I need to buy an acoustic guitar for a teenager of 16 who is a beginner - any recommendations?

[msc545]

Also, any recommended aids to tuning since she does not know how?

[LiamJHayden]

For a beginner, a Yamaha APX or a Washburn. Both pretty inexpensive but decently built and stay in tune. That is super important to keep someone from being discouraged. Some of them have built in tuners. If not, a decent headstock tuner can be had for around $20. The D'Addario Equinox seems pretty accurate, definitely close enough for a beginner. There are many good resources online for tuning. I prefer using Paul Guy's method on acoustic guitars, because those pretty much have a set intonation and it equalizes any slight errors. It is below:

If you tune all the strings to the same reference string, you can avoid a small error on one string affecting all the others.

Tune the high E string to a reference: compare
5th fret E on the B string
9th fret E on the G string
14th fret E on the D string
7th fret E on the A string (one octave below)
5th fret harmonic on the low E string.

[msc545]

Thank you - a great reference that I will copy and give to her!

[LiamJHayden]

You are welcome.

[lightbulb27]

Taylor's are easy to play and they have lower end guitars. go to a store and haver her play some instruments and see which fits well, sound she likes, can afford, and plays easily.

Yamaha is/was good. a lot of stuff is made in mexico, can't say the quality anymore. the old japanese stuff was good.

there's other brands that weren't so expensive. there's a store in ohio filled with guitars ya can play.

[LazerBean]

Yamaha guitar and a basic tuner. You don't need an expensive tuner, just one of the $7 ones works perfectly and is easy to understand. I would say to bring her to a guitar store and let her try out different ones to make sure they feel right on her fingers.

[Nikki1989]

Yamaha's are pretty good value for a starter guitar.

[msc545]

Great suggestion! I have a Yamaha keyboard I like a lot!

any suggestions for easy guitar tuning? She does not know how.

[Nikki1989]

Buy a digital guitar tuner or go to YouTube for some great videos on how to tune a guitar. It is remarkably easy once you learn how.

[msc545]

I know how, but my friend's daughter does not. I tune by ear which took a long time to learn. I was hoping for an easier method...

[Apulu_Imback]

Yamaha's are the best for starters of any instrument. Even my keyboard is from Yamaha, it's no different for guitars too.

[ChillaxingLove]

There’s an app for tuning guitars