The Best Guitars for Worship
While Taylor guitars and Gibsons are the most common acoustic guitars used in worship music, there are several other great options depending on your budget. Choosing the right guitar also depends on your style of play and personal preference. In this article, we’ll take a look at the best acoustic guitar for your money and what to pay attention to in each category.
Best Inexpensive Acoustic Guitar for Beginners
It’s okay to buy a cheap guitar and start learning a few chords; however, just remember that you’ll get what you pay for. Anything around or under about $100 is considered a “cheap” guitar.
If you want to buy a cheaper new guitar, I’d suggest a Jasmine S35. This is a full size dreadnought style guitar that will sound great for the price. It’s inexpensive, fairly easy to play, and will sound good; however there are a few downsides as well.
One of the main problems with less expensive guitars is that the top is made of two laminated pieces of wood (spruce, for instance). Laminated tops may separate after several years of use and diminish the tone. Solid tops, on the other hand, can actually sound better the longer you play them.
The second most common problem is a guitar holding it’s tune, either with open strings or when you fret a note. If your strings go out of tune after a few minutes of playing, you should probably keep looking. Also, when you try out a guitar, play the string open first, and then play the 12th fret. This note is one octave up, but should have the same tuning as the open string. If it doesn’t you have an intonation problem.
Sometimes intonation comes from having old strings; however cheaper guitars aren’t built in a way to maintain tuning well. If you have noticeable tuning problems when you’re trying a guitar, you may want to keep saving your money until you can buy a better one.
You may be interested in: The Top 3-Chord Worship Songs for Guitar
The Best Low to Mid Range Guitar for Beginners
If you are able to spend around $200-$300 for a guitar for worship, you’ll see significant improvements in tuning, playability, and durability. These guitars are still considered beginner guitars; however, you’ll have an instrument that will be more durable.
Fender guitars shine in this price range, and there are a few options to consider. The Fender FA-115 guitar is a great choice and comes with a beginner guitar kit that includes a guitar strap, picks, a tuner, and a guitar case. It is a standard “dreadnought” body style, and has a top made of spruce.
Unfortunately, the Fa-115 is also a laminate top, but it will have fewer tuning issues than the Jasmine, and the extras included in the kit make it a good deal.
If you want a higher end beginner guitar, then go with the Fender CD-60S. This is a solid top acoustic, so it is built to last longer and sound better than laminate top guitars. This guitar also comes with some extras like a guitar bag, tuner, and extra strings.
You can also look for a good used guitar and save a little money; however, you’ll need to be careful to make sure there are no unwanted surprises. When you inspect a guitar, look all over it to see if there are any cracks. Small spiderweb like cracks in the finish are okay, but cracks in the actual wood are a bad sign.
Also, check the tuning of the guitar to make sure there are no intonation problems when fretting higher up. Finally, check the “action” of the guitar to make sure the strings aren’t excessively far from the fretboard. The higher the action, the harder the string will be to play. Less expensive guitars typically have much higher action.
The Best Mid Range Guitar for Beginners
Mid range guitars are priced somewhere between $300 and $700. These guitars begin to branch out into different feature sets. Some of them are more playable and are better made. Some “acoustic electric” guitars have electronics built in so that you can plug your guitar into an amp or a sound system.
If you’re searching in the lower end of this range, try out some Washburn guitars. Look for a solid top and try a few to see if there is one you love. The Washburn HD10SCE-O is a great example of a solid Sitka Spruce top and even includes a basic fishman pickup system. This is a great value at the price point.
In the middle or high end of this range, you can start to look for a used Taylor guitar. As you search through available models, make sure you understand Taylor’s numbering system. If the model number ends in 10, it is a standard dreadnought guitar that will be most suitable for strumming worship songs.
Even though you may prefer the thinner look of the other Taylor models, just know, that they will sound more thin when you strum. The thinner guitars are designed more-so for finger picking.
Baby Taylors are a popular choice in this price range, but make sure you know the trade-offs. These are 3/4 guitars, so they’re popular travel guitars or for those who prefer a smaller body size. Because the body is smaller, the sound won’t be as robust as a full size guitar; however, if you want a solid guitar for the living room or the road, a Baby Taylor is a good choice.
There are also some fans of Big Baby Taylors. They’re not my first choice, but they are still good guitars in the price range. The BBTe has a solid Sitka Spruce top and basic electronics. It’s a decent guitar, but it’s on the very low end of what Taylor offers.
Seagull guitars are also surprisingly playable and sound fantastic unplugged. Seagull is somewhat of a hidden gem. For example, the Seagull S6 is solid top cedar that sounds fantastic and plays surprisingly well.
Note that a cedar top will have a warmer sound than a spruce top, so if you strum it too hard, it will sound muddy. If you strum on the lighter side or even try fingerpicking, it will sound great.
Seagull guitars are a great choice if you’re mainly playing in your living room or at a friend’s house.
If you want a good sounding guitar with included electronics at a low price range, check out Takamine guitars. A “Tak” in this price range give you a lot of bang for your buck if you’re primarily playing a guitar that is plugged in; however, make sure to test it out at a guitar shop or elsewhere.
Some Takamines sound thin unplugged, so you’ll have to spend a little extra time searching for one that you like. I have a Takamine FP360 that I use when I travel and lead worship at camps; however, it’s not my first choice at home or on a Sunday morning.
The Best Mid to High End Guitar for Beginners
Once you cross the $1,000 line, you’ll be purchasing a high quality guitar made with better tone-woods and some extras, like electronics. Any guitar at this price should be well built and sound good; however, there are different features that will become more important.
When you try out any guitar in this range, pay special attention to the action (distance of the strings from the fretboard) to make sure it is low without excessive buzzing. Part of what you are purchasing is playability. At this price range, a guitar should be easy and fun to play.
Consider the shape of the guitar. A dreadnought guitar is the classic standard shape and is the best shape for strumming worship songs. There are other shapes designed for other purposes, but unless you are mainly fingerpicking, I would recommend sticking with a dreadnought.
Some guitars have a feature called a “cut-away” which allows you to easily access the higher frets on the guitar. This is handy for soloing, but it’s not necessary.
If you’re in the $1000 range, I’d recommend either a used or new Taylor guitar. The Taylor 210ce Dreadnought guitar is a great choice and features the cut-away.
You could also consider a Martin guitar, but those are a little better suited for faster bluegrass “flat-picking” styles of play.
The Best High End Guitar for Worship
If you’re looking for an investment of a fine instrument, your price range will be upwards of $2,000 and beyond. At this range, you will be more concerned with a specific tone that suites a specific style of play. Certain tone-woods and electronics will start to matter more.
For most worship settings, any Taylor guitar ending in 10 is a great choice. The Taylor 810 is a fantastic choice. Gibson Hummingbirds are also a very popular choice of worship guitarists. Both types of guitars offer great tone and playability.
When you are choosing a guitar make sure to get information about the wood used and the electronics used. Spruce is a vibrant tone-wood, great for strumming, whereas cedar is a warm tone-wood, used more with soft strumming or finger-picking.
Some limited stock guitars include rare tone-woods such as Brazilian rosewood. If you’re in the market for a high end guitar, there may also be several ornamental options and inlays that make a guitar rare.
There are some guitars out there, like Olson guitars, that are upwards of $20,000 and beyond. They sound incredible, but they, of course, are rare and not practical for the average guitarists. However, just in case you win the lottery, you know what to buy!
“Why are Taylor guitars better for worship?”
Taylor guitars are the go-to guitar for many worship leaders because they sound great plugged in to a sound system and are built for the strumming you normally hear in worship songs. Taylors combine a quality build with good electronics.
Martin guitars, for instance, are built for speed and clarity with a style like bluegrass. Both are great guitars, but Taylors are more suited to a worship leader’s typical strumming style. They also look great and have many options available based on price range and body style.
Just remember that it all depends on on your goals and price range. Although you’ll see many worship leaders playing a Taylor guitar (myself included), just know that there are a lot of great options out there. Here is a summary of my recommendations:
Summary of the Best Acoustic Guitars for Worship Leading by Price Range
To boil it all down, here is a summary of the best guitars for worship you should look for in your price range:
$100 - $200: Jasmine S35
$200 - $300: Fender FA-115 or Fender CD-60S
$300 - $700: Washburn HD10-ceO (low end), Seagull S6 (mid range), Takamine ( only if plugging-in often on a budget), Used mid range Taylor (if you can find one)
$1,000: Taylor 210ce or other Taylor ending in “10” (used or new), Martin (if you prefer a “faster” guitar)
$2,000+ New Taylor guitar, Gibson Hummingbird
Win the lottery money: Olson Guitar
- Stephen