Starting your guitar playing journey can seem a bit overwhelming, especially when it comes to choosing which guitar pedals are best for you. No matter where your guitar playing skills are at, having a few different pedals at your disposal definitely helps make practicing even more fun.
In today’s article, I’ve picked out the best range of guitar pedals that offer a great start to your guitar playing journey. All of these pedals are very useful for all guitar players and I’ve also mentioned a few that will make your practice sessions all the more fun. Enjoy!
Table of Contents
1. Chromatic Tuner Pedal
The first thing every new guitar player needs is a way to tune their guitar. If your guitar is out of tune, it will cause your sound to be totally off. And if you sound like crap from the get-go, you may give up trying to learn the guitar all together. We definitely don’t want that, because learning to play the guitar is extremely rewarding. We recommend the Boss Tu-3 Chromatic Tuner shown below.
- Tune your guitar or bass on stage with the TU-3, successor of the BOSS TU-2, the world’s top-selling stage tuner
- Housed in a tank-tough BOSS stompbox body, the TU-3 features a smooth 21-segment LED meter with a High-Brightness mode that cuts through the harshest outdoor glare
- 21-segment LED meter with brightness control
- Accurate to +/- one cent
- Accu-Pitch Sign function provides visual verification when tuning is complete
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
2. Tube Screamer
Every aspiring guitar player needs some form of a Tube Screamer pedal in their collection. Ibanez makes a few different models of this pedal. So what does a tube screamer do? Basically, what it does is imitates the sound of a vintage tube amp.
Some of the most popular guitarists have made the Tube Screamer their go-to guitar pedal. Names like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kirk Hammett, Joan Jett, Carlos Santana, and many many other famous guitarists absolutely love this pedal.
So why not add it to your collection? There are many versions of the original Ibanez Tube Screamer. We recommend the Mini Tube Screamer below. Not only is it affordable, but it’s perfect for the beginning guitarist.
- Distortion
- Effects
- Guitars
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- Our goal - Your satisfaction is our top priority and is our focus.
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
3. Distortion Pedal
Distortion pedals are one of the most common types of guitar pedals. They are used for one thing: to distort your sound! Not all distortion pedals distort the same, however. Some pedals are built well but have very weak distortion sound.
Do you absolutely need a distortion pedal? Not exactly, as all amps have some level of distortion built-in, if you know how to use it properly. However, adding a distortion pedal to your collection allows you to control the quality of distortion, which makes having one valuable.
We recommend the durable Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. It’s very basic, so it’s perfect for beginners. But don’t let that fool you, as many famous guitarists have used this pedal like Kurt Cobain, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, just to name a few.
- Legendary distortion used by guitarists everywhere Since 1978
- BOSS’s first distortion pedal defined a bold new sound, delivering hard-edged attack and smooth sustain that’s been a staple of players for generations.
- Hard-edged attack remains clear even at maximum distortion settings, ideal for heavy rhythms and cutting solos
- Works great as a booster at low distortion settings
- Unique tone control offers a wide range of sound Shaping
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
4. The Infamous Wah Pedal
Wah pedals have been used by some of the music industry’s most famous guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. So you might be wondering just what in the heck does a wah pedal do anyway?
Simply put, a wah pedal alters the tone and frequencies of your guitar signal, which creates a very unique sound – almost like a human voice sound. Wah pedals are also pretty easy to use as well. We recommend the original wah style pedal, the Dunlop Cry Baby, because it sounds great and is affordable so it won’t break the bank.
- THE BENCHMARK: The Cry Baby Standard Wah has been the modern touchstone for bold, expressive wah tones since the line came under Dunlop’s stewardship in 1982.
- AGGRESSIVE MODERN VOICE: Tuned for an assertive tone with a pronounced sweep.
- ICONIC FASEL INDUCTOR: Equipped with the famous red Fasel Inductor for a lush, expressive sound.
- MADE IN U.S.A.: Built with a heavy-duty die-cast housing and a Hot Potz Potentiometer tested to one million cycles.
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
5. Delay Pedal
Delay pedals are unique in that they take your previously played sound, and play it back to you after a given amount of time depending on how you’ve set it up. The playback from these pedals usually takes only milliseconds. We recommend the Donner Multi Digital Delay Pedal shown below. It’s an all around great pedal where reliability meets affordability.
- [7 Delay Modes]: 7 delay effects including digital, analog, tape, mod, sweep, lofi and reverse
- [3 Knobs Control]: Customize your sound with precision using the MIX knob for dry/effect signal ratio; TIME knob for delay time (20ms ~ 838ms); F.BACK knob for feedback amount adjustment
- [Digital Circuit Design]: Benefit from a digital circuit design that ensures high-quality sound reproduction, while the true bypass feature maintains a transparent tone
- [Durable Construction]: Whole Aluminium-alloy classic, stable and strong; Mini Size,easy to go and pedal-boards friendly
- [Kind reminder]: Requires a DC 9V adapter power supply (not included) for operation
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
6. Tremolo Pedal
A tremolo pedal modifies the volume of your signal in a rhythmic type of way. It can give your sound an almost underwater type of effect.
We recommend the one by Boss mentioned down below. Pretty much any guitar pedal made by Boss is guaranteed to have the utmost quality. They are reliable and durable, and not to mention awesome sounding.
- Tremolo Guitar Effects Pedal with Wave
- Depth Controls
- Wave control alters LFO waveform from triangle to square
- High-quality vintage guitar tremolo effects Dedicated Wave, Rate and Depth knobs allow for precise effect tailoring
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
7. Volume Pedal
This pedal is pretty self-explanatory. Basically what it does is allows you to control the overall volume of the sound coming out of your amp. The volume pedal comes in handy when you have several pedals hooked up at one time.
These pedals should typically be put in the beginning of your guitar pedal effects signal chain. Keep in mind, that this chain actually begins at your amplifier and not your guitar. A great tutorial on where to put which pedal can be found here.
- Compact design25 VPJR potentiometer for active pickup signalsTuner output
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
8. Compressor Pedal
A compressor pedal is used to balance out your sound. For example, if you strum a string too hard, the compressor pedal will swoop in and even out the sound for you, and essentially make it duller.
Usually, compressor pedals have a level control and a sustain feature. We recommend the JOYO JF-10, because it works well and is very affordable. Sometimes, compressor pedals have a bit of a learning curve to get the right sound. The JOYO JF-10 is perfect for beginners and will help with the learning curve.
- Guitar Effect Pedal
- Dynamic Compressor
- Profession Guitar AMP and Effect Pedal
- CE and RoSH Certify
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
9. Phaser Pedal
Phaser pedals are nice pedals to have in your collection, but they’re definitely not essential. Phaser pedals have kind of a swishy sound effect. They have been used by artists such as Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix.
What a phaser essentially does is takes an incoming audio signal from your guitar and splits it into two paths via an audio processor. While the process itself is quite difficult to explain, phaser pedal are actually quite easy to use.
- 9V Batteries Required, best with Polaroid 9V Batteries.
- Rich, warm analog tone
- Add shimmery velocity and dramatic swooshing to your tone
- The timeless phase shifter used on many classic recordings
- Model Number: M101
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
10. Clean Boost Pedal
A clean boost guitar pedal is pretty straightforward. Basically what it does is boosts your guitar’s signal. For example, say that you want to turn up the gain knob on your amp to gain a heavier sound. Well, a clean boost pedal will make it so you can do that without the volume going up to insane levels. That’s just one of the many uses that a clean boost pedal can be used for.
This pedal is also perfect when you have a ton of pedals on your pedalboard, which can degrade your overall signal. A clean pedal boost will help clear your signal up again.
We recommend the MXR Booster Mini pedal which is both user friendly and lightweight so it will fit perfectly on any pedalboard.
- Get the Echoplex Preamp's saucy mojo with the Micro Amp’s boosting power
- Pedalboard-friendly lightweight housing
- Volume control boosts signal up to +25dB
- Internal Echoplex Preamp level control adds a little extra grit to your signal
- Model Number: M293
Last update on 2025-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Final Thoughts
Hopefully this list of guitar effects pedals helped you out in deciding which ones to get first. Just take it easy, and only get a few at a time. Master a couple of pedals and then move onto the next one. Before you know it, you’ll have a collection of guitar pedals that will last for years to come and will provide you with a vast array of sounds.
I would definitely recommend that you start off by getting a chromatic tuner pedal and a distortion or tube screamer pedal. The tuner ensures that your guitar stays in tune and the other two pedals…well they’re just plain fun to jam out with. Rock on and happy playing!
