Whether you are thinking of purchasing an electric or acoustic guitar the overriding factor should be the ease of playing above and beyond sound and certainly looks. How comfortable the body shape sits with you is especially important if considering an acoustic as many acoustic body shapes are deep and wide causing extra physical effort on your part to play. This is not a problem for an experienced guitarist, but for a beginner it's an unnecessary potential hurdle which needn't be there. Steer in the direction of a slimline, small bodied guitar if possible.

Even more important is the feel of the neck. Does the guitar have a good fretboard 'action'. This is the distance of the strings to the frets.

This is the critical factor which determines how easy the instrument is to play. Learning to play and your guitar lessons should be fun and enjoyable and fighting with an instrument that has a poor action certainly is not so please pay attention to this when choosing.

Due to the above it's obvious how important it is to try guitars for yourself at a music store as opposed to just ordering something you like the look of on the internet!. Every individual instrument, even of the same brand and model can vary slightly so it's important to find the guitar that feels right to you in your hands. I would also strongly advise you pay no less than £100 if at all possible.

Reading reviews, checking forums and talking to people can all help towards making your decision and I'm sure there are many options out there I am not aware of. With so many products on the market it's not possible to know them all!.

I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers below but from my experience I would point you in the direction of the following popular brands and models.

• Yamaha Pacifica 012
• Yamaha Pacifica 112
• Epiphone Les Paul Special II
• Epiphone Les Paul 100

• Yamaha Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-15M
• Yamaha FG830
  
• Tanglewood TWCR-OE
  
• Epiphone DR -100
  

If you are undecided whether to start on an electric or acoustic please click the link to read my blog post.