I would like to take a moment to dispel an annoyingly persistant myth. You do not have to start on an acoustic guitar, then graduate to an electric when you have served some sort of apprenticeship or "learned properly" or somesuch nonsense. Kids, tell your parents this! Say I said so too if it helps. I remember dismal days spent trying to play AC/DC on a dreadful classical guitar. All the chords and scales etc are the same on both so what you learn on one, is directly applicable to the other, up to a certain point. Electric guitars are easier to play due to their design and tend to be more fun too, due to the multitude of effects boxes that are available. Also, the stuff we will learn on an electric will usually be a small part of a larger whole and therefore not as difficult initially. If it's just you and an acoustic sat in a room, you have to work quite hard to make it sound full. To summarise, get the guitar you want eventually, right now. The downside of an electric guitar is that it requires the purchase of an amp. The small amp I like at the moment is the Roland Micro Cube. Dead cheap and sounds excellent too. An alternative to an amp might be this, it provides hundreds of cool effects, amps and cabinets, all digitally modelled. You plug it into your laptop and connect your guitar and headphones to it and then you have a perfect private practice solution with all the sounds you hear on a real CD. The downside is that you do need a computer to run it and it's no good if you want to jam with others later. You could take your laptop with you to the jam I suppose but it wouldn't be ideal.

It's not quite a clear cut as it used to be, but broadly speaking you are either going to buy a Les Paul type guitar or a Fender Stratocaster type. If you are about to make your first ever purchase, it's often a good deal to buy everything in one box. You get the guitar, amp, lead, pick and other stuff for one price all in the box. It's often a Stratocaster type guitar, the problem with this guitar is that it often has a single coil pickup in the bridge position and this is not so good for the aspiring rockers among you. An explanation of the technical terms is beyond the scope of this page, but remember to say to the salesperson this exact phrase: "I want a guitar that has a humbucking pickup in the bridge position." You may care to add "And make it snappy." but that's up to you. It will cost a little more but the rock tone is well worth the extra expense. A great guitar currently is this one, about £260 or this one for about the same price. One make you should avoid at all costs is "Chantry". You will find these cropping up in Sue Ryder charity shops quite often, they really are no good at all. They are actually made for the Sue Ryder shops, I know they are for a good cause, but if you feel like doing a good deed, make a donation and buy a proper guitar.