Guitar Packages For Beginners – An Essential Guide

Guitar packages for beginners are a great way to get everything we need to start playing guitar in one spot! Let’s explore some options!

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In this free lesson you will learn…

• What to look for in a guitar package
• Why you shouldn’t stress over finding a big amp
• Some of our favourite guitar packages for beginners
• Why guitar packages are great for beginners

Guitar Packages For Beginners Are A Great Way To Get You Started!

When we first start out playing the guitar, there can be a lot of factors to consider.

• The right cable, a guitar that fits, a reliable pick and a good amp are just a few of the things we need to think about when buying our first guitar.
• Thankfully, many larger guitar companies offer guitar packages for beginners that throw everything into the mix from the guitar to the amp and everything in between.

In this free guide, we’re going to break down some of the best guitar packages for beginners and why we think they’re so awesome.

A solid guitar package isn’t just a good guitar with a decent amp.

• Many great guitar packages for beginners even stock us with picks, a cable and an extra set of strings to make sure we don’t want for anything while we begin learning this majestic instrument.
• Guitar companies take new guitarists very seriously because they represent a new generation of consumers who will go on to (hopefully) buy their higher-end instruments further down the line. With that in mind, many of them do a great job of building and selling high-quality guitar packages for beginners.

So let’s start by breaking down all the things that come in one of these packages, and how to find the right one for you!

Why Buy A Guitar Package For Beginners?

Guitar packages for beginners are fantastic because they give you everything in one spot, rather than leaving you searching for all the individual parts you need to complete your first guitar setup.

• Your typical starter guitar package will come with a guitar, a small amplifier, a pack of picks as well as a guitar cable to plug into the amp.
• These guitar packages are typically quite affordable, making it easy for most anyone to pick up and learn the guitar!

Don’t be fooled! These guitars will do everything that you want them to in order to help you learn the basics of the guitar. These starter-style guitars are made from wood just like any other guitar. You won’t find any plastic guitars here!

Finding A Guitar That’s Right For You

With the variety of guitar packages for beginners out there lately, you’ll be happy to know that you have options.

• Many of these options are aimed at younger musicians who want to get a feel for the shape and sound of the guitar.
• With this, many companies might make specially-made guitars that are slightly smaller to help a younger guitarist grow into the feel of the guitar.

It’s important to note that you should try many different guitar shapes and styles before settling on one that is right for you.

Pro Tip: Guitar companies aren’t the only ones who make guitar packages for beginners!

• Music stores will often offer entry-level instruments paired with a beginner-level amplifier at a discounted price in order to get newer guitarists interested without breaking the bank.
• If you live in a larger city, your local music shop may even distribute a flyer with their monthly deals. Keep an eye out in order to see what goes on sale!
• Starter packs from companies like Ibanez, Epiphone and Fender Squier all offer different guitar shapes that you may be more or less inclined to play on.

Experiment in your local guitar store to find what shape you like best!

Guitar Packages For Beginners Come With Great Starter Amps

Let’s clear one thing up quickly:

You don’t need anything fancy when you’re learning to play guitar.

• Yes, we understand. With all of the glamour and glitz of the guitar world, it’s hard to resist that $3,000 EVH 5150 amplifier. I mean, it sounds just as good as it looks, after all.
• However, it’s not practical at this stage, nor will it help you at all.
• A small 10-watt amp is all we need to start out with in order to learn the foundation of the guitar.

Guitar packages for beginners will come with a small amplifier to keep you plugged in and rocking out.

• Many of these amps will even have a built-in distortion channel so you can play along with your favourite Rock tunes. An added bonus that has been added in recent years is an auxiliary jack for plugging in your phone or music device.
• This allows us to play our favourite songs through our amp and jam along!

It’s a lot easier to learn when you have something to play along to, and auxiliary jacks make it easier for us to get closer to our favourite pieces of music!

Pro Tip: 10 watts may not look like much on paper, but it’s certainly enough to fill a small room by yourself! As many guitarists get older, they find themselves touring with smaller amps over larger ones.

Don’t be fooled by the amp size war on the internet – a small amplifier will do you just fine.

Guitar Packages For Beginners: Finding The Right Pick

Although guitar packages for beginners will stock you with a few different picks, we strongly recommend you buy a few extras at your local music store.

Experimenting with guitar pick size is an important step in becoming a guitarist, and should not be overlooked.

Try out different thicknesses against your guitar strings to see what they feel like, and buy a few to take home with you!

We recommend trying 1mm and 2mm guitar picks to completely feel the difference in pick thickness.

Guitar picks (also known as plectrums) are a very individual taste, and it can take a very long time before you settle on one that you’re truly comfortable with.

Pro Tip: We encourage you not to worry about settling on one guitar pick. There are a world of different options out there to be explored, and we think that variety is the spice of life!

• Every guitar pick that you try will give you a different grip on the guitar, and many guitar packages for beginners will give you a few different thicknesses to try out.
• Every pick is completely different from the last from the materials used to how it’s made. Picks can make all the difference in our overall sound, so try as many of them as you can to find the ones you like!

Make The Connection! Good Cables Are Important!

A guitar cable can make a world of difference in our sound quality, as well as in our playing.

All guitar packages for beginners come stock with a guitar cable, and they are usually pretty reliable to boot!

• It’s important to learn how to preserve your cable properly, and that comes down entirely to how you wrap it.
• For that, we love this article by Sweetwater on how to properly wrap your cables for a long lasting life.

Cables can break and damage easily if we just toss them around without wrapping them, so take caution!

Pro Tip: We strongly recommend investing in a good cable wrap to go along with whichever of these guitar packages for beginners that you settle on.

Cable wraps help us keep our cables organized and colour-coded.

• As you get further into playing guitar, you will begin to collect more and more cables. You’ll want to keep these organized so they don’t get coiled together.
• Nobody wants to clean out a rats nest full of cables, so grab yourself some velcro cable wraps here.
• Staying organized will make your life a lot easier in the long-term!

Find The Guitar That’s Most Comfortable For You!

Regardless of what type of guitar package you go with, you should find an instrument that fits you well and feels comfortable to play.

The last thing anyone wants is to be uncomfortable while playing the guitar!

• The shape of guitar that you’re most comfortable with is a personal thing, so make sure to try out a few different models.
• For this reason, it’s good to try out some of the main styles of guitar you will encounter most often. We’ve listed them in the section below so you know exactly what to look for.

Some of the most popular styles of guitar that you will encounter are:

• Gibson/Epiphone Les Paul
• Fender/Squier Stratocaster
• Fender/Squier Telecaster
• Ibanez RG

Pro Tip: These guitar styles are popular because they provide a great sound at an affordable cost, and most are available in guitar packages for beginners as well.

A Les Paul-style guitar uses humbucker pickups, and weighs quite a bit more than some other guitars. This additional weight gives the Les Paul a much thicker guitar tone as well, which is ideal for some beginner players.

The Stratocaster-style guitar uses three single-coil pickups for a hotter, thinner guitar tone.

• These guitars are traditionally lighter than a Les Paul and thus much easier on the back when played standing up.
• These guitars also come fitted with a whammy bar as an added bonus.

Another product of Fender, the Telecaster has a slightly heavier weight to it and as such offers a thicker guitar tone compared to the Stratocaster.

• Both of these guitars use single coil pickups, but the Telecaster typically only uses two.
• These guitars have a twangier tone to them than their Strat cousins, and are used a lot in Country music.

The Ibanez RG design is cut out for players who dream of shredding.

• With a fast neck and a deep-cut shape, these guitars will make us feel like a rockstar from the first day we pick up the guitar.
• Some of them come fitted with a whammy bar as well!

You Can Try Out Some Guitar Packages For Beginners In-Store!

This is super important!

As we’ve stated above, many local music shops will offer package deals on guitars and amps in-store.

• Many shops will also have entry-level guitars out on display to be tried out. This is a great chance for us to see what we like and don’t like in a guitar!
• Some of these guitars are available in guitar packages for beginners, making this a great chance for you to familiarize yourself with those available guitars.

Pro Tip: Try out your guitar options through a cheaper amp. Scroll down to find out why!

Trying a cheaper guitar through a more expensive amp can skew our vision when it comes to the type of guitar we want.

Trying out a guitar through a middle-of-the-road amplifier means we will hear everything from that guitar minus the gloss and shine of an expensive amplifier.

• This will help us better determine if this is the guitar we want or not.
• Don’t be fooled – Many amps can make us sound seemingly better when we are first starting out.

The shine and glamour of an expensive amp can be deceiving, so avoid trying guitars through anything more than a $500 amp.

Our Favourite Guitar Packages For Beginners

We obviously can’t let you leave without giving you a list of some of our favourite starter packs, and you know how much we love lists.

We’ve done some research and put together some of the best guitar packages for beginners that offer the player the most amount of value.

Pro Tip: It’s important to remember that these bundles are aimed at the absolute beginner, so you won’t be getting master craftsmanship with these guitars by any means.

These guitars are still well-built, so they’ll be able to take whatever you throw at them (unless you’re throwing your guitar at a wall).

Check out our favourite guitar packages for beginners below:

• Squier Affinity Series Starter Pack
• Epiphone Les Paul Starter Pack
• Ibanez Jumpstart Starter Pack
• Sawtooth ST-ES Starter Pack
• LyxPro Electric Guitar Starter Pack

Where Do I Go From Here?

If you want to learn more about guitar packages for beginners, we recommend:

• Talk to a sales rep at your local guitar store
• Have a look on Google and Amazon for good deals
• Try as many guitars as possible!
• Watch this video on Squier Starter Packs

Recommended Resources

If you enjoyed this guide from National Guitar Academy, we’ve got plenty more in stock for you below!

• 10 Easy Songs On Guitar
• How To Play Guitar Chords
• 5 Songs For Beginners
• Three Chord Songs