Best Black Beginner Guitars: Acoustic and Electric

When you’re first starting out playing guitar, it’s understandable that you will want a great looking guitar. Black is a classic color, and still holds a lot of stylish appeal. Some guitar manufacturers, however, will produce black guitars to market to beginners who cannot evaluate quality well. The black paint can be used to hide low quality. If a guitar is painted black, it can be made out of any material without the buyer being able to see the actual wood grain of the top.

You, as a guitar buyer, need to know more information about a guitar than the color in order to determine if it is going to be a great beginner guitar for you.

The first thing you may want to do is identify some really great guitar players that you like. Chances are you like these players because of the sound they get out of their guitar, not just the color of guitar they play. You may not be able to afford the actual model of guitar that your idol plays, but you can learn a lot by being observant of the style of guitar he or she plays.

The biggest difference between guitars is your selection between an acoustic and an electric guitar. Acoustic guitars produce sound by vibrating a resonating wood box. Electric guitars produce their sound by sending an electric signal through a cord to an amplifier which then represents the sound that is produced by the vibrating metal strings.

Be careful of the salesperson who would prey on you and tell you to buy an acoustic/electric guitar because it is both acoustic and electric. Acoustic/electric guitars are actually just acoustic guitars with a pickup installed. You probably don’t want an acoustic if you want to play hard rock, metal, punk, electric blues, electric jazz, or other electric guitar styles. A rare group of musicians will attempt to create awesome electric guitar solos on an acoustic guitar. Monte Montgomery is one example, but he is the exception. It’s usually best to have separate guitars for acoustic and electric style sounds.

The following chart gives you a breakdown of some classic styles of guitars. Any of these guitar styles could be black, so focus on the other details that you are looking for as you decide what you want.

Within the category of acoustic guitars, which look like a wooden box with a neck attached, you can choose from classical or Spanish style and steel string acoustics. Classical guitars generally have a wider neck, softer tone sounds, easily played nylon strings, smaller bodies.

Steel string guitars usually feature a harsher and brighter tone great for strumming which is produced by the metallic strings. Steel string guitars are the preferred style for songwriters. Classical style guitars are usually preferred by classical music players and finger style players. Here’s a list of some of the best black acoustic beginner guitars.

One of the most important aspects of an acoustic guitar is the material of the top or soundboard. The top of the guitar produces much of the sound as the vibrations for the strings are transferred to it. Look for a solid spruce or cedar top. Cedar is a soft wood that is less common than spruce and produces a slightly warmer tone. The softer the wood the warmer the tone, and that’s why cedar and spruce are used.

Be careful when urged to buy anything other than solid wood top guitars. Many beginner black acoustic guitars are laminate top guitars. This is because the laminate top is cheaper to make, stronger and more durable, and easily hidden by the black paint. This is a feature you may not have the ear for yet, but you will within a year of playing. Buy a solid top guitar, even if it costs you an extra hundred bucks.

As you look for the perfect black acoustic guitar, understand that there are many manufacturers that produce many different options even at the beginner level. Here are some examples. Be sure to check ratings and reviews on the retail site to make sure others are having good experiences with the guitar.

If at all possible, listen to some youtube videos of the guitar being played. Even if you can’t play as well as the person, listen to the tonal qualities of the sound to decide whether it would be a good guitar to grow into as you gain skill. This will prevent you from buying a guitar you become unhappy with as you progress in your abilities.

One thing to listen for as you are watching the Youtube videos is the tone of the guitar. Tones range from bright and twang sounds to dull and dark. What you will generally want to hear is a full range of low, medium, and high frequencies. Some guitars will sound very thick but lack the high crisp sounds. Others will feature only nasal sounding mid range tone. While others will only feature the bright tinny sounds. When you choose a guitar that is evenly balanced you give your playing the opportunity to create any tones you want. For example, playing with a pick near the bridge will give you a brighter twang sound. Playing close to the neck will give you a thicker rounded soft sound. Pay attention to how fingers and picks sound as they pluck or strum the strings. Using a pick creates an attack that is much more bright than finger picking style.

Here’s a little secret about electric guitars that most sales people won’t tell beginners. At least 50% of your sound comes from the amplifier. The guitar could be the greatest guitar ever made, but it will sound horrible playing through a terrible amp. Eddie Van Halen proved that it doesn’t take a super expensive guitar to create some great tone by using a cheap guitar exclusively on an album. Plan to spend about as much on your amp as you do on your guitar.

The interaction between the guitar’s pickups and the amp’s interpretation of your guitar’s sound is essentially what produces the electric guitar magic. There are minor things such as the tonal difference between mahogany and maple wood bodies, ebony, rosewood, or maple necks, or body shape that can influence the sound.

The pickup configuration is another important thing to consider. The single coil combination of pickups like you find in a Fender Stratocaster is great for traditional American music such as blues and country. The humbucking double coil pickups like you find in a Gibson Les Paul will give you anything from thick Jazzy tone to a screaming squeal.