Every guitar needs a few supporting accessories to be fully functional. Most of them cost under $20. Here’s exactly what to buy, what to skip, and what order to buy things in.
The guitar is only one part of the equation. Every new player — acoustic or electric — needs a small collection of accessories before they can practice effectively. The good news: most of them are cheap. The bad news: guitar shops and online listings make it seem like you need far more than you do.
This guide covers the essentials, the useful-but-not-urgent, and the things that are genuinely optional.
The Essentials (Buy With the Guitar)
1. A Tuner — $10–$20
A guitar that isn’t in tune doesn’t sound like a guitar is supposed to sound. This is the most important accessory, period. An out-of-tune guitar makes every chord sound wrong and makes it harder to train your ear to recognize correct pitch.
Clip-on chromatic tuner ($10–$15): Clips onto the headstock and reads vibration directly. Works in any environment, silent, and accurate. The D’Addario NS Micro and Snark SN-5 are the standard recommendations. Buy this before anything else.
Phone tuner apps: Free and functional. GuitarTuna is the most popular. These work fine in quiet environments but struggle with background noise. A clip-on tuner is more reliable.
2. Picks — $5–$8 for a Variety Pack
Picks are personal — thickness affects tone, playability, and attack. Thin picks (0.46mm) are flexible and produce a softer, more strummy attack. Medium picks (0.73mm) are the most versatile. Heavy picks (0.96mm+) produce a more defined, articulate attack favored by lead players.
Buy a variety pack first ($5–$8 for 12–24 picks). Play for a few weeks across different thicknesses and you’ll quickly know your preference. Then buy a bag of your preferred gauge.
Classical guitar players don’t use picks — they play with fingernails or fingertips.
3. A Strap — $10–$25
Essential if you’ll ever play standing up — and good practice even when sitting, as it stabilizes the guitar and frees your fretting hand. Don’t buy the most expensive strap available; buy one that fits comfortably and holds the guitar at a height where your fretting arm is relaxed.
Note: acoustic guitars often have a strap button only at the base of the body, not at the neck. You’ll need to tie the strap to the headstock or add a second strap button (a 5-minute job for a guitar tech). Electric guitars almost always have buttons at both ends.
4. A Cable — $10–$20 (Electric Players Only)
Electric guitars need an instrument cable to connect to an amp. Get a 10–15ft cable from a brand like Hosa or LiveWire — reliable, inexpensive, and long enough to move around while playing. Don’t buy the cheapest unbranded cable; they fail quickly and produce noise. Don’t buy an expensive boutique cable; the difference is audible only to the most trained ears in specific contexts.
5. A Practice Amp — $50–$100 (Electric Players Only)
An electric guitar played unplugged barely produces sound — it’s not a complete instrument without amplification. A practice amp doesn’t need to be loud or sophisticated. It needs to:
- Produce clean and overdrive tones
- Have a headphone output for quiet practice
- Be loud enough at low volumes to hear your playing clearly
The Fender Frontman 10G ($70) and Boss Katana Mini ($99) are both excellent. The headphone output is the feature worth paying for if you live with other people.
Useful But Not Urgent (Buy Within the First Few Months)
Guitar Stand — $15–$25
A guitar that lives in a case gets played less than one that lives on a stand. This is nearly universal among players who have tested both. A basic folding stand costs $15–$20 and is one of the highest-return investments in the whole accessory category.
Spare Strings — $6–$12 per set
Strings break at the worst times. Having one spare set on hand means you can replace and keep playing rather than waiting for a new delivery. Acoustic players: light gauge (.012–.053) is the standard. Electric players: light gauge (.009–.042) is the most common starting point.
String Winder — $5
A peg winder is a handle that lets you wind tuning pegs quickly during string changes. Not essential if you rarely change strings. Worth $5 every time you do a full string change.
Capo — $10–$20 (Acoustic Players Primarily)
A capo clamps across the fretboard and raises the pitch of all strings simultaneously, allowing you to play open chord shapes in higher keys without changing fingering. Essential for anyone who plays with singers or sings themselves. Acoustic and acoustic-electric players use them constantly. Electric players less so.
Optional (Buy If You Have a Specific Need)
Slide: For blues slide playing. $10–$20 for glass or steel.
String action gauge: For checking and monitoring action height. Useful if you’re learning to do your own setup work. $10.
Polish and cleaning cloth: Keeps the fretboard and body clean. $10–$15. Useful maintenance, not urgent.
Strap locks: Replace the standard strap buttons with locking systems that prevent the strap from slipping off mid-performance. $15–$25. Buy these if you gig standing up.
Guitar bag or case: If you travel with your guitar, a padded gig bag ($30–$60) or hard case ($60–$150) is worth having. For home-only players, a stand is more practical than a case.
What to Skip
Gadget tuners and “smart” accessories: Clip-on chromatic tuners do the job perfectly for $12. Anything more complex is solving a problem that doesn’t exist.
Expensive “tone cables”: At beginner to intermediate level, a $15 Hosa cable and a $75 boutique cable sound identical through your rig.
Guitar “setup tools” before you know how to use them: A full setup toolkit costs $80–$150. Unless you’re actively learning guitar maintenance, have a tech do your first few setups. The toolkit becomes worthwhile once you understand what you’re doing with it.
The Total Beginner Shopping List
| Item | Cost | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Clip-on chromatic tuner | $12–$15 | Essential |
| Pick variety pack | $5–$8 | Essential |
| Guitar strap | $10–$20 | Essential |
| Instrument cable (electric) | $15 | Essential if electric |
| Practice amp (electric) | $70–$100 | Essential if electric |
| Spare strings | $6–$12 | Buy immediately |
| Guitar stand | $15–$20 | Buy first week |
| Capo (acoustic) | $10–$15 | Buy within first month |
Total for an acoustic beginner: $50–$75 in accessories. Total for an electric beginner: $120–$185 in accessories. These should be budgeted alongside the guitar price — they’re not optional extras.
Not Sure Which Guitar to Accessorize?
If you’re still looking for the right instrument, our quiz matches you to the best guitar for your genre, budget, and experience level.