Best guitar pedals for beginners: kickstart your pedalboard

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There is a bewildering array of guitar pedals out there at the moment and for a newcomer, it can be overwhelming trying to find the right pedal to go for. To help those who are new to the world of pedals, we decided to utilize the expertise of our writing team to put together a guide to the best guitar pedals for beginners.

You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

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Alex Lynham

Alex Lynham is a gear obsessive who's been collecting and building modern and vintage equipment since he got his first Saturday job. Besides reviewing countless pedals for Total Guitar, he's written guides on how to build your first pedal, how to build a tube amp from a kit, and briefly went viral when he released a glitch delay pedal, the Atom Smasher.

With contributions from