The must-have best guitar pedals for beginners
When you’re starting out on guitar, the sheer number of pedals available can be overwhelming. Which ones do you need? And which ones are just for advanced players? In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the best guitar pedals for beginners. Whether you’re looking for distortion, reverb, or modulation effects, we’ve got you covered. So read on to learn more!
You like to have just a little bit of distortion, maybe delay. Maybe they’re coming from another instrument. They never use pedals. Really? What is the must-have guitar pedals for a new guitar player?
In this article we’re going to answer Should beginners use guitar pedals? What pedal should every guitarist have? What should your first guitar pedals be? How do I choose guitar pedals?
So let’s jump in and answer what are the best guitar pedals for beginners.
Should beginners use guitar pedals?
The simple answer is yes! Guitar pedals can help you create a wide range of sounds, from subtle effects to experimental noise. They’re also a lot of fun to experiment with. However, it’s important to start with the basics and work your way up. There’s no need to buy a dozen different pedals right away.
Playing with classic pedals can actually make learning more exciting and can accelerate the learning process. Guitar pedals will give you the opportunity to be more creative. When you get your first guitar pedal, which usually is an overdrive or distortion pedal, you will be closer to matching the signature sound of some of your favorite artists. Whether that Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or any other famous guitar players. Being able to match their guitar tones with your first pedal instead of a clean guitar tone when you play guitar.
The dry guitar signal is what most new guitar players are used to but when you add in an overdrive pedal or a delay pedal it is a game changer in your guitar tone.
Do you know what pedals must you have?
Let’s start by understanding that the majority of people looking to add pedals into their playing are playing electric guitar. That is because the majority of acoustic players aren’t using any guitar pedals. The tried and true over the years, you know, staple pedals that a lot of different players use.
The #1 Most Popular Beginner Guitar Pedals: Tuner Pedal
Best Guitar Pedals for beginners
So let’s say you’re playing an electric guitar. I would say the number one, most popular guitar pedal that you’re going to want is not a distortion, it’s actually a guitar tuner. You always wanna be in tune. It’s important. You’ll sound better. You’ll feel better when you’re in tune. It just makes the guitar feel better to play.
Boss Pedals are a staple for guitar players. They make their pedals work and function exactly like you’d expect. If you are looking for creative effects pedals we would recommend trying a different brand. But they are a great place to start.
Check out our list of Top Online Guitar Tuners
The Second Pedal To Add To Your Guitar Rig: Distortion pedals
So a tuner pedal is the number one thing but really the most popular guitar pedal is a distortion pedal. You see a lot of people, with distortion pedals. You can get a clean sound out of your amp and then you can hit this pedal and it will give you that distorted crunchy sound. A lot of people think that the best part about playing an electric guitar is getting that big distorted sound.
Find a nice distortion pedal with a quality guitar tone from a tube amp and you can have some really creative sounds coming out of your amp.
A distortion pedal works by taking the signal that your guitar is putting out and clipping it. It’s essentially overloading the signal and then that’s what gives you that really distorted sound. If you’re looking for a more mellow distortion, you might want to try an overdrive pedal instead.
Overdrive pedals are similar to distortion pedals but they don’t clip the signal as much, so you get a little bit more of that natural guitar sound coming through.
So, that’s why a distortion pedal is on our list for the best guitar pedals for beginners
The Third Guitar Pedal For Your Beginner’s Rig: Delay
Different Types of Distortion Pedals
So when it comes to distortion, you know, there are different types of distortion.
You can have a really mild distortion from classic rock or soft rock. Or you can go all the way to the extreme with distortion into the metal realm or metal genre. It really just depends on what kind of music you listen to. That will determine what kind of distortion pedal you might wanna play with.
Do this before buying your first guitar pedal
There are tons of reviews out there, on YouTube but I would first assess what kind of music you like. What’s the kind of music that you like to listen to? What kind of distortions did they use? And then you can go from there.
Get Inspired By Adding a Reverb Pedal To Your Rig
Next, I would recommend a reverb pedal. If your amp doesn’t have reverb, some people’s amps don’t have reverbs built in. When the sound is very dry as in there’s no echo, there’s no space to the sound. But when you apply a reverb pedal, it just adds depth to the sound. It adds more space like you’re in a room and that’s one of those things that can inspire people to play more, to pick it up more and to want, keep playing, get lost in the moment, lost in the music.
Beginner Guitarist Should Try: Delay Pedal
So I would say after that, add a delay pedal. From what I can tell, from my experience is the next, most popular one. And what that will do is it will allow you to get what they call a “wet sound” or a wetter sound.
So when you play, there’s, a kind of sound that sounds like a long echo, or it can be long, there are different versions of delay, but it gives you that beautiful sound. Almost like psychedelic space to the sound Spacey type sound and a lot of people like that.
I prefer to play with delay all the time actually. I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve been playing for a while now and I’m used to hearing it or what, but I always have delay pedal on.
Play around with a chorus pedal
And then there’s a couple of more, which would be a chorus pedal. I think those are a little bit less popular, but essentially what a chorus pedal does is when you play one note, it essentially makes it sound like there are multiple notes in, in a harmony.
A Chorus pedal will give you a bigger sound with each note that you play. I think chorus pedals probably aren’t something that you’re gonna wanna play a whole song with. Maybe you turn it on for one particular part of a song because it has a cool effect. But then, after that, you’d probably turn it off in the song.
Get Funky with a Wah Wah Pedal
I think a Wah-wah pedal used to be a lot more popular than they are now. If you think about funk music or Jimmy Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaugh, that “Wah” kind of sound, that’s definitely a popular pedal, depending on what you like to play of course.
You’re either a wah kind of guy or you’re not it would seem.
Tremolo Pedal
I would say the last one that’s still popular is a phaser or let’s say a tremolo pedal. So what a tremolo pedal does is actually move the volume of your sound up and down at a certain speed.
So it sounds like the sound is pulsating. I don’t think that’s as popular anymore, at least from what I can tell, but I would say out of those pedals, I think those would be the best for beginner guitar players to get.
Extra Guitar Pedals To Experiment With
There are a ton of newer pedals out there. There’s a ton of crazy sounds that they have now, you know, there’s done, big pedal boards.
In fact, I have a synthesizer guitar synthesizer that I can play on my guitar, piano, and violin, and sound thunder and things like that on the guitar. It’s really awesome.
But again, that’s not something that you’re gonna play with all the time. But those pedals that we just went through, would be the most popular, the most “staple” ones to get started with.
Honorable Mentions for Best guitar pedals for beginners
- Modulation pedals
- Boost Pedal
- Compression pedal
- Volume pedals
- EQ pedals
- Tube Screamer
- Stereo reverb
- Pitch Shifter
- Chorus Flanger
Top Guitar Pedal Brands
There are a bunch of brands that make guitar pedals. I’ve had good experiences with MXR, Boss, and Electro-Harmonix.
I would recommend looking at some reviews online before you buy anything and seeing what other people have to say about different brands and different products.
You can also listen to some of the guitar pedals on youtube before making a decision on which one to buy.
The Most Important Guitar Pedal To Have
The most important is a tuner. You don’t, you don’t wanna play a live show and say, “Hold on”, while you pull out your cell phone and see if you can get the tuner app on your phone. That just doesn’t work. So, if you’re gonna play a live show, absolutely a tuner
If you’re at home, it’s a little less important.
Thanks so much for reading this article.
Want to buy your first guitar pedal? Read this Guitar Pedals Buyer Guide written by Sweetwater
And if you’re interested in taking your guitar to the next level, we have a free course that we want to give to you called the Ultimate Lead Guitar Lightbulb Moment, it’s going to help you discover how to freely express yourself on guitar without endless amounts of scales in theory. So check it out and let us know what you think.
You like to have just a little bit of distortion, maybe delay. Maybe they’re coming from another instrument. They never use pedals. Really? What is the must-have guitar pedals for a new guitar player?
In this article we’re going to answer Should beginners use guitar pedals? What pedal should every guitarist have? What should your first guitar pedals be? How do I choose guitar pedals?
So let’s jump in and answer what are the best guitar pedals for beginners.
Should beginners use guitar pedals?
The simple answer is yes! Guitar pedals can help you create a wide range of sounds, from subtle effects to experimental noise. They’re also a lot of fun to experiment with. However, it’s important to start with the basics and work your way up. There’s no need to buy a dozen different pedals right away.
Playing with guitar pedals can actually make learning more exciting and can accelerate the learning process. Guitar pedals will give you the opportunity to be more creative. When you get your first guitar pedal, which usually is an overdrive or distortion pedal, you will be closer to matching the signature sound of some of your favorite artists. Whether that Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or any other famous guitar players. Being able to match their guitar tones with your first pedal instead of a clean guitar tone when you play guitar.
The dry guitar signal is what most new guitar players are use to but when you add in an overdrive pedal or a delay pedal it is a game changer in your guitar tone.
Do you know what pedals must you have?
Let’s start by understanding that the majority of people looking to add pedals into their playing are playing electric guitar. That is because the majority of acoustic players aren’t using any guitar pedals. The tried and true over the years, you know, staple pedals that a lot of different players use.
The #1 Most Popular Beginner Guitar Pedals: Tuner Pedal
Best Guitar Pedals for beginners
So let’s say you’re playing an electric guitar. I would say the number one, most popular guitar pedal that you’re going to want is not a distortion, it’s actually a guitar tuner. You always wanna be in tune. It’s important. You’ll sound better. You’ll feel better when you’re in tune. It just makes the guitar feel better to play.
Boss Pedals are a staple for guitar players. They make their pedals work and function exactly like you’d expect. If you are looking for creative effects pedals we would recommend trying a different brand. But they are a great place to start.
The Second Pedal To Add To Your Guitar Rig: Distortion pedals
So a tuner pedal is the number one thing but really the most popular guitar pedal is a distortion pedal. You see a lot of people, with distortion pedals. You can get a clean sound out of your amp and then you can hit this pedal and it will give you that distorted crunchy sound. A lot of people think that the best part about playing an electric guitar is getting that big distorted sound.
Find a nice distortion pedal with a quality guitar tone from a tube amp and you can have some really creative sounds coming out of your amp.
A distortion pedal works by taking the signal that your guitar is putting out and clipping it. It’s essentially overloading the signal and then that’s what gives you that really distorted sound. If you’re looking for a more mellow distortion, you might want to try an overdrive pedal instead.
Overdrive pedals are similar to distortion pedals but they don’t clip the signal as much, so you get a little bit more of that natural guitar sound coming through.
The Third Guitar Pedal For Your Beginner’s Rig: Delay
Different Types of Distortion Pedals
So when it comes to distortion, you know, there are different types of distortion.
You can have a really mild distortion from classic rock or soft rock. Or you can go all the way to the extreme with distortion into the metal realm or metal genre. It really just depends on what kind of music you listen to. That will determine what kind of distortion pedal you might wanna play with.
Do this before buying your first guitar pedal
There are tons of reviews out there, on YouTube but I would first assess what kind of music you like. What’s the kind of music that you like to listen to? What kind of distortions did they use? And then you can go from there.
Get Inspired By Adding a Reverb Pedal To Your Rig
Next, I would recommend a reverb pedal. If your amp doesn’t have reverb, some people’s amps don’t have reverbs built in. When the sound is very dry as in there’s no echo, there’s no space to the sound. But when you apply a reverb pedal, it just adds depth to the sound. It adds more space like you’re in a room and that’s one of those things that can inspire people to play more, to pick it up more and to want, keep playing, get lost in the moment, lost in the music.
Beginner Guitarist Should Try: Delay Pedal
So I would say after that, add a delay pedal. From what I can tell, from my experience is the next, most popular one. And what that will do is it will allow you to get what they call a “wet sound” or a wetter sound.
So when you play, there’s, a kind of sound that sounds like a long echo, or it can be long, there are different versions of delay, but it gives you that beautiful sound. Almost like psychedelic space to the sound Spacey type sound and a lot of people like that.
I prefer to play with delay all the time actually. I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve been playing for a while now and I’m used to hearing it or what, but I always have delay pedal on.
Play around with a chorus pedal
And then there’s a couple of more, which would be a chorus pedal. I think those are a little bit less popular, but essentially what a chorus pedal does is when you play one note, it essentially makes it sound like there are multiple notes in, in a harmony.
A Chorus pedal will give you a bigger sound with each note that you play. I think chorus pedals probably aren’t something that you’re gonna wanna play a whole song with. Maybe you turn it on for one particular part of a song because it has a cool effect. But then, after that, you’d probably turn it off in the song.
Get Funky with a Wah Wah Pedal
I think a Wah-wah pedal used to be a lot more popular than they are now. If you think about funk music or Jimmy Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaugh, that “Wah” kind of sound, that’s definitely a popular pedal, depending on what you like to play of course.
You’re either a wah kind of guy or you’re not it would seem.
Tremolo Pedal
I would say the last one that’s still popular is a phaser or let’s say a tremolo pedal. So what a tremolo pedal does is actually move the volume of your sound up and down at a certain speed.
So it sounds like the sound is pulsating. I don’t think that’s as popular anymore, at least from what I can tell, but I would say out of those pedals, I think those would be the best for beginner guitar players to get.
Extra Guitar Pedals To Experiment With
There are a ton of newer pedals out there. There’s a ton of crazy sounds that they have now, you know, there’s done, big pedal boards.
In fact, I have a synthesizer guitar synthesizer that I can play on my guitar, piano, and violin, and sound thunder and things like that on the guitar. It’s really awesome.
But again, that’s not something that you’re gonna play with all the time. But those pedals that we just went through, would be the most popular, the most “staple” ones to get started with.
Top Guitar Pedal Brands
There are a bunch of brands that make guitar pedals. I’ve had good experiences with MXR, Boss, and Electro-Harmonix.
I would recommend looking at some reviews online before you buy anything and seeing what other people have to say about different brands and different products.
You can also listen to some of the guitar pedals on youtube before making a decision on which one to buy.
The Most Important Guitar Pedal To Have
The most important is a tuner. You don’t, you don’t wanna play a live show and say, “Hold on”, while you pull out your cell phone and see if you can get the tuner app on your phone. That just doesn’t work. So, if you’re gonna play a live show, absolutely a tuner
If you’re at home, it’s a little less important.
Thanks so much for reading this article.
Want to buy your first guitar pedal? Read this Guitar Pedals Buyer Guide written by Sweetwater
And if you’re interested in taking your guitar to the next level, we have a free course that we want to give to you called the Ultimate Lead Guitar Lightbulb Moment, it’s going to help you discover how to freely express yourself on guitar without endless amounts of scales in theory. So check it out and let us know what you think.
You like to have just a little bit of distortion, maybe delay. Maybe they’re coming from another instrument. They never use pedals. Really? What is the must-have guitar pedals for a new guitar player?
Do you know what pedals must you have?
Let’s start by understanding that the majority of people looking to add pedals into their playing are playing electric guitar. That is because the majority of acoustic players aren’t using any guitar pedals. The tried and true over the years, you know, staple pedals that a lot of different players use.
The #1 Most Popular Beginner Guitar Pedals: Tuner Pedal
So let’s say you’re playing an electric guitar. I would say the number one, most popular guitar pedal that you’re going to want is not a distortion, it’s actually a guitar tuner. You always wanna be in tune. It’s important. You’ll sound better. You’ll feel better when you’re in tune. It just makes the guitar feel better to play.
Boss Pedals are a staple for guitar players. They make their pedals work and function exactly like you’d expect. If you are looking for creative effects pedals we would recommend trying a different brand. But they are a great place to start.
The Second Pedal To Add To Your Guitar Rig: Distortion
So a tuner pedal is the number one thing but really the most popular guitar pedal is a distortion pedal. You see a lot of people, with distortion pedals. You can get a clean sound out of your amp and then you can hit this pedal and it will give you that distorted crunchy sound. A lot of people think that the best part about playing an electric guitar is getting that big distorted sound.
Find a nice distortion pedal with a quality guitar tone from a tube amp and you can have some really creative sounds coming out of your amp.
A distortion pedal works by taking the signal that your guitar is putting out and clipping it. It’s essentially overloading the signal and then that’s what gives you that really distorted sound. If you’re looking for a more mellow distortion, you might want to try an overdrive pedal instead.
Overdrive pedals are similar to distortion pedals but they don’t clip the signal as much, so you get a little bit more of that natural guitar sound coming through.
The Third Guitar Pedal For Your Beginner’s Rig: Delay
Different Types of Distortion Pedals
So when it comes to distortion, you know, there are different types of distortion.
You can have a really mild distortion from classic rock or soft rock. Or you can go all the way to the extreme with distortion into the metal realm or metal genre. It really just depends on what kind of music you listen to. That will determine what kind of distortion pedal you might wanna play with.
Do this before buying your first guitar pedal
There are tons of reviews out there, on YouTube but I would first assess what kind of music you like. What’s the kind of music that you like to listen to? What kind of distortions did they use? And then you can go from there.
Get Inspired By Adding a Reverb Pedal To Your Rig
Next, I would recommend a reverb pedal. If your amp doesn’t have reverb, some people’s amps don’t have reverbs built in. When the sound is very dry as in there’s no echo, there’s no space to the sound. But when you apply a reverb pedal, it just adds depth to the sound. It adds more space like you’re in a room and that’s one of those things that can inspire people to play more, to pick it up more and to want, keep playing, get lost in the moment, lost in the music.
Beginner Guitarist Should Try: Delay Pedal
So I would say after that, add a delay pedal. From what I can tell, from my experience is the next, most popular one. And what that will do is it will allow you to get what they call a “wet sound” or a wetter sound.
So when you play, there’s, a kind of sound that sounds like a long echo, or it can be long, there are different versions of delay, but it gives you that beautiful sound. Almost like psychedelic space to the sound Spacey type sound and a lot of people like that.
I prefer to play with delay all the time actually. I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve been playing for a while now and I’m used to hearing it or what, but I always have delay pedal on.
Play around with a chorus pedal
And then there’s a couple of more, which would be a chorus pedal. I think those are a little bit less popular, but essentially what a chorus pedal does is when you play one note, it essentially makes it sound like there are multiple notes in, in a harmony.
A Chorus pedal will give you a bigger sound with each note that you play. I think chorus pedals probably aren’t something that you’re gonna wanna play a whole song with. Maybe you turn it on for one particular part of a song because it has a cool effect. But then, after that, you’d probably turn it off in the song.
Get Funky with a Wah Wah Pedal
I think a Wah-wah pedal used to be a lot more popular than they are now. If you think about funk music or Jimmy Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaugh, that “Wah” kind of sound, that’s definitely a popular pedal, depending on what you like to play of course.
You’re either a wah kind of guy or you’re not it would seem.
Tremolo Pedal
I would say the last one that’s still popular is a phaser or let’s say a tremolo pedal. So what a tremolo pedal does is actually move the volume of your sound up and down at a certain speed.
So it sounds like the sound is pulsating. I don’t think that’s as popular anymore, at least from what I can tell, but I would say out of those pedals, I think those would be the best for beginner guitar players to get.
Extra Guitar Pedals To Experiment With
There are a ton of newer pedals out there. There’s a ton of crazy sounds that they have now, you know, there’s done, big pedal boards.
In fact, I have a synthesizer guitar synthesizer that I can play on my guitar, piano, and violin, and sound thunder and things like that on the guitar. It’s really awesome.
But again, that’s not something that you’re gonna play with all the time. But those pedals that we just went through, would be the most popular, the most “staple” ones to get started with.
Top Guitar Pedal Brands
There are a bunch of brands that make guitar pedals. I’ve had good experiences with MXR, Boss, and Electro-Harmonix.
I would recommend looking at some reviews online before you buy anything and seeing what other people have to say about different brands and different products.
You can also listen to some of the guitar pedals on youtube before making a decision on which one to buy.
The Most Important Guitar Pedal To Have
The most important is a tuner. You don’t, you don’t wanna play a live show and say, “Hold on”, while you pull out your cell phone and see if you can get the tuner app on your phone. That just doesn’t work. So, if you’re gonna play a live show, absolutely a tuner
If you’re at home, it’s a little less important.
Thanks so much for reading this article.
Want to buy your first guitar pedal? Read this Guitar Pedals Buyer Guide written by Sweetwater
And if you’re interested in taking your guitar to the next level, we have a free course that we want to give to you called the Ultimate Lead Guitar Lightbulb Moment, it’s going to help you discover how to freely express yourself on guitar without endless amounts of scales in theory. So check it out and let us know what you think.
