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List of 5 Essential Items You Need With an Electric Guitar

Everyone knows the basic accessories that go with an electric – an amplifier and a solid cable but do you need anything else? YES, you do! There are a few things that can make your life easier.

Rohan Bhatia

2021-06-03

The essential accessories you need with an electric guitar

Contents

1. Introduction

Introduction

Woah! You’ve finally decided to try your hands on an electric guitar. Congratulations.

Before you actually buy one, you should know the essential accessories you would need along with an electric guitar.

In this article, I won’t be going through the different types of electric guitars one could purchase, I’ll just go through the essential accessories you need with any electric guitar.

Everyone knows the basic accessories that go with an electric – an amplifier and a solid cable but do you need anything else?

Yes, you do!

An amp and a cable are the most basic things you need to make an electric guitar work, but apart from these there are a few things that can make your life better:

  • A processor/pedal to unleash all features of your electric guitar
  • A good quality strap because electric guitars can be heavy
  • Plectrums because duh?
  • A guitar hard case because you don’t want to damage your guitar

So let's go through the complete list.

Essential Gear For An Electric Guitar and Why You Need Them

Guitar Amplifier

The electric guitar in itself is not a complete instrument. It has no sound of it’s own, the sound relies on the amp.

An electric guitar only becomes an instrument when combined with an amplifier.

You can’t overlook the importance of a guitar amplifier.

Before buying an amplifier, be sure to read this guide: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Amplifier for Your Electric Guitar

Should You Invest in an Expensive, Good Quality Guitar Amp?

Yes. You should invest in a good quality amplifier but it need not be very expensive.

As I said above, the electric guitar in itself is not a complete instrument. It has no sound of it’s own, the sound relies on the amp.

An electric guitar only becomes an instrument when combined with an amplifier.

A good quality amplifier is a must.

Electric Guitar - Essential Gear

Make sure to buy an amp which has clean and warm sound.

The power and the speaker size will depend on the application (where are you going to use it: home practice, live, studio recording) and your budget.

Many amps come with a sh*t load of features like reverb, distortion, tremolo etc.

Although it is good to have these features in-built in an amp, don’t judge it’s quality with these effects.

you can always buy and use a guitar processor later to create these effects if need arises.

Guitar Lead / Cable

To connect your guitar to an amp you need a good old fashioned cable, unless you have a bluetooth amp (which can be costly and quite irritating, frankly speaking).

Signals are sent from the guitar to the amp to produce the wonderful sound that you create.

A poor quality cable with distort the sound quality.

Do you want to have a bad sound quality just because you cheaped out on a cable!?

All 3 items – guitar, amp and lead – should be of a good quality.

Invest in a good quality guitar and amplifier – they’ll last you for a long time.

Keep changing the lead from time to time, they wear out pretty quickly.

Guitar Processor/Pedal

There are a lot of guitar effects you must have heard about – distortion, reverb, overdrive, delay etc.

These effects are created with guitar processors or pedals.

Whether you plan to buy a multi-effects processor or a dedicated pedal, depends on your personal preference.

I’ll just explain the difference between the two briefly.

Multi-Effects Processor: Lots of effects in one device.

Guitar Pedal: Single device dedicated for one effect.

Pedals generally have a cleaner sound as they are dedicated to just one effect.

As you progress in your guitar journey, you’ll eventually require a processor/pedal because you can create wonderful music with the help of these.

It’s one of the must have accessory for intermediates/professional guitarists.

Guitar processor - items you need along with an electric guitar

Plectrums

Give your fingers a rest and use a plectrum.

Always buy tons of these because elves visit you at night to steal your plectrums, that’s why they keep disappearing.

You can't use the same plectrums you use for an acoustic guitar.

Electric guitars require thicker plectrums preferably in the range of 0.85 mm to 1.20 mm thickness.

Guitar Strap

If you are a rockstar and you always play standing up, buy a strap and your shoulders will thank you.

If you play sitting down, you should STILL use a guitar strap.

Electric guitars are heavy.

A strap will ease pressure on the shoulder when standing up and it will ease pressure on the back when sitting down.

A strap is essential to prevent your back and shoulders from deteriorating.

Don’t believe me? Read this article by Tommaso Zillio: Do I Need A Strap To Play Guitar?

Rockstar with a guitar strap

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