🎸 GEAR GUIDE
Gear We Actually Recommend
Students ask about this constantly, so here it is in one place: guitars, accessories, and strings worth considering at different budgets. Nothing here is sponsored, and nothing links to a store that pays us for the click.
🚫 No affiliate links, no sponsorships, no commission on anything below
01Guitars
The right first guitar depends on what you want to play and how much you want to spend, not on chasing the "best" one on paper.
Beginner · Acoustic
Yamaha F310 / FG800
Yamaha's budget acoustic line has been the standard beginner recommendation for years, for good reason. Consistent build quality, decent action out of the box, and easy to find almost anywhere in the world.
Why: Reliable enough that you're never fighting the instrument itself while you're still learning basic chords and strumming.
Beginner · Electric
Squier Bullet Stratocaster / Affinity Telecaster
Fender's budget line. Genuinely playable out of the box, and the Strat and Tele shapes mean you're learning on something that plays and looks like the real thing, not a toy version of it.
Why: Low string height and a light body make it comfortable for smaller hands and shorter practice sessions to actually happen.
Beginner to Intermediate · Electric
Yamaha Pacifica (PAC112V or similar)
Consistently one of the most recommended electrics in this price range, for good reason. The pickups and build quality punch well above what you'd expect for the cost, and it's a guitar you genuinely won't outgrow in the first couple of years.
Why: If you want one guitar that'll comfortably carry you from your first lesson through actually gigging, this is usually the answer.
👑 What I Actually Play
Cort X100
This is the electric I personally use for lessons, covers, and everything on Instagram. Cort doesn't get the name recognition of Fender or Gibson, but the build quality at this price point is genuinely hard to beat, comfortable neck, solid pickups, and it stays in tune reliably.
Why: If you're past complete beginner and want something that'll actually keep up as your technique improves, without spending Gibson money.
02Amps
An electric guitar plugged into nothing sounds thin and lifeless, and plugged into the wrong thing sounds worse. This one amp covers most people's entire journey.
Practice to Gigging
Boss Katana 50 (or the Mini/Air version for smaller spaces)
The Katana line is a modeling amp, meaning it can convincingly recreate dozens of different amp tones and comes with solid built-in effects, all through one unit. The 50 watt version is loud enough to actually gig with, but still sits comfortably in a bedroom for daily practice.
Why: Most beginners don't need five different pedals and three amps to find their sound, this one box genuinely covers clean, crunch, and high gain tones well enough that you won't feel like you're missing out.
03Accessories & Practice Gear
None of this is optional in the "nice to have" sense, a bad tuner or no metronome will slow your progress down more than a cheap guitar ever will.
Essential
Clip-On Chromatic Tuner
Any clip-on chromatic tuner from Snark, KLIQ, or D'Addario works fine. Clips onto the headstock, reads the vibration directly, works even in a noisy room.
Why: A guitar that's even slightly out of tune trains your ear wrong without you realizing it. Tune before every single session.
Essential
A Real Metronome (App or Physical)
The metronome built into your OKPHX dashboard covers this already, but a dedicated metronome app or a small physical one works too if you want it running separately while you practice.
Why: Timing is the single most common thing that separates "sounds okay" from "sounds good," and it's the easiest thing to actually fix.
Nice to Have
Capo
A basic spring-loaded capo, Kyser or Shubb are the usual recommendations, opens up playing songs in comfortable keys without relearning chord shapes.
Why: Not cheating. Plenty of recordings you already know use one.
Nice to Have
Strap, Cable, Picks
For electric players: a padded strap, a decent quality 10ft instrument cable, and a small variety pack of pick thicknesses (thin, medium, heavy) so you can actually feel out what suits your playing.
Why: Pick thickness changes your tone and control more than most beginners expect.
👑 What I Actually Use
Zoom G1X Four Multi-Effects Processor
This is my go-to for shaping tone, both for lessons and recording covers. It's a full effects and amp modeling unit with a built-in expression pedal, small enough to fit on a desk.
Why: If you're past the "just want to strum chords" stage and want to actually shape your electric tone without buying a wall of individual pedals, this covers most of what you'd need in one box.
👑 What I Actually Use
M-Audio M-Track Solo
A simple, affordable audio interface. This is what I run my guitar and mic through for recording.
Why: Only relevant once you actually want to record yourself properly, plugging a guitar straight into a laptop mic input doesn't work well, this does.
04Strings
String choice affects tone and playing comfort more than most beginners realize. Lighter gauges are easier on the fingers while you're building calluses.
Beginner Friendly
D'Addario EXL120 (Electric) / EXP16 (Acoustic)
Light gauge (9s for electric), easy on the fingers, and D'Addario is consistent enough that you'll always know what you're getting when you need to restring.
Why: Lighter strings mean less finger pain while you're still building calluses in the first few weeks.
Longer Lasting
Elixir Nanoweb / Optiweb
Coated strings that resist corrosion from finger oils and sweat, so they hold their tone noticeably longer than uncoated strings before going dull.
Why: Cost more upfront but need changing far less often, worth it if you practice daily and don't want to restring every few weeks.
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Why this page has no links to buy anything
Most "recommended gear" pages online are affiliate link lists, the recommendations are shaped by which retailer pays the highest commission, not what's actually good for a beginner. This page intentionally has no purchase links, no tracking codes, and nothing here earns OKPHX a cent. Search the exact product name on whichever store you already trust and compare prices yourself.
Not Sure What You Actually Need?
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