I have been playing acoustic guitar for quite some time now. I'm not a beginner but neither am I pro. I'm now looking into buying an electric guitar. My questions are -
When it comes to buying your first electric guitar, you want to take your time, try not to rush into it. Once you have found a guitar that suits your intended playing style, and price range, there a few things it would be a good idea to check.
Most decent guitar shops offer a free setup with each guitar purchase. Get one done anyway, even if the guitar seems fine. A well set up guitar is a joy to play, one with no setup at all can be an annoying and frustrating experience to play.
With your first amp, I would recommend a small solid state amp. Again, as Stuart mentioned, Line 6, Marshall and Fender all market a very good range of beginner amps, with, in my opinion, The Line 6 Spider IV series being the most versatile and probably cheapest.
In terms of other accessories, you need a cable (the amp does not come with one), a guitar strap, and picks. I would suggest getting a range of pick weights/thicknesses and find your preference, even if you already have a preferred pick when playing acoustic.
I would also suggest a clip on chromatic tuner, so you can tune quickly. You may already have one if you play acoustic, but if not, get one, they are invaluable.
Hope this helps! :)
Don't spend too much money on a guitar. When you start playing electric, you'll have a hard time distinguishing between different guitars. Once you've been playing for a while, you'll be able to tell huge differences in the size of the neck, scale, pickups, body, neck joint, etc. But prior to having much experience, you won't be able to tell what it is you really want.
So start cheap (relatively speaking). In the US $300 will get you a decent guitar and $450 will get you a nice guitar. There isn't much reason to spend more than about 500-600 for a first electric (if you think that doesn't qualify as "don't spend too much", I hear you, but you're in for a shock later in your guitar life).
Don't worry about the intonation or action. You can have someone fix that stuff. However, you want to check that the guitar feels well constructed. Do the tone and volume pots move smoothly? Is the neck straight? Does the fretboard fit the neck well? Do the joints look well constructed and clean? Are the frets set cleanly in to the fretboard?
In the lower price range, you can get a lot of variability in construction (you can in the upper range too, unfortunately, but not as much), so you want to make sure that your guitar is well built. Do not order a guitar sight unseen, play before buying. Think about who your favorite electric artists are and see what guitars they play. If they all play something similar, I'd look at that style of guitar for a first go around (a cheaper version, obviously). I'd plan on replacing any first guitar eventually. So don't worry too much about the decision.
You will also need an amp and a guitar cord, maybe a tuner. It's also worth picking up a spare set of strings.
For an amp, I disagree with the Line 6 recomendations. I've had a couple students go that route and they universally hate the sheap Line 6 stuff. The clean sounds are absolutely terrible. You can't really go wrong with Fender or Marshal, however, my absolute favorite starter amps that I recommend to all my students are the Vox Valvetronix. For under $200, these amps sound awesome and will grow with your playing for a lot longer than other stuff in the price range, in my opinion. Again, $200 might sound like a lot, but it's worth it (and it's not a lot, just ask my wife about the $4000 amp I keep bugging her about).
First of all play it and make sure it feels good and suits your style. Check there are no buzzes and rattles from the fret board. Make sure all the switches and controls work. Check the tremelo works ok if it has one. Make sure the action is ok. Check the paintwork for any scratches etc. Try and buy from a reputable shop and all the above should have been taken care of. You will need a guitar, amplifier, strap, lead, and some picks.
Try and get an amplifier with a clean and dirty sound on it. Line 6, Marshall, and fender all make some well priced versatile amplifiers.
Take plenty of time selecting amps and guitars otherwise you will be back in the store in a few weeks looking for new gear.
I have a friend who is a guitar builder and his advice to me on this topic was quite interesting
He told me to concentrate on the sound of the guitar rather than how it feels to plays because it is often the case that any guitar can be made to play pretty good if you get it setup by someone who knows what they are doing
That said, the cost of doing a guitar up can skyrocket pretty easily so if you can find one that feels right to you that is definitely the thing to go for. Also keep in mind that guitars in the price range you are looking at tend to not have the best pickups so if you find one that sounds pretty lively and bright acoustically chances are that you will be able to up the sound quality pretty drastically just by sticking some replacements in there later
This answer contains most of my advice for guitar selection, no matter what the situation.
As far as amplifiers go, I would follow the same general route: try some, and pick one that works for you.
For a specific recommendation, I like Vox amps. My years-old AD30VT provides good amp models, fantastic genuine-tube dynamics and picking response, and all the effects I need except a standard wah. I also like the power-damping capability that allows me to get high-drive breakup at bedroom volume levels.
But your mileage may vary depending on what you want to play. I also love my Line 6 Pocket Pod for portability and headphone practice - or for using a stereo as an amp in a pinch!
I offer up one final piece of advice for all these equipment-recommendation questions, and like all good advice it comes in the form of a story:
I was trying to pick the items for my first electric rig, and I was terribly nervous. I had little idea what I wanted, less certainty about what I wanted to play, and I had the standard jitters about "What if I don't end up liking this guitar thing?" It was a lot of money to plunk down for something that had hit me out of the blue. I was analyzing everything, reading every review, and generally driving myself insane.
My wife said, "Remember, this isn't the only guitar you're ever going to buy. It's just the first."
And I understood what she was getting at. I was trying to optimize every facet of my decision. I was trying to get a guitar (and amp) that would do everything, that would be perfect for anything I wanted to do. And I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible, in case I ended up dropping the whole thing. I just calmed down, and focused on getting something that worked for me at the time.
I still have and still love the gear I bought then. Occasionally, I consider upgrading to a newer Valvetronix because lights and buttons are shiny and cool. But nobody will ever tear my SZ away from me. Calm down. Stop optimizing. Take care of now.
When it comes to buying an electric guitar, there are a lot of things to look into. If you start listing them all, then it will look like a "things that I want to do in my life".
Form your question it feels to me that you don't know much, when it comes to buying electric guitar. Its good to know what to look for when it comes to buying one. But rather then deciding on these factors, take someone with you who knows about electric guitar and also knows about what AND how you play.
Picking a suitable guitar varies a lot form person to person depending on their play style. Though, selected according to the "101-ways-to-pick-the-best-guitar" might not be the best one for you.
