Affordable steel string acoustic guitar model suggestion?

I have no clue about guitars, so can't really help you, but have a bump!

Your best bet is to go to a used guitar shop and spend time playing each one that is within your budget. The thing is I know many brands but it's better to go with what sounds good and also the sound you are looking for since they are all different.

Brand and look don't matter it's always about sound.

Look at Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar, if you saw it in a pawn shop you probably wouldn't want it, but man can that thing sing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgIB1OL09H0

Guitars are not like computers were money decides the quality, its your sound preference that will decide that. You should just go to your closest shop and try out some guitars. Also if you tell them your budget and style the seller might be able to help directing you to your desired guitar.

As for the lefty I recommend keep playing on right handed guitars. My sister is a lefty and played on left handed and that made lots of problems with getting guitars, you might need a custom made and in general its a pain (and I cant play on any of her guitars :( ), and I have met lefty that play on right handed guitars and did just fine.

https://www.songsterr.com/
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

along side youtube are your friends for self study

good luck!

This is a very niche topic to expect people to contribute to before entering the giveaways. Unless of course you want a bunch of 'I don't know anything about guitars, but ty for the giveaways' comments which don't really help :D. Anyway, I'm not interested in the games, but good luck in finding the right model for you.

Not a pro here. I bought an oscar schmidt classical nylon guitar 15 years ago in your price range, which is still doing fine. Pretty sure they have steel string models. You'd better wait for the stores to open though and choose one by yourself.

I started off with a $400 Ibanez (at a friend's recommendation) >10 years ago and still play it today. That's a bit above your range, but Ibanez does offer lower-priced options. I can't speak to the lower end items, but the quality of my pick has been great.

Not sure if this link will work for you in the EU: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez/Beginner--Guitars.gc

I'm more of a classical/Stratocaster guitars type but if I had to pick an affordable acoustic, I'd go for a Fender CD-60S or a used Alhambra.
I own a classical Alhambra 3C both the build quality and the sound are amazing. Got it used for around €300 in mint condition.

I'm also looking for a guitar .. will probably get used one if good deal comes up.. There has been some, but those are bought pretty fast. I'm looking for Les Paul type guitar at the same price as you..
Just wanted to ask - what about amp ? that is going to set you back another 100 eur.. at least one that's worth it. Or are you looking at acoustic guitar ? I didn't read all the comments so sorry if you already answered that. As for acoustic I think for 100 eur you can definitely get a good quality guitar.

As far as I have looked at reviews for the budget friendly beginner guitars the ones at this price are pretty good for someone to learn on. And as others have said - it's more the style you want to play and sound you want to get out of it not the price, so I think that's good price point.

Sorry about earlier, Eiion. Anyway, did you know that Dick Dale and Albert King are also left handed? Their trick, which is astounding to be honest, was to play their guitars upside down. It's absolutely ridiculous but it also works amazingly once perfected, allowing for some special chord structures and a unique way of bending strings. Here's a quick interview with Dick Dale about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxPzQcQXnOE

I am not a bot but I have no idea of guitars.

A wild bump appears...Sorry I don't know much about guitars.

Dont really know a lot about guitars

I'm not a pro player but I'm playing for more than 15 years now and I have Fender CD-60 NAT guitar and I can recommend it.

good luck finding a new guitar! I have no clue about them personally, but bump <3

then i think about cheap and good instruments its Yamaha brand . i have a classic nylon one C40 for about 5 years now.

Bump for help :)

Have a lefty bump 😄🤜

Start at the $300 USD mark. Take someone who plays with you, pick it up in person, and make sure the person who plays can confirm that the guitar has good "action" (the height of the strings above the fretboard, for the entire length of the fretboard). Cheap guitars will generally have bad action, and make playing a chore as a beginner. Too high, it will be very annoying and sometimes even painful to fret chords. Too low, the strings will constantly buzz against the fretboard instead of vibrating over it. The action of a guitar can be adjusted by a luthier, but if you can avoid that step at the start, it's probably better. imho, ymmv, etc.

I dont know anything about guitars, but i would like to know why you have me in your blacklist

One thing that's for sure is that you don't want to just go on amazon or ebay and just buy whatever cheap crap's on there (like brand-less or never-heard-of-brand). I bought both a 15€ and a 50€ guitars like this, and even though they sounds fine (or fine-ish) for the first couple of weeks, in the medium-to-long run you'll start to experience a variety of problems with them, the most common being that the mechanics on the head start to get loose/rusty for no good reason, or, worse, that the neck starts to bend inwards because of string traction...

So anyway, ,long story short, I would recommend sticking with a big or biggish brand, but buy their first-price model, you'll end up with a decent quality guitar that stands the test of time. I own a 3/4 Fender and a full size Takamine, both steel-string and both in perfect condition after (respectively) 6 and 15 years, and both cost me under 200€! Believe it or not, the Takamine sounds better (and it's quite easy to find in most guitar shops).

Check out garage sales and facebook marketplace ect

I bought a cheap acoustic off there a couple years ago for 20 bucks. Nothing fancy but sounds good enough. I have an electric with a broken pickup, so haven't really plugged in for a long time and fell off of playing. Getting a cheap acoustic that I can just pick up and put down whenever is nice. Also with a smaller kid in the house I don't care if she messes with it.

One day I will buy myself a Gibson but for now I am really happy with what I have.

I'm not a professional guitar player but I played that instrument in lots of recordings and shows. I've been a professional bass player for almost 20 years, though.

The thing about prices/brands is that they vary a lot depending on geographical location. Not as much as things like food, but still. Recommending something specific is almost impossible.

The most important thing in an instrument when you are starting out (which, if you haven't played for 25 years is close to what you are doing) is that you find it comfortable. If it sounds great, then all the better; but the main thing is that the easier it is to play, the less frustrated you'll get. Frustration is what leads to stopping playing when starting out/beginning anew, so... it's very important. You don't want to fight your instrument while you are trying to use your hands in ways that do not seem possible at first.

Also, at least in my opinion: any instrument you buy, be it used or new, has to be properly calibrated, fixed, er... whatever the english word for it is by a profesional. Even the priciest instruments come with intonation issues, strings too high/low, things like that. If you ask me, I'd rather buy a lesser guitar and spend some of the money on calibration; especially if I'm buying something cheap because there will be issues without a doubt. It shouldn't be too expensive (although, again, it varies depending on where you live), but finding someone who works well can be difficult. Someone that's not good can even ruin the instrument...

I am left-handed by the way, but I play right-handed because my brain doesn't work as it should (it's a long story). Still, I played a lot with one of the best guitarists in my country who is and plays left-handed and he told me several times that playing that way (he started as right-handed) changed everything for him for the better. It's not the only one that I heard say that, either. So given the circumstances (getting back after so long) it seems like it might be worth trying. You'll probably have way better coordination at the very least. And since you are buying an acoustic guitar, well... depending on the shape of the guitar you might be able to just put the string backwards and use the guitar upside-down as long as you play sitting down.

As for learning, the biggest hurdle is almost always frustration ("this is impossible!!!! throws guitar"). So I'd recommend going for things that you find fun. Set objectives ("I want to play this song". "I want to play with other people". "I want to impress this girl". "I want to bother my neighboors", whatever works for you) and work towards them. Try to find the lessons that go in that direction. And if something seems too difficult... leave it for later. As time passes you'll find that things start happening naturally, and then you can go in any direction. The difficult thing is reaching that point. After that, the sky is the limit.

Oh, and try to play everyday. Ten minutes, seven hours, it doesn't matter. But being constant is, for most people, the key to being a profficient instrumentalist. It's better to play fifteen minutes a day than 12 hours straight once a week.

My very best wishes!!! Hope this helped and you have lots of fun.

For acoustic, my go-to has always been Yamahas. Pretty cheap and ig you get what you pay for but I go to summer camp and i don't want to ruin a good guitar there. One time the head completely snapped off the neck for no reason which was a pain to replace while I was at camp, but it was clearly a defective model.

I can't speak on blues because I only play electric now. I love my Stratocasters and they are my children. I'm taking one to college with me along with a bass guitar and a ukulele.

I think the biggest thing that I struggle with is just the idea of comparing myself to others and never feeling good enough. It's made me dread playing bc I constantly think "what's the point?". If you're feeling like that, stop playing. Seriously. Take a week off and help yourself love it again. I didn't do that and wouldn't play for like a year. You need to accept your skill level and not compare it to others.

Hope that helps ig.

I am in a similar boat as you. I have a cheap electric guitar that I love -- Squier Bullet Mustang -- and would like to have an acoustic guitar in the same mode: cheap, decent sound, lean and lightweight.

At one point I was looking at the Yamaha APXT2, but not sure if that will be too small. The APX600 looks nice, though I believe considerably more expensive.

I am fairly new to guitars but here is my hot take on the matter.

Playing wrong sided is no issue as long as you are fine with it, plenty of people do it.

However, just keep in mind that the reason we use our dominant hand as the strumming hand is because has better dexterity and rhythm. The strumming hand does a lot of precise movements in a rhythmic fashion and has further technical aspects such as muting, fingerstyle, pinch harmonics, alternate picking,etc. Strumming with the dominant hand means that you can focus on the fretting hand more, where your eyes should be at all times anyways.

It is fine to stay the way you are since with practice you will slowly overcome it but you can choose to retrain yourself if you wish to do so as well. It'll be hard at the beginning again since your hands will be doing alien tasks all over again but this time progress will be faster due to you knowing what to train. Just train/play consistently every day, and you'll be fine in both direction.

I am not all that experienced with acoustic guitars sadly, I only have a crammy archtop. Whatever acoustic guitar you buy, make sure it is properly set up and that it feels nice to you. Frets, neck relief, intonation and action. Since acoustic guitars can't be adjusted easily or do not have the option of adjusting other than the neck relief, you need to make sure it is in good condition when you buy it. I guess brands like Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, Taylor, Takamine, Epiphone,etc, are trusted brands in this category but the prices and availability of brands depends a lot on your region. Don't toss away a guitar just because it is not a well known brand made in a well known country.

Also, while a cheap guitar nowadays is perfectly fine to practice and play on, don't expect it to last as long or feel as good as more proper budget guitars. Best to inspect the guitar in person to see if it feels right to you, bringing along a friend more knowledgeable in guitars might be a handy thing to do as well, since your friend can point out areas to look out for which you would've otherwise missed.

Blues is very much alive in the electric department too though. A budget Squire, Jackson, ESP, Epiphone or Ibanez amongst others are good starter guitars if you play to go on the electric route. Just keep in mind that different style of pick up configuration styles will change your tone. Oh and uh you need an amp, a cable and more expensive strings.

Acoustic and Electric guitars both produce hugely different sounds so make sure the sound you are looking for can be produced by the type of guitar you are buying. There are also semi-hollow bodies but they tend to be more expensive. Just check what type of guitar is used to make the songs you want to play.
Oh and uh the body shape and colour of a guitar does effect your playing, if you like the look of a guitar more, you are more likely to pick it up and to play it more enthusiastically so make sure to consult your eyes while buying as well.

Anyways, JustinGuitars's course (100% free) is something a lot of people recommend, including me. It might be boring but he wants you to learn HOW to play guitar, so in the long-run it's worth it. There's plenty of other online sources that help you kickstart your guitar playing but you should focus less on finding them and more on the actual playing.

Having a teacher is quite useful too, since that person can point out things and habits that you otherwise would be completely oblivious about. Though, not all teacher is good and sometimes you might not really connect with your teacher's style as well. Just because someone is good at guitars doesn't mean they are gonna be good at teaching.

If you know a few easy songs you like, you can watch tutorials online on how to play them, so that you are both learning and practicing, plus having fun playing songs you like. Oh and uh, from time to time revisit your older songs or lessons just to remind yourself that you are indeed improving and also just to polish your existing skills and arsenal further.