Top Rated 10 Best Acoustic Guitars for Beginners of 2020. The Best Beginner Acoustic Guitar to buy on Amazon

Are you looking for “the best quality acoustic guitars to buy for beginners”, the one that doesn’t cost you hundreds of dollars?

Just like you, I was a beginner before. So I know so well the confusing and worrying feeling when buying the first acoustic guitar. That’s why this article was born!

Let’s forget the overwhelming buying guides from another website out there. I took a couple of days for reading dozens of buyer reviews on Amazon and watching guitar-player reviews on Youtube.

By following this information and my reviews, I’m sure you will choose the best cheap acoustic guitar for beginners, not only to learn effectively but also to enjoy playing it for years to come.

Reading more:

• 5 Inexpensive Acoustic Guitars that sound GOOD for Beginners
• Best Acoustic Guitar Accessories – must-have for beginners

Remember that “a good quality beginner acoustic guitar will be suitable for playing for years, not just for a few initial lessons.”

And here, I have picked out Top Rated 10 Best Acoustic Guitars for Beginners. I’m absolutely sure you won’t be disappointed with this list.

#1: Ibanez PN1MHOPN Performance – The best quality acoustic guitars for beginners on Amazon

What I liked:

• Great sound at inexpensive
• A lovely look, very nice acoustic guitar for staters
• Smooth frets
• Perfect acoustic guitar for beginners and travelers alike.

Overall:

I must say that the Ibanez PN1MHOPN Performance is one of the nice little acoustic guitars that I love most.

The feels and sounds like a full-size acoustic guitar but inexpensive. It is so beautiful, nice sound despite the low price. It is worth more than what you pay.

The finish is smooth, and the fit is perfect for beginners, people with small hands, and outdoor activities.

All in all, I highly recommend the Ibanez PN1MHOPN Performance acoustic guitar. It is the best quality little acoustic guitars for the money. You will not disappoint when choosing it.

#2: Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar – A best budget acoustic guitar on amazon

What I Liked:

• Nice looking, good sound at inexpensive.
• Low action but no buzzing sound
• No sharp frets
• A good quality acoustic guitar for beginners

Overall:

Jasmine S35 acoustic guitar has been so popular around the world in many years. You will surprise about the good quality and the nice sound for an inexpensive acoustic guitar.

The look is smooth and beautiful, the sound is good enough for beginners and campfires. If you are looking for the best cheap acoustic guitar, the Jasmine S35 is a great deal.

All in all, it is a great acoustic guitar for the money. Highly recommend it for starters who don’t want to invest a lot of money for your first guitar before moving up to higher-level guitar skill.

Jasmine S35 is also a great choice for guys who want a durable cheap guitar for campfires and backyard playing.

• Reading full Jasmine S35 Review here!

#3: Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy Acoustic Guitar – A good quality acoustic guitar for beginners

 What I liked

• Smooth-playing fingerboard
• Warm and full-sounding bass
• A good quality acoustic guitar for the money

Overall

Here are the words that my friend reviewed about Gretsch G9500: “it’s inexpensive, it’s fun, the look is nice, the action is perfect for beginners, the sound is great”

All in all, I’m sure it’s a great acoustic guitar to take for traveling or campfires without worry about damage. Its quality is better than you would expect for the price.

#4: Yamaha FD01S Solid Top Acoustic Guitar – The top-rated acoustic guitars for beginners on Amazon

What I liked

• An inexpensive acoustic guitar.
• No sharp frets
• Nice sound, nice looking
• The top choice for beginners

Overall

The Yamaha Fd01S is one of the best quality acoustic guitars to buy for beginners. For the price, this is a good guitar at an inexpensive price, a great choice for a beginner.

One of the plus points for Yamaha Fd01S is solid wood at the top-side. It will improve sound quality better than other cheap acoustic guitars at the same price range.

All in all, there are so many seasoned guitar players recommended Yamaha Fd01S as a perfecting acoustic guitar for starters.

#5: Epiphone DR100 Acoustic Guitar – A good quality acoustic guitar on Amazon

What I liked:

• Beautiful, an excellent guitar for beginners
• Cheap price but the quality is good.
• Full, rich sound.
• No sharp frets

Overall:

Epiphone DR100 is another good quality acoustic guitar for beginners. Really nice acoustic guitar, its sound isn’t great but good enough for fun.

All in all, this is a great guitar for a beginner player who wants to familiarize the guitar and build skills before investing a high expensive acoustic guitar.

Remember: the strings effect the sound quality. I recommend you change the default strings on Epiphone DR100 by phospor bronze strings, it will produce more beautiful sound.

#6: Fender FA-115 Acoustic Guitar – A good quality acoustic guitar for beginners

What I liked

• A beautiful acoustic guitar and don’t break the bank
• Feel smooth in hands
• No sharp frets
• Rich and warm sound.
• Good beginner acoustic guitar for the price

Overall

Just like Epiphone DR100, and Jasmine S35, the Fender FA-115 Acoustic Guitar has become so popular choice for beginners in many years as well.

The Fender FA-115 is beautiful, smooth in hands, and the sound is nice. All in all, this is a good first-time guitar for teenagers, and newbies steps in learning how to play.

#7: Yamaha FG800 Solid Top – Top rated best quality acoustic guitars for beginners on Amazon

What I liked

• Gloss finish, nice looking, and feels good in hands.
• Bright and crisp sound
• No sharp frets, the neck is smooth up and down
• A very attractive price
• Perfect choice for beginners and experienced players.

Overall:

The Yamaha FG800 Solid Top Acoustic Guitar is not just the best acoustic guitar for beginners but also for well-players. The look is so beautiful, the sound is warm and bright. This guitar could stick with you for years.

I’m impressed with the constructed and finished. The solid wood at the soundboard will improve the sound quality from time to time.

In short, this is an AMAZING guitar for both price and quality. It perfect choice for beginners or budget players. I recommend Yamaha FG800 acoustic guitar for anyone, at any level.

• Reading full Yamaha FG800 Review here

#8: Ibanez AW54OPN Artwood – A best quality acoustic guitar for beginners

What I liked:

• Well-known brand
• Sweet and mellow sound, more musically
• Rich sound in strumming
• Pretty good for a budget guitar
• Low action with no buzzing

Overall

If you are looking for a quality acoustic guitar that can stick with you for many years, the Ibanez AW54OPN Artwood is a perfect choice. The tone is nice and just like an expensive instrument.

This is an amazing acoustic guitar, especially for the money. It has all great features that a guitar player wants such as deep basses, fat trebles, playability, and nice looks.

All in all, I highly recommend Ibanez AW54OPN Artwood as a good travel acoustic guitar or a great first instrument that a beginner can be proud to own. I’m sure this guitar won’t make you disappointed.

#9: Alvarez Regent RF26 Folk Acoustic Guitar – A good acoustic guitar to buy for beginners

What I liked

• Beautiful look, feel good in hands
• The sound is clear and bright.
• Pretty good for a budget guitar
• Low action without buzzing

Overall

If you are looking for an acoustic guitar best for beginners, the Alvarez Regent RF26 is a good quality entry-level guitar for your considering.

This inexpensive guitar and sounds are GREAT! It’s very glossy and smooth in hands. I recommend it to someone who is on a budget.

#10: Washburn WD100DL Mahogany – A good acoustic guitar to buy for beginners

What I liked

• The intonation is great, no fret buzzing
• Nice looking
• A budget acoustic guitar for beginners
• No sharp frets

Overall

The Washburn WD100DL is another good choice if you looking for a quality acoustic guitar best for beginners.

What I feel about Washburn WD100DL is: the appearance is excellent, has a beautiful sound, and plays sweet.

All in all, I highly recommend Washburn WD100DL for beginners, especially for the price.  Absolute best bang for your buck but it doesn’t feel cheap.

The 3 Basic Factors Needed to Take Into Account to Pick the Best Acoustic Guitar For Beginners.

The best quality acoustic guitars to buy for beginners are the ones that you will enjoy learning on, playing on, and listening to year after year, even as your skills grow.

That is why you need to clear three things below:

#1: Your Feeling:

Get the acoustic guitar that inspires you. You are absolute beginners doesn’t mean you buy the poor quality guitar first for practicing.

The poor-made guitar with poor sound would destroy your passion soon.

Why?

It’s simple. Poor sound damages your ears and poor looking damages your inspiration. A good-beginner-acoustic-guitar-start is always better than a bad start.

#2: Your Budget:

Someone would give you advice that you don’t need spending so much money on the first beginner guitar for several reasons.

This advice gave you the wrong idea that you should buy a real cheap acoustic guitar whatever you finance condition is.

The right idea is to ask:

• How much money you can afford for the best beginner acoustic guitar?
• And, what is the most suitable price range for beginners?

For the beginners, I typically recommend the guitars in around $200 range. With under $100, it is hard to find a good acoustic guitar for beginners.

So if you can’t afford that, it’s time to save money each day.

If you actually can afford over $300, that’s really great. But around $200 to $300 is enough.

Still think about under $100 acoustic guitars? Remember, a real cheap acoustic guitar will:

• Not accompany you for years to come
• Not inspire you since you get it cheap and don’t think much about other factors
• Not good for your learning
• Not be a good start

#3: Buying Brand New vs. Used Acoustic Guitar:

Buying the brand new acoustic guitar is always safe for beginners. I don’t recommend you to buy used guitars although the price is cheaper than the new one.

I’m not telling you that used guitars are no good!

But, buying a new one is to minimize your chances of picking a dud guitar. You may not know if used guitar is original or repaired.

However, note that there is much less risk when buying a used good-beginner-acoustic-guitar from your trusted friends whom you know to be conscientious about caring for his/her guitar properly.

Those friends will be more honest about the pros and cons of the particular guitar for your beginner’s needs, also.

So, What Is the Best Quality Acoustic Guitars To Buy For Beginners?

After setting the budget for purchasing a beginner guitar, here are six factors you need to acknowledge and take into account beforehand.

#1: Best Acoustic Guitar Brands for beginners:

As for the good acoustic guitar brands for beginners, Yamaha, Jasmine, Fender, Epiphone, Alvarez, Washburn, Gretsch, and Oscar Schmidt are a few good quality guitar brands.

These brands have many positive reviews from the guitar community at reddit.com and guitar forums.

And, some premium brands if your budget is ready – those brands are Cordoba, Breedlove, Seagull, Recording King, Martin.

Personally, I love Breedlove, Yamaha, and Jasmine. My first guitar is Jasmine S35, then Yamaha FG700S and now is Breedlove Pursuit Concert.

#2: Solid Wood vs. Laminated Wood Guitar:

The guitars are made from laminated woods are less affected by humidity and temperature than the solid woods.

Here is the video talk about guitar construction Solid VS Laminate:

That’s why laminated guitars are more durable and become a popular choice for traveling and camping.

So the sounds of guitar made by solid wood is better than laminated wood, isn’t it right?

It isn’t always true. Why?

Because the sound quality doesn’t depend only on wood structure of guitar (solid block or glued block) but also the wood age, the way of processing wood, and so on.

There are so many solid wood guitars with low price (under $100) and low quality sound too.

On the other hand, there are  high-end guitars which are totally made from laminated woods, but the price is never under $500.

Martin, Taylor, Breedlove are leading brands if you need to choose best laminated guitars.

The benefit of solid wood is that the guitar sound will improve better over time if you play it regularly, especially the longer resonance.

So, most guitars which are made from quality solid woods have very high price – over $1000.

In short, choosing the laminated wood or solid wood isn’t matter, the key here is choosing famous and reliable acoustic guitar brands.

With around 200 bucks, the beginners will have a decent good cheap acoustic guitar easily. Yamaha FG800 is the right choice for starting.

#3: Playability:

The playability related to the action (string height) of a guitar.

It is the distance from the strings to the fretboards, if action is too low, the sound will buzz when you play, and high action is hard to press strings or hold chords for beginners.

Therefore, buying a guitar with the right action is necessary.

You don’t need to worry much about action. Most of the good quality guitar has pre-set up a perfect action for you.

Note that the action of guitars can be adjustable by adjusting the guitar neck, or the bridge, or both.

#4: Shape and Size:

The two popular acoustic guitar shapes are dreadnought and concert.

• The dreadnought is usually better for strumming,
• And the concert is a little bit better for finger-styles.

However, choosing dreadnought or concert depends on your feeling, I owned both, and prefer the concert shape of Breedlove Pursuit Concert.

If you like a dreadnought, just go ahead.

As for the guitar size, the full size for adults and ¾ size for children and small hands persons.

Many people prefer ¾ size when they travel since it’s smaller, lighter and they (adults) totally can play that size with ease.

In short, just choose whatever you feel comfortable.

#5: Body Style: Cutaway vs. Non-cutaway Guitar?

How about body shape, cutaway vs. non-cutaway guitar? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cutaway guitar?

Here is the video talk about Cutaway vs. Non-cutaway Guitar:

The cutaway guitars are easy for finger-style to play high notes. The sound is less bass responsive. It means the sound of cutaway guitar is bright (much treble).

On the contrary, the non-cutaway is fuller sound.

However, the sound difference between cutaway vs. non-cutaway guitars is not big, just a little bit actually.

That’s my feeling when playing Yamaha FG700S and Breedlove Pursuit Concert.

I seldom play high notes, so I don’t care about access to the higher frets of cutaway. I like cutaway guitar because it looks cool, I’m really impressed with it, that’s all.

#6: Full Acoustic Guitar vs. Acoustic Electric Guitar?

The sound of both is the same if you play them un-plugged. When you play acoustic electric guitar by plugging it into an amp, the sound is different.

The electric acoustic guitar is used to perform on stage.

As a beginner, you don’t need to pay extra dollars for electric acoustic guitar; the full acoustic guitar is enough for learning to play.

#7: Price:

Around $200, you will have many options and get a decent for learning and practicing. Yamaha, Jasmine, Fender and Epiphone are brands that you can trust.

Personally, I recommend Yamaha FG700S for beginners. I’ve owned and played it for years. I’ll write a detailed review about it in another post.

If your budget is limited, Jasmine S35 is another good cheap acoustic guitar for choice. This is a rare good cheap acoustic guitar which doesn’t have “cheap” sound.

Buying the Best Acoustic Guitar for Beginners from Online retailers vs. Offline retailers.

Buying a best budget acoustic guitar from local music shops is easy. If you live near them, just go into and test the guitars before making a decision.

However, since you are a complete, utter beginner, you don’t know how to play it yet and don’t know how good sound is as well.

So what now?

If your friends play guitar well, you can ask them to help and test guitars for you.

Or you just visit guitar forums, reddit.com, and quora.com for pieces of advice. But be careful, you may be confused by many bits of advice out there.

Ask the sellers to play a song for you to hear the tune and sound or ask them for advice even though the information may be biased.

What About the Best Quality Acoustic Guitars To Buy For Beginners at Online?

Buying the best acoustic guitar online helps you save time. Some retailers such as Amazon, are easy to return the guitar if its quality doesn’t meet yours.

Here are the things you can do if you want to buy the best cheap acoustic guitars at online:

• Reading reviews, testing sound on Youtube.com and specific guitar forums.
• Reading reviews from purchased buyers.
• Check the price of some retailers to get the best price.
• Buying from retailers that you can easily return if you don’t like it.

Conclusion

Buying the BEST acoustic guitar for beginners is a KEY helps you learn to play guitar efficiently.

With me, the best quality acoustic guitar to buy for beginners means a good sounding acoustic guitar, nice looking and best budget price for the money.

Hopefully, the list of top rated acoustic guitars for beginners and the information on this post helps you get the best quality acoustic guitar for the money, and it can help you learn to play for years even after your skills are excellent.

Rock on.

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