand (optional)

Acoustic Guitar Lessons Shopping List

  • Steel string acoustic guitar
  • Guitar tuner
  • Padded gig bag or case
  • Guitar picks
  • Capo (optional)
  • Footstool
  • Music stand (optional)

Electric Guitars

Best Budget Electric Guitars

Spend from £100 to £300 and get a solid top if you can.

 

  • Jackson
  • Ibanez
  • Yamaha Pacifica 112
  • Epiphone Les Paul Special
  • Fender Squire

Best Mid Range Electric Guitars

Spend between £300 to £900 and buy an electro acoustic if you are planning to gig.

 

  • Fender Mexican Standard Strat Or Telecaster
  • Gretsch
  • Ibanez or Jackson
  • Epiphone Les Paul Standard
  • PRS SE

Best Pro Level Electric Guitars

Spending over £1000 – many pro players have more than one guitar for different styles at this level.

 

  • Fender USA Stratocaster Or Telecaster
  • Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 or PRS McCarty
  • Gibson Les Paul or SG Standard
  • Suhr Classic S or Alt T
  • Friedman

Acoustic Guitars

Best Budget Acoustic Guitars

Spend from £100 to £200 and get a solid top if you can.

 

  • Tanglewood
  • Cort
  • Vintage
  • Washburn

Best Mid Range Acoustic Guitars

Spend between £200 to £600 and buy an electro acoustic if you are planning to gig. 

 

  • Faith
  • Takamine
  • Epiphone
  • Yamaha

Best Pro Level Acoustic Guitars

Spend from £700 to £1000, you get higher grade of woods and electronics at this price range

 

  • Taylor
  • Gibson
  • Martin
  • Zager

Electric Guitar Amps

Best Budget Electric Guitar Amps

Spend from £100 to £200 – many of these feature headphone and bluetooth outputs for practice

 

  • Blackstar ID Core 10 Version 2
  • Vox Valvetronix VT20+
  • Roland Cube
  • Marshall Code 25
  • Fender Mustang LT 25

Best Mid Range Electric Guitar Amps

Spend between £200 to £700, which will be a mixture of digital and tube (valve) based amps

 

  • Boss Katana 100 MKII
  • Blackstar HT-5R MKII
  • Fender
  • Marshall
  • Orange

Best Pro Level Electric Guitar Amps

Spending from £800 to over £1000, which will all be tube (valve) based amps

 

  • Fender
  • Marshall
  • Mesa Boogie
  • Vox
  • Victory

Best Software & Apps For Mac Or PC

  • Transcribe – Change the tempo, pitch and loop sections of songs, a great way to practice your guitar
  • Chordify – A platform for guitar, ukelele and piano chords, helping musicians of all abilities play the music they love
  • Guitar Pro – Over 2000 guitar pro transcriptions of your favourite songs available directly in the guitar pro editor software
  • Sibelius – The worlds best selling music notiation software
  • Logic Pro X – Turns your Mac into a professional recording studio able to capture your compositions and performances for musicians and producers

Guitar Pedals & Effects Processors

  • Custom Pedal Boards, Pedal boards and rigs are instruments in their own right and are as personal as your guitars; Custom Pedal Boards will design and build a handmade custom pedal board solution that fits your budget, your music and your playing needs.
  • Boss make easy to use and affordable pedals try the BD-2W and Boss Loop Station RC-30. Great for solo improvisation practice and songwriters
  • TC Electronic produce versatile pedals such as the Flashback 2 delay and Hall of Fame 2 reverb, a welcome addition to any setup
  • Wampler boutique pedals are a little more expensive but one of my favourites is the Tumnus overdrive for the tone of the vintage classics
  • Strymon have become the trendsetters for powerful, digitally controlled multi-effects pedals. The Big Sky is one of their flagship offerings, an all encompassing reverb unit