Are you looking for the best electric guitar under 100 dollars? Many of us are looking for the best cheap electric guitar but don't know where to look for your instrument. A budget electric guitar can be difficult to find, but they are out there. This guide is designed to help you find the best electric guitar around 100 dollars. It doesn't matter whether you're a beginner or you've been playing the guitar for quite some time, you can still find instruments for a lower price.
In general, these cheaper electric guitars are designed for newer and younger players, so you have to keep that in mind before you buy. If you're already playing the acoustic guitar, and want to try the electric guitar, it's advisable to buy a cheaper model because you might not like the electric guitar and you’ll waste a lot of money by buying a more expensive one.
To make it easy for you to find an affordable electric guitar, I've reviewed several of these instruments for you, so use this as a guide to buying an inexpensive electric guitar. It can be a lot of fun to play the electric guitar, so here are my best recommendations for a budget electric guitar to meet your needs.
Top 10 Best cheap electric guitars under $100
Guitar | Summary |
|---|---|
It has everything you need to begin playing | |
This guitar gives you plenty of value for your money | |
Awesome for beginners and its price | |
Don't let the low price fool you! You got more than what you paid for. | |
It would be fine for any small child that just wants to try out a guitar and have a bit of fun. | |
Great Electric Guitar Set for a Tween! | |
For its price, it was a amazing starter guitar | |
It has great playability for a cheapy | |
Like many budget electric guitars, you get what you pay for. | |
It's not perfect, but it's very good for the price. |
Davision Guitars: Full Size Black Electric Guitar with Amp, Case and Accessories
This electric guitar comes from the Davison Guitar company. They have a passion for creating guitars for beginners of all ages and musical ability.
It’s suitable for anyone that wants to play and gives you great value for your money.
This is a full-scale electric guitar and it comes with a maple neck. It features a humbucking pickup, so you'll get that popular rock sound. The guitar has diecast tuners as well as a chrome bridge, so you get better tuning stability.
This instrument also has a contoured body so it's easier to play than other electric guitars. It features a tone and a volume control. It comes with several accessories such as picks, string winder, guitar chord, case, pitch pipe, and strap.
The best part about this beginner guitar is it comes with a small amplifier which has a headphone jack as well as distortion built into the amplifier.
This this is one of the best electric guitars under 100 dollars since it comes with everything to get started.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
This electric guitar from Davison is one of the best electric guitars under 100 dollars you can get, but it's far from perfect (obviously). This guitar would be perfect for younger beginners, but older players won’t get that much out of it as it doesn’t have the features of higher priced guitars. Like most cheap electric guitars, it needs some adjustments before you play it.
RockJam Guitars: RJEG02-SK-SB Electric guitar Starter Kit
For the last 15 years, Rock Jam has been producing beginner electric guitars. This starter kit should get most musicians up and running with their first electric guitar.
This electric guitar is a full-size guitar which comes with guitar picks, spare strings, a strap, and a 10-watt amplifier.
There's a headphone output with the amplifier and there's also a guitar cable to connect your instrument.
This guitar even comes with a whammy bar, so you can do some string bending.
The instrument also comes with a spare set of strings, so you'll save money on strings.
This guitar features the famous Stratocaster style guitar design made popular by the Fender Musical Instrument company. The guitar has an excellent look to it as it has a high gloss finish.
The body of this guitar is made out of basswood and it comes with metal gear heads.
The best part about this instrument is it has both a volume control and two-tone controls as well as a selector switch. Many inexpensive electric guitars don't come with these great options.
You also get the standard three single coil pickups which makes this guitar an excellent value for its money.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
This guitar is perfect for beginners, but others may want to look elsewhere for a quality instrument. The amplifier is poor, so you may want to buy another one. It does come with all the accessories you need to begin playing, so it’s perfect for a new beginner with a very low budget as you won’t have to buy additional equipment to get started.
Best Choice Guitars: Full Size Blue Electric Guitar Starter Package
Best choice is a company that provides simple musical kits for their customers. They make electric guitars for both beginners and those with some experience.
This electric guitar features a hardwood body. The neck features a truss rod, so it can be adjusted.
This guitar comes with 22 frets which is standard on many electric guitars. The guitar has one volume knob and two tone controls as well as a pickup selector switch. The pickups installed on this electric guitar are standard single coil pickups.
You also get an amplifier with this instrument which features a drive button for some distortion. The amplifier features 10 watts and it comes with a guitar cable for plugging in your instrument. To keep the guitar safe from damage, you get in included a nylon gig bag. Other accessories include a guitar strap and picks.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
On the outside this electric guitar from the best choice looks decent enough. It’s one of the best electric guitars under 100 dollars on our list and good for beginners. Older players may want to look elsewhere as this guitar won’t play as well as higher prices instruments and may present some issues for you.
Directly Cheap Guitars: Blue Electric Guitar & Carrying Case & Accessories
This guitar features a contoured body for easy playing, so new users will be able to enjoy it. It features on modern rock look to it with easy to reach higher frets.
This guitar comes with a single humbucker pickup for those modern rock sounds and has a vintage-style looking tremolo system, so you get better sustain.
It has a 21-fret maple fretboard and a maple neck.
The saddles on this instrument are made out of chrome and it comes with jumble nickel alloy frets.
This guitar has a volume knob and a tone control, but there's no pickup selector switch with this guitar, so the sounds that you can make with it will be quite limited.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
Like all the guitars in this article, this guitar is not perfect. The guitar only has one pickup and limited sound selection so you're not going to get a wide range of sounds out of it.
Like many cheap electric guitars, you'll need to take this to a shop to get it adjusted before you play which will make using the guitar easier for you.
After all, this guitar will do anything you want and the price for what you get will surprise you. It's EXTREMELY reasonably priced.
Smartxchoices Guitars: 30" Inch Kids Electric Guitar With 5W Amp
Sometimes we have small children don’t want to learn how to play the guitar, but it can be hard to find instruments that are comfortable for them to play because most electric guitars are simply too big for them to hold.
This electric guitar produced by Smartxchoices Is a small 30-inch electric guitar design for very small children aged 3 years and up.
This guitar comes in a nice black and blue finish and it's made with a hard wood body. It's featuers 22 Frets and a rosewood fretboard.
You get a guitar strap, guitar cable, pics, and a small 5-watt mini amplifier which can even be clipped onto the clothing of your child, so they can carry it around with them. The guitar also comes with a nylon guitar case, so you can store the guitar when you're not using it. This instrument has a single volume knob and a single pickup for easy operation, that's why it's one of the best electric guitars under one hundred dollars that you can currently purchase.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
While this instrument has some issues and it's not the best overall quality, it's still would be fine for any small child that just wants to try out a guitar and have a bit of fun.
If you have older children, I would find something a bit better than this one as they won’t get as much use out of it. Make sure it’s setup at a shop to reduce tuning issues.
ZENY Guitars 39" Full Size Electric Guitar with Amp, Case and Accessories Pack
If you need a full body cheap electric guitar, look no further than the ZENY full size electric guitar. This guitar package comes with an amplifier, guitar case, and various accessories for your instrument.
It’s an easy guitar to pick up and begin to play for anyone that wants to learn guitar.
This guitar is made with all wood construction, has a smooth finish, and comes with steel strings. The maple neck has a truss rod, so it can be adjusted.
The guitar also has three single coil pickups, one volume control, and two tone controls along with a pickup selector switch. It has the classic Fender Stratocaster style to it. The included amplifier has a gain selector, so you'll be able to get a bit of distortion out of your amplifier. You also get picks with this guitar, an extra set of strings, and it has a whammy bar.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
Like many guitars cheap guitars under 100 dollars, you get what you pay for. This is a basic guitar for beginners that are just looking to strum a few chords or play their first few songs.
Jameson Guitars RWGT280 BK GCP Full Size Black Electric Guitar
It's a full size black electric guitar for those just getting started playing a musical instrument.
This full size electric guitar comes with a black high gloss finish.
It features a humbucking pickup, so you can get a full rock sound out of this instrument.
The guitar comes with guitar picks as well as a chord for an amplifier. This guitar is a simple way to start getting started playing electric guitar without spending a whole lot of money.
The instrument features a basic wood construction and has a maple fretboard. You get a volume knob and a tone control with this instrument, but there's no pickup selector switch so your choice of sounds won't be as good as other instruments.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
This is an inexpensive guitar under 100 dollars, but it does come with a few negative points. The build quality of this instrument isn’t that great, so you get what you pay for. It would be nice if the guitar had more accessories as you’ll spend more money when you compare it to similar models in this price range. If you want more value for your money, I would look at other kits.
Peavey: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Peavey Full Size Rockmaster Electric Guitar
Peavey is a famous electric guitar company and they been making musical instruments for many years.
This guitar features the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it's a full-size student style electric guitar.
This instrument comes with a high gloss finish and it's made from basswood.
The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. It’s perfect for students and young adults looking to learn how to play guitar.
You get a full guitar with all the features you need to begin playing right away. There's a volume and a tone control and one humbucking pickup so you have several sound options with this instrument.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
The best part about this guitar is it comes from the well-known guitar manufacturer, Peavey. You get an excellent beginner guitar for a very little money. Those that purchase this instrument, found that it played well for an instrument in this price range.
The downside to this instrument is that you need to buy more accessories when compared to similarly priced products.
Like many inexpensive cheap guitars, this guitar is missing some features which you’ll find on more expensive guitars. Despite the shortcomings of this instrument, it is one of the best electric guitars under 100 dollars and well worth the purchase.
Sawtooth Guitars: Rise by Sawtooth ST-RISE-ST-SB-KIT-1 Electric Guitar Pack
Sawtooth produces some basic electric guitars in several different finishes.
These guitars are perfect for beginners and it come in both a right-handed and left-handed version.
You can also get the full size as well as 3/4 size so they're perfect for both children and adults.
Instrument features a Basswood body and it has a maple neck. The guitar comes with chrome hardware and it has an adjustable bridge.
This guitar is designed after the famous Fender Stratocaster. It has three single coil pickups, one volume control, two tone controls, and a pickup selector switch. This guitar package also ships with a guitar strap, cable, gig bag, pick-pack, guitar amplifier, and an online lesson. You also get a pitch pipe with your purchase, so you can tune your instrument.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
Like many budget electric guitars, you get what you pay for. The guitar itself is fine for the money, although you might have to do a little bit of setup to get it to play properly.
The main drawback for this cheap electric guitar, is that the amplifier itself is just not very good. You'll probably want to buy a decent small amplifier to get a good sound out of this electric guitar package.
It’s still a good bargain for beginners that are just getting into playing the guitar, but don’t expect a whole lot out of this guitar package.
Costzon Guitars: 39" FULL SIZE Electric Guitar, with Case and Accessories Pack for Beginner
This guitar by Costzon Has everything you want to get started. If you're looking for an inexpensive electric guitar under $100, this is one you might want to consider.
You get a solid wood electric guitar with a rosewood fingerboard and it has a maple neck with an adjustable truss rod.
This guitar comes with 21 frets as well as one volume control and two tone control knobs.
You also get a selector switch for the three single coil pickups.
This guitar is based upon the famous Fender Stratocaster design so it's an easy to play guitar that's comfortable for anyone to hold. The guitar comes with a gig bag as well as several accessories such as picks and an extra set of strings. You get a guitar strap with this instrument as well as an instrument cable to plug into your amplifier.
Pros
Cons
Overall Thoughts
This is another budget guitar under one hundred dollars that you might want to consider, due to its value.
It does have an attractive look and you can begin playing right away. It lacks some of the accessories of other guitar kits in this price range, so you’ll need to spend a bit more money.
Like many cheap guitars, you’ll need to get it setup properly if you don’t know how to do this to get the most out of your guitar.
What to Look for In A Budget Electric Guitar under $100?
To find the best electric guitar under 100 dollars you need to find a guitar that is suitable for you. It's important to play the guitar if possible to determine if it's the best fit for you or not. Some electric guitars may be too uncomfortable to play. For example, the neck might be too wide for your hands, so fingering various chords and scales can be a real challenge. The most important factor in buying an electric guitar is the playability and comfort that you have when playing that instrument.
Features to Look For
Cheaper electric guitars won't have as many features as the more expensive ones, but they still have certain features you need to be aware of.
A budget electric guitar is going to have a tone control, as well as a volume control. Some of them may have a selector switch for the various pickups or they might not have a selector switch at all, it all depends on the various models.
You should also make note of the pickups that come with the electric guitar. Most pickups on inexpensive electric guitars are going to be very cheap. This is particularly the case with even the best electric guitar under 100 dollars. One thing that you can do to change how the electric guitar sounds is to change these cheap pickups into better pickups. If you don't know how to do this, you can simply have a guitar technician at a music store install better pickups in your electric guitar. Please note that this is going to cost you extra money, so you might not want to go this route.
Another thing you should look at when buying budget electric guitars is that the guitar it doesn't have any flaws. You should make sure that the neck of the guitar is fairly straight and that the strings are not too far off of the fretboard because this can indicate that the guitar has a warped neck, and this is not suitable for regular playing. It's also important to note that a cheaper electric guitar probably won't have a perfect finish and there may be a few flaws on that finish as this is simply because the guitar doesn't cost a lot of money.
So, You Have an Electric Guitar Suitable for Beginners! What Now?
- Strings
Electric guitar strings that come with an affordable electric guitar are going to be very cheap. It's advisable that you change the strings right away because the strings on these guitars won't sound very good. There are several gauges of strings that you can get for an electric guitar. Most newer players are going to go with the 009-gauge string because the 010-gauge strings are going to be a little bit too heavy for a beginner to play. Please only put strings of suitable for an electric guitar on your instrument. Do not put acoustic guitar strings on an electric guitar because you may ruin the guitar and you won't get the proper sound out of it. Regular nickel-plated strings are usually the best bet for your electric guitar.
- Amplifiers
Most inexpensive electric guitars will come with a small amplifier. For beginners, these small amplifiers are usually perfect to get started out on. Please keep in mind, that these small amplifiers are not suitable or any sort of performance such as a concert because they simply don't put out enough volume and they don't sound that great. This sort of amplifier it's just a suitable for basic bedroom practice and nothing else. You should not expect an excellent tone out of this type of amplifier it's just for simple practice. If you decide you want to keep playing the electric guitar, then you can buy a more expensive amplifier and go from there.
- Accessories
A few things you should pick up in addition to getting an electric guitar include guitar picks, a music stand, instructional books, a guitar strap, and an electronic tuner. The most important accessory that you're going to need is an electronic tuner, so you can get the guitar into the right tuning prior to playing it. You can of course by whatever accessory that you want for your guitar, but these are the basic ones that you should have in addition to your amplifier.
Conclusion
Please keep in mind that although these are the best electric guitars under 100 dollars, they are really just suitable for basic beginners or those that just want to pluck a few strings from time to time. If you're more serious about playing in the electric guitar, it's a good idea to step up in price range as you'll get a better playing instrument and you'll have more fun.
There's plenty of inexpensive electric guitars out there for you to choose from. The guitars in this guide are going to get you started on your road to enjoying playing the electric guitar. To get the most out of the new guitar, it’s a good idea to some lessons.