Electric Guitar Accessories: What You Need to Get Started
Electric Guitar Accessories
Learning how to play guitar is one of the most rewarding experiences possible. You get a skill that can let you make music. You can make music with friends, write your own songs, or play on stage. The guitar can create memories that last forever. Learning Guitar will require some tools that you may not have expected. You will need:
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Tuners
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Strings
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Picks
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Straps
Tuners
The most important thing you will need is a tuner. It is the most important because if the guitar is out of tune, it will never sound good. There are many different forms for a tuner. You can get a phone app, a headstock tuner, or a plug-in tuner. GuitarTuna is the go-to phone app for tuning your guitars. It’s super simple. Just open the app, play the strings, and it will show you how close you are to the target note.
Headstock tuners are a great option. You will get more accuracy than a phone app, and they aren’t very expensive. Snark is the name brand in this area. They have headstock tuners designed for most stringed instruments.
[products=snark]
Another popular headstock tuner that we have encountered is the Cool Music T01. It has a large screen display. You can switch between guitar mode, bass mode, Ukulele mode and chromatic mode. If you want a giant screen the T01 is for you. They also have other tuner options as well.
[products=cooltuners]
Plug-in Tuners most commonly take the form of pedals. They are the most accurate tuners because they plug-into your instrument. They also let you tune while the room is loud. If you’ve played guitar with drummers, you know that it is hard to tune while they are playing. Plug-in tuners allow you to tune anywhere.
[products=plugintuners]
Strings
Strings are the 2nd most important things for a guitar accessory. The reason is that new guitars come with strings. You won’t need some for a while, but choosing a pack that you like is helpful later. The two most common guitar sizes for strings are 9-42s and 10-48s. These measure the thickness of the strings. Most beginners start on 9-42s because they are easier to play. 10-48s have more output than the 9-42s. A lot of players prefer the sound of 10-48s.
The next choice to make is what brand you want. One of the cheapest brands available for electric guitar strings is Ernie Ball. They have any gauge of string you want. We recommend the Super Slinky or Regular Slinky strings when you are getting started. The drawback to Ernie Ball strings is that they lose their tone very quickly. If you want strings that sound pristine for a long time, Ernie Ball is not the string for you.
[products=slinkys]
D’Addario strings are another popular brand. They are more expensive than Ernie Ball, but they keep their tone a little bit longer. D’Addario strings are the standard strings that Sweetwater uses when they set up guitars. They are a good string that I used to use.
[products=daddario910]
Elixir strings are a coated string that have the longest shelf life. They can keep their tone for months. This means you don’t need to change them as often as other brands. A common complaint about coated strings like Elixir is they are too bright. They aren’t the natural guitar string tone that a lot of players are used to. If you want longer shelf life out of your strings, Elixir is a great option.
[products=elixir910]
Stringjoy is a brand I recently started using. They have coated, and non-coated options. They wrap each string over 7000 times. The coated options sound less bright than Elixir because of how they coat them. If you wanna learn more about Stringjoy, check out this article.
[products=stringjoy910]
Picks
Picks are super important for guitar players because they touch the strings. Picks are a super personal choice for most players. There usually isn’t a right or wrong answer. If you are a beginner, you will want a thin to medium gauge pick. If your pick is too heavy, you can break strings. Here are some variety packs of picks that will help you get started. Take the variety pack and try to find one you like. Once you do that, take that pick and buy a pack of them.
[products=varietypicks]
You will probably change picks over the lifetime of learning guitar. You will probably start with a thin pick and get thicker picks the more you learn how to strum and pick lightly.
Straps
The next thing you’ll need is a strap. Straps are also super easy. All you have to pay attention to is the look. Ernie Ball has some cool designs. Fender has some cheap basic straps. Straps are designed to hold the guitar. There aren't a lot of different usage options. Click this link to check out all Roxy Music straps.
There is one exception to this rule: locking straps. They keep your guitar safe and won’t fall off. D’Addario has some of the best locking straps on the market. They come in leather and nylon. This will let you choose be
[products=autolock]
If you want to use a different designed strap, you can still get strap locks for cheap.
[products=straplocks]
Guitar Accessories are some of the most important tools for learning guitar. Without them, your guitar would be a stringless block of wood with some wiring at the bottom. These accessories help us build our tone and define who we are as players. If you are looking for other accessories that we didn’t cover, click the link to check out all Roxy Accessories.
