I am a beginner and I want to get a electric guitar, what are some brands/models that are on the cheaper side that would be good for riffs and rock songs
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Hi lillian
The best place to start is where you are located and what your budget is. Don’t forget if you are buying an electric you will also need an amp, so that also needs to be factored into the budget (unless you have an amp already - suspect not).
Bottom line, more info needed. Then folks can offer objective recommendations.
Hopefully with this info you will get loads of suggestions.
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My advice is avoid buying a package. Think about a well cared for used guitar, you wil get more for you money, same with an amp.
Yamaha, Harley Benton, Aria and Squier make some very good lower priced guitars. With respect to amps if you are practicing at home them a 6-10watt one is more than enough, look at Boss Katana, positivegrid, Marshall and Fender all sub ÂŁ100.
I would go to a good guitar shop and ask them to demo them, and guitars
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thank you for the suggestions, hope you have a good day
Yamaha and Squier are pretty good cheap guitars. Yamaha is a bit better at the lower price point.
You’ll want humbuckers for riffs and rock, so avoid the single coil strats.
Tone is from the amp - so a practice modelling amp is going to get the sound you want.
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The biggest priority is a good setup. No matter what woods and what pickups if the action is too high and the intonation is way out you will struggle to learn. Even the previously mentioned Squire and Yamaha (both good options) will benefit from setting up. If you buy online budget for it. If you buy from a shop haggle for a deal.
Also look at Jet guitars or if your in the UK East Coast sold by Andertons.
And yeah definitely avoid a package, the Amps tend to be garbage.
The good news is that just about any guitar from a major brand will be great - Yamaha, Squier, Epiphone, Jackson, Ibanez, Schecter, etc, so all you have to do is pick one that you like.
If you can, I would start by going to a local guitar store and trying out how a guitar feels when you hold it. Don’t worry about how it sounds - the amp takes care of that - worry about how it feels when you hold it. Look up the fingering for an E chord and an A chord, and just try slowly strumming those chords while focusing on how it feels to hold the guitar. Don’t worry about how easy or hard it is to press the strings against the fretboard - a setup usually takes care of that - but more about how the neck feels in your hand. Even if the store doesn’t have the exact model you’re looking for, it may help you narrow down what you like. For example, you may find that you prefer a certain body style or an unfinished guitar neck or a lighter guitar.
Your favorite guitarists may help you narrow down your search too. For example, if one of your favorite guitarist plays a 24 fret guitar or one with a whammy bar, you may want to look at those.
Don’t worry about too much about the guitar pickups. While humbuckers are usually associated with rock, you can still play hard rock on singlecoils and strats and Telecasters - just look at Tom Morello and John 5.
Don’t be afraid to pick a guitar based on how it looks. A guitar you like the look of will be a guitar you’ll want to pick up and play.
And, as others have said, factor in that you’ll want a guitar amp to go with it. I really like the Boss Katana and Fender Champion amps - they sound great, work for everything from clean to metal, and you may be able to find a great deal by buying the amp used.
@Timobkg has offered lots of good advice, especially the part about “how it feels”. I’ll add that if you’ve got one or more local music stores to visit, don’t overlook any used guitars they might have to offer. At any price point you might be able to purchase a used instrument in good (or even better) condition that will be a step up from what you might afford in a new instrument. If you’ve got a friend who plays that might come with and advise you, even better.
If you are in the US, I recommend going to a few pawn shops with you cell phone in hand, try and find a gem type intermediate electric. Something that is at about 60% your price range. Use the rest for the extras like a cheap practice amp, cables, a set up or, if your bold and handy, some cheap set up tools from Amazon.
I just saw a really nice looking 1990s, solid body electric Guild guitar, with some nice looking humbuckers at a pawn shop for less than $250 USD. It had a loose plug in and it was real dirty, I was tempted to get it. There are deals out there to be had. Lots of rigs out on the used market. Of course I understand wamting a mew one. Plenty of solid choices there too, Fender has a whole line out of consumer frently entry level, eye appealing guitars out right now. I particularly like all the offsets. I cant tell you about the quality of parts but I bet these would make a ok foundation once set up well.
There is also nothing wrong with spending the first year learning the basics on your old school acoustic, I saw thhe thread on your and it’s totally cool old school vintage style looking and it has lots of mojo, you will build a lot of hand strength from that. Thats what I did at least. But I do have to admit once I got on the electric boy life changed. Pedals distortion…
Fuzz!! Oh yeah baby 
Seripusly take your time, prices will only go down. There will be a million amazing guitars coming up for sale and I think it’s a really good time to be a guitar customer. Do your homework. Also right now you don’t need the best of the best to learn on.
Just something rad enough that you really like playing. It feels good, you want to pick it up and does not hinder the learning process.
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I hesitate to advice new guitar buyers to get a used guitar because of the huge variance of used guitars out there - I’ve seen everything from guitars in like-new condition to guitars that were practically unplayable because of their poor setup or guitars that had faulty electronics. You can absolutely find a great deal, but you also need to know what to look for, and I had no idea what to look for when I first started out.
I’m sure this also depends on the local music store - smaller shops are likely to take better care of their guitars, while large chains like Guitar Center are more likely to have a mixed bag.
But you’re right, it’s worth taking a look at their used guitars - you might just find a great mid-range guitar at an entry-level price or a great deal on an entry-level guitar. My first guitar I bought new, and every subsequent guitar I’ve gotten used.
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The best thing to do is go to a guitar store and try them. One of the most important things in playing guitar is that it feels comfortable to play. Do you like it light or heavier? Also get a setup because it should never be painful to play. I started with a Mexican made fender strat. Paul Reed Smith, Ibanez, epiphone, and ESP all make great starter guitars. Good luck on the journey.
Jeff
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As a kid I wanted an electric guitar, but my step-dad got me a cheap acoustic instead because he felt I should learn on acoustic first, and I hated it.
It was hard to play, it hurt my fingers, it didn’t sound like the rock guitarists I was listening to, and it quickly started gathering dust in the corner.
Then a family friend let me try his electric and it was love at first strum. It was easy to play, the distortion through the amp sounded great, and I loved everything about it. The next day my mom offered to buy me an electric guitar. I picked one out purely based on looks, and was overjoyed when I got it. I loved playing it, played it regularly, and that guitar actually motivated me to learn.
So I’m very much of the opinion that if someone wants an electric, they should get an electric. 
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Yeah, that’s fair and also why I included the suggestion of having a knowledgeable friend along. I’m probably a bit biased insofar as I’ve got a great local family-owned store that I’d trust to help a first-time buyer to something appropriate. OTOH, I’ve only ever bought one instrument used so I can hardly claim too much expertise.
one bit of advice I’ve learned transfers to MANY different areas is that oftentimes on things where preferences come into play is that you need time to develop those preferences.
and that testing things at the store won’t be enough time to develop some of those preferences. sometimes, you just need to get something you like otherwise and use it for awhile to learn what some of your preferences might be.
For me, “feel” was something I couldn’t distinguish when I was brand new. Even now, I don’t really have enough experience to be able say I have any sort of preference whatsoever on neck shape or fretboard width or radius or really even scale length (while I can tell a difference on some of these things, I don’t have a preference). About the only thing I’ve developed much of a preference on is body size/shape. Bigger acoustics are uncomfortable for me to play for long.
For electrics, I have a subtle preference for humbuckers, I guess. I like single coils and P90s, too, but I seem to like humbuckers a little better.
Beyond those things? I can pick up a bunch of guitars and aside from the way they look and the way they sound, come away more muddled than I was than before I started. So my advice now? Try to avoid analysis paralysis. Focus on the criteria that matter to you now and that you can readily distinguish. Ignore the other stuff until later.
Do get a good setup. And not just the super basic thing that big shops offer. Get one that includes some of the more detailed things including fret work. Especially if you end up with a used guitar that might have worn frets that need some attention. But also new ones might have sharp fret ends or unlevel frets or whatever.
Guitar Center’s standard “setup” wasn’t worth it for me, IMO. Of course I didn’t know any better at the time, but a more thorough one would have helped with a couple of issues that affected ease of playing.
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thank you all for the advice, I’ll definitely look into some of the brands mentioned, and check local shops & stuff.
If you’re literally a complete beginner just starting out, I would honestly go with a very cheap guitar combined with either a headphone amp or the free version of an amp sim. Someone said don’t buy a package, yet I suggest the opposite… do exactly that.
I know it’s not the “popular” opinion, especially among those who have invested heavily in their own gear, but I think it makes the most sense. Statistics don’t lie, and we all know that the vast majority of people who take up an instrument give up within a single year. So where is the sense in spending heavily when you have no idea if guitar is something you are going to end up loving enough to stick with in the long term?
A dirt cheap guitar with a decent setup (literally thousands of guides on how to achieve that all over the internet) will be more than enough to see you through the initial phases of learning. Will it sound fantastic? No, but neither will you because you’re a beginner, so who cares? If you’re still loving it after 6-12 months, then that is the time to perhaps start thinking about an upgrade if you really feel the need.
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The problem with buying a package is the amps usually sound like wasps in a jam jar and that’s not a sound that’s going to inspire anyone to keep. It’s hard enough sounding good as a beginner without being held back by a horrible little amp. I’m not saying buy something expensive but package amps are generally bad
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I agree with @Goffik
for a complete beginner who wants to try and discover how to play , the best is a not too cheap package
this way if in the end you feel like quiting , you wont lose too much
but if you like playing an electric guitar and feel like learning more after a year then you can upgrade your gear and buy a good guitar
or
if like @mattswain says , you want a amp with a not too bad sound to begin
build your own package
you can buy a nice squier guitar around 150 or 200 euros and a small amp of your choice ^^
its a bit more expensive this way but the sound will be better
I started with a cheap Squier guitar , I still play on it everyday 
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It’s an interesting mindset that exists around learning guitar.
On one hand the quit rate is really quite high (I’ve been there too) so there is some logic to not spending a lot of money at first
On The other hand though it’s almost like planting the seed about quitting before you’ve ever played a note. At least now there are some inexpensive guitars that are good but not so much with small amps… and if your amp sounds bad it’s only adding to the odds of quitting
Apologies this is a bit of a tangent to the main topic here but there’s already plenty of good advice shared above
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