Updated 2022
Estimate time to read: 7 minutes

If you’re going to play acoustic guitar, there’s a few accessories you will probably need. Sure, you could play finger-style guitar and tune by ear, but these few accessories will enhance your experience and protect your guitar. They are also fairly inexpensive — usually under $30 — and are well worth the money.

Sections:

• Guitar Strap

• Guitar Tuner

• Quarter Inch (1/4”) Guitar Cable

• Picks and a Pick Tin

• Choose the Gauge of Guitar Strings that Work for Your Guitar

• Soft Shell Guitar Case vs Hard Shell Guitar Case

• Guitar Capo

• Improve Your Practice by Using a Metronome

• Wrapping it up

Guitar Strap

This one is important unless you plan on sitting every single time you play guitar. When I’m on stage playing with a band I need to move around, if only to look at my band mates. This is where a strap becomes essential. A guitar strap connects to both ends of the body of the guitar and loops over your non-dominant shoulder. This is how the guitar gets suspended in the air.

Guitar Tuner

A tuner allows you to make sure that your guitar is “in tune” before playing a single note. You’ve probably heard a guitarist play some chords and it sounded like a dying cat. It was probably because he didn’t tune the guitar before playing. Guitar strings are sensitive to heat, cold, and humidity so strings can go “out of tune” during an hour long set, let alone being in a vehicle for a little while.

There are two basic types of tuners: handheld and pedal. They are fairly self explanatory — you turn it on, plug in your guitar if you can, select the tuning type you want (if your tuner has multiple types), and pick one string at a time. The dial will show if the string is “sharp” (wound too tight) or “flat” (wound too lose). Once you’ve picked the string, slowly and in very tiny increments, turn the tuning peg for that string. The string you picked is wound around the tuning peg one way or the other. Depending on which way the string is wrapped around the tuning peg means you turn the peg a certain way to tighten (sharpen) or loosen (flatten) the string’s tension. Pick, wait, and slowly turn the tuning peg until the dial on the tuner shows that the string is “in tune.” This is indicated with the dial lined up in the middle of the screen or when it shows the string name with a green light.

Quarter Inch (1/4”) Guitar Cable

A 1/4” (quarter inch) cable, or instrument cable, is what takes the sound that the pickups receive from the strings and sends it to a tuner, an amp, a pedal, or a direct box. These are versatile in that all guitars use the same size cable, 1/4”. The only difference in these cables is the length, measured in feet, and the type of wire with 1/4” jack connectors. However, you’ll see cables that say they have the “best connection with gold plated wire and jacks.” Starting out though, it’s not necessary to have the gold plated wire and jacks, you really just need a simple 1/4” cable. It also doesn’t really matter which brand you pick to start out. Even a generic 1/4” cable has lasted me years before I had to replace it and upgrade. If you’re playing at home and maybe with a garage band, I recommend a 20’ cable to start. If you know you will be on stages, I recommend a 20-30’ cable.

Picks and a Pick Tin

A pick is a thin triangle shaped piece of material that is held by the picking or strumming hand — usually your dominant hand — and is used to pick or pluck individual strings or rake across multiple strings (known as strumming). Picks can vary in thickness which is measured in millimeters. They can also vary by material with the most common being nylon. There are also wood and metal picks, which are typically used for playing steel guitar. The shape of the average pick is a triangle with rounded edges. There are varying types of triangle shapes from obtuse to acute and even teardrop shaped. This is an area that is completely personal preference.

My recommendation is the Jim Dunlop nylon .73 mm pick with grip. While I change what type of pick I use for different occasions, I keep coming back to that one as it is very versatile for different genres and styles of strings, and has some grip bumps for added retention. The last thing you want is to be performing and you drop your pick! I’ve done this and it will throw you off mentally, not to mention a slight fumble “what do I do now?” moment before recovering. I like this style pick because it is not too thick that it gets in the way of complex strum patterns. It’s also not too thin that when you’re picking certain notes on certain strings, it doesn’t just bend right away and hit the adjacent string. Again this is all preference so purchase a few types of picks that look interesting and give them a try.

If you’ve seen photos of electric guitarist’s pedalboards on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed an Altoid’s brand breath mint tin. This seems to be the common guitarist container to keep your assortment of picks in. It’s small, easy to open and carry around, and it can hold hundreds of picks and any other small items that are important to you. I highly recommend having something like this with your gear.

Choose the Gauge of Guitar Strings that Work for Your Guitar

String gauges are based on the style of guitar and style of music you’re playing, and refer to their physical size. For most beginner and intermediate guitarists who have a Fender or Squire stratocaster, or a telecaster guitar, you will typically want to get a set of strings where the highest pitched, or thinnest string (the high e string), is a “9”. The string set of size 0.009 - 0.42 is the most common and is great for guitarists with small hands. The thinner strings also make it easier on your fingers if you play for long periods of time.

For guitarists who have a hollow body guitar or a thicker body such as a Les Paul, where there is a noticeable difference in the weight of the guitar itself, you may want to get “10s” or “11s.” 0.010 - 0.46 is the most popular string gauge as there is a little more tension compared to the 9s. You are also able to play a little more aggressively and the strings will stay in tune longer.

The rule of thumb is that if the neck is bending abnormally with the strings wound up and in tune, then your guitar isn’t set up to handle that gauge of strings. The best thing to do when trying new strings is to take your guitar to a local shop where they can “set up” your guitar with the recommended string gauge. This involves adjusting the truss rod that runs through the neck to balance out the tension from the strings.

When you get your guitar set up, you should be able to play every note on every string without hearing a buzz.

If you do hear a buzz for a few select frets, then they didn’t set up your guitar properly. Some people are fine with a few frets having buzz, but I prefer to have all frets be available to play. This has to do with the “action” — the distance between the fretboard and the strings.

Soft Shell Guitar Case vs Hard Shell Guitar Case

If you purchase a beginner guitar set, there will usually be a soft shell guitar case. This is simply a nylon or other soft material with a foam lining. It protects the guitar from basic weather and movement. If you purchase a nicer guitar, you may want to consider getting a hard shell guitar case. This will preserve your guitar better as it is a stronger defense against bumps and movement, but also weather like rain, and it is form fitting so the guitar doesn’t move around inside the case, like it does in a soft shell case.

Guitar Capo

A capo is a device that you can place across the strings behind a specific fret to be able to play the same chord shapes higher on the neck. It temporarily replaces the role of the nut at the top of the neck where the head connects. It anchors the strings and creates new open strings, where instead of having open strings of E A D G B e, with the capo on the first fret the open strings would now be F A# D# G# C f.

Improve Your Practice by Using a Metronome

A metronome keeps time. It counts out virtually any time signature and tempo (beats per minute) you want to play at. This is a very versatile and useful tool to develop the 4th principal of rhythm guitar - tempo. Get one of these and keep it with your gear, especially for practice. As long as it has an on/off button, a way to adjust the tempo (BPMs), and has different rhythms (whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes) and time signatures (2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8), you should be good.

Wrapping it up

Having these accessories will make playing and practicing so much easier. You’ll be ready for any musical situation that comes up, from at-home practice to playing live with a worship team.