5 Best Acoustic Guitars for Beginners (2022 update)

Parent article: Best Acoustic Guitars

1. Yamaha FG800

Pricing from Other Vendors

Price Alert (based on Sweetwater retail)

Price History (based on Sweetwater retail)

IDEAL FOR: Beginners and stingy budgets

2. Taylor BT2

Pricing from Multiple Vendors

Price Alert Tool (based on Sweetwater retail)

Pricing History (based on Sweetwater retail)

IDEAL FOR: Beginners, kids, travel guitar, and practice sessions

3. Martin LXK2 "Little Martin"

Pricing from Multiple Vendors

Price Alert Tool (based on Sweetwater retails)

Price History Graph (based on Sweetwater retail)

IDEAL FOR: Small hands, beginners, practice, and performing

4. Fender CD-60s

We'd consider this a major point of value for the CD-60E. In some cases, we've even thought the plugged-in tone sounded better than the guitar's natural resonance. The preamp has a two-band EQ, volume, a tuner, and a battery life indicator. If you buy the CD-60, we'd recommend grabbing the acoustic-electric "E" version to take advantage of this feature. If you plan to go purely unplugged, look elsewhere in our best acoustic guitar for beginners list.

Read the full review: Fender CD-60S

Pricing from Multiple Vendors

Price Alert Tool (based on Sweetwater Retail)

Price History (based on Sweetwater Retail)

IDEAL FOR: Plugging in, beginners, and budgets

5. Fender FA-100 or 115

A step down from the CD-60 line, the FA-1115 is one of Fender's more popular acoustics without any solid wood. This makes it cheaper and means it almost always comes in a bundle or "package" option. The package comes with everything you need to get started like a strap, gig bag, picks, and even extra strings. We did notice that different marketplaces selling this guitar will sometimes offer variations of that packaging, though it's all similar.

The FA-115 doesn't sound as good as acoustics with the solid top, like the CD-60S and the Yamaha FG800. That's a consequence of an all-laminate tonewood mixture in a super-cheap acoustic guitar. However, it plays nicely and is easy to maneuver. Those looking for gift guitar, perhaps for a child or a pure beginner, should consider the FA-100 and FA-115 bundles. They're both great options for getting started.

Pricing from Multiple Vendors

Price Alert Tool (based on Sweetwater Retail)

Price History (based on Sweetwater Retail)

IDEAL FOR: Pure beginners, kids, and budgets

Why You Can Trust Guitar Chalk

Bobby Kittleberger, Guitar Chalk's founder and senior editor, has been playing guitar for nearly 25 years. He has used the acoustics in this list (owned several of them) and has consulted people that have also owned or played them extensively. In other words, this page has been created and informed by people who have literally played hundreds of acoustic guitars over a period of several decades. 

The research and analysis we put together is either firsthand or drawn from someone who has had firsthand experience with the acoustic guitars in question. We do not recommend instruments where we cannot verify our claims about them.

We pool information from people who own their own recording studios, perform live on a regular basis, teach guitar, write for major magazines, and - on occasion - we even get feedback from professional artists and guitar players. A handful of names that we've consulted with include:

• Paul Coleman
• Tommy Emmanuel
• Eric Johnson
• Linda Taylor (of Whose Line Is It Anyway)

We also have contacts at a number of big-name manufacturing companies, including the following:

• Seymour Duncan
• Taylor Guitars
• Paul Reed Smith Guitars (PRS)
• Keeley Effects
• AmpTweaker

These are just a few companies we've worked with. Making sure we have contact with manufacturers helps us make sure we're providing accurate information and up to date product info. All of this is to say that you can trust our recommendations are at least born out of a genuine interest and real-life experience with the acoustic guitar. You might disagree with our ratings or wish we covered something different, but either way you're getting information from real people and actual musicians.

Rating System and Methadology

When we put together a list like this one, we make sure to put all the acoustic guitars included through a ratings system. For individual acoustic guitar reviews there are seven rating categories. For roundup lists like this one, we boil those down into four categories that make the ratings simpler, and more straightforward.

They include:

• Tone
  
• Preamp/Electronics
  
• Construction
  
• Cost/Value

These four categories give you a high-level view of how an acoustic guitar performs compared to similar options. Each one is given a rating on a scale of zero to 100. If you want more detail, individual review pages house the more comprehensive ratings. When analyzing and rating an acoustic guitar we take into consideration how it sounds, how easy it is to play, the natural tone quality, the electronic tone quality (if applicable), the flexibility of the preamp, the quality of tonewood used, and the interior bracing system, just to name a few.

While there are other specs that you can look at, how we rate an acoustic guitar is more closely related to how it performs when it's actually being played. We'd argue it's difficult to rate an acoustic guitar based simply on a spec sheet alone. That's not a review as much as it's a product summary.

To really understand how an acoustic guitar performs, you have to hear and feel it for yourself. That's why our analysis and ratings are based on tangible, real-world experience, and given with as much objectivity as possible. 

Value Chart

Since we've taken the time to build out a full ratings system for all these acoustic guitars, we can take those ratings and plot them against the approximate price of each model. This gives us what we call a "value graph" where guitars that land lower and further to the right have higher value (lower price combined with higher quality). Here's how the beginner acoustic guitars in this list stack up to one another:

Tone

The tone quality rating we use in roundup articles is taken directly from the same rating category in individual reviews. We give this grade based on how the acoustic guitar sounds in a number of scenarios. How does it sound with a pick? Does it sound full and warm or does is sound thin and weak? What about the high-end notes? How much sustain do you get out of open chords? How does it sound plugged in? These are just a few of the questions you can ask when evaluating the tone quality of an acoustic guitar.

It's important for beginners to be able to analyze this rating because we believe tone quality matters a lot, even in cheaper models. Because if you end up with something cheap that has terrible tone, it's going to ultimately discourage you - as a beginner - and make it hard for you to progress and become a better player.

Here's how the tone ratings square up for the beginner acoustic guitars we've reviewed on this page:

In the above graph, you can see we rated the Taylor BT2 higher in this category, despite the fact it doesn't have a solid top. We just thought it sounded better than the FG800, and was able to handle a wider tone range at a higher quality standard.

Once you get into the Fender guitars, you lose a fair amount of tone quality, though we still like them for beginners. Anything rated 80 or above we'd consider passable for at least semi-professional use and performing. Going into 60s and 70s we'd limit those recommendations strictly to simple practice sessions.

Preamp and Features

For the preamp and features category we look at the electronic mechanisms and how well they perform in each acoustic. If an acoustic doesn't have this feature, we'll omit the rating or (if we're able) test it with a microphone. We look for preamp features, EQ flexibility, and how well an electronics system mirrors the acoustic's natural tone and resonance. 

Of the acoustic guitars we've recommended in this list, the Fender CD-60S has the nicest preamp and pickup system. It's a Fishman outfit, which provides a two-band EQ, volume control, battery life indicator, and a chromatic tuner. Its effectiveness will depend somewhat on what it's plugged into. But we found it to be one of the nicer acoustic preamps we've tested and actually sounded better - in most cases - than the guitar's natural resonance. Though most beginners don't prioritize a preamp, those that are prioritizing it should seriously consider the CD-60S. A lot of what you're paying for in that guitar is the nicer electronics. Keep in mind, this only applies to the "E" version, which means you'd be looking for the CD-60SE or CD-60SCE.

Moving down the list, the Yamaha FG800 and the Martin LXK2 both have similar "E" versions that provide a built-in preamp and pickup. In the FG800 you have the System 66 preamp that's built by Yamaha with a three-band EQ and a piezo pickup installed under the bridge. On paper, this is the most functional preamp of the three guitars, though we didn't think it sounded quite as good as what the Fishman preamp was able to produce, even on a cheaper guitar. Still, the System 66 gets you a lot of versatility, throwing adjustable mid-range and a tuner on top of the three-band EQ. Had it performed better in the tone department; we'd rate it closer to the Fishman in the CD-60SE. 

We rated the Martin LXK2's electronics based on a version of the acoustic that usually shows up in the form of the LX1E. That guitar uses a Fishman Sonitone pickup and preamp, where the preamp is installed under the sound hole of the guitar. It's only a volume and single EQ knob, which we don't like as much as either of the other two systems represented in this list. It gets you plugged in, but there's little versatility there without an additional pedal or external preamp to help control your tone.

The Taylor BT2 and Fender FA-100 do not have electronic versions that we were able to test.

Build Quality

Even the nicest beginner acoustic guitars don't score great in this category. An acoustic's build is the most straightforward ways for a manufacturer to cut costs. This means that things like tonewood, construction, bracing, and other physical aspects of the guitar's body will take a hit in quality. When assessing this category, we're looking at all those factors, particularly whether or not there's any solid tonewood in the guitar. In some cases, even with cheaper acoustic guitars, you'll find a solid piece of Spruce for the top. Here's how these acoustics scored in our build quality rating:

As you can see, one of the first things we look for to determine build quality is a solid top. Of the five beginner acoustic guitars we've recommended here, only two of them have it, the FG800 and the CD-60s. This is definitely a source of disappointment for the Taylor and Martin options, especially because they're more expensive. Though you can have different grades of wood, which is often harder to determine. You also need to consider how the tonewood projects the sound of the guitar, which isn't necessarily better just because it has a solid top. That's a good starting point, but not the only consideration.

Conclusion

In almost all of these categories, not to mention our value graph, the Yamaha FG800 is a major standout.

We'd consider that an easy best acoustic guitar for beginners pick, even among strong plays from the Martin and Taylor acoustics. For folks that want a beginner acoustic with a good preamp, we'd recommend the FG800 or the Fender CD-60SE or SCE.

For travel or easier playing, the Martin LXK2 and the Taylor BT2 would be our top choices.

Questions and Comments

Do you have questions about our list or review process? If so, feel free to leave them in the comments section below and we'll do our best to help out.

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