Instruments
Pick up an instrument.
The first instrument decides whether you keep going. These guides gather what makers publish, what specialist reviewers agree on and what players keep telling each other, so you can buy the right one once.
Buying guides
The Best Beginner Guitars
A first guitar should stay in tune, feel kind to your hands and suit the music you love. Six researched picks, acoustic and electric, from about $230.
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The Best Acoustic Guitars
From a solid-top Yamaha under $300 to an all-solid Epiphone J-45, six acoustics worth owning, and the few details that truly separate them.
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The Best Electric Guitars for Beginners
Six first electrics that play easily and hold their tuning, and a plain answer to the question that follows every one of them: what about the amp?
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The Best Electronic Drum Sets
Headphones keep the sound in your ears. The harder problem is the floor. Six kits, chosen for how they play and how much of them reaches the room below.
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The Best Keyboard Pianos for Beginners
Six keyboards for a first-time player, from a light 61-key starter to full 88-key hammer action, and the plain rules for choosing between them.
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The Best Bass Guitars for Beginners
Five first basses, three full-size and two short-scale, and the one decision that shapes how the instrument will feel in your hands: scale length.
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The Best Digital Pianos
Six 88-key weighted pianos from $500 to about $1,100, chosen for the things that last: the feel of the keys, the piano sound, and a sensible fit for the room.
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The Best Guitar Tuners
Being in tune is the cheapest improvement in music. Five tuners, from a $20 clip-on to a stage pedal, and how to choose between clip-on, pedal and app.
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The Best Violins for Beginners
Many cheap violins are violin-shaped objects that will not hold a tune. Here is how to avoid them, and five outfits that give a beginner a fair start.
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From the archive
Start a world instrument
How to Start the Lyre Harp
If the kora pulled you in, a small lyre harp is the most approachable way to begin with plucked strings, resonance, and slow pattern-making.
How to Start the Duduk
The duduk is close to the human voice because it asks for breath, patience, and a reed that actually works. Here is the honest beginner path.
How to Start the Oud
The oud is fretless, warm, and intimate. A good beginner path is less about ornament and more about setup, tuning, and one clean phrase.
How to Start the Kalimba
The mbira's gentle modern descendant is the easiest first instrument there is. Here's how to choose one that lasts, and what to play in your first week.