My friend is thinking of picking up guitar

I already recommended whatever music he listens to should be his guitar of choice. Which is a good yet inexpensive electric guitar? Acoustic? What amp should he get?

Well. First off: What kind of music are we talking about? It all depends on that.

Edit: It also depends on how serious he is, if it's worth getting a bit more expensive gear that will be good enough for an average-intermediate player. Since after all, it's not worth throwing away a lot of cash on things you're not gonna use.

But something that would be suitable for most kinds of music, and are relatively cheap would be either a Squire (Single-coiled) of witch you can find beginner-guitars for like 150€ or something. Or if he's more into rock and metal he could get a (little more expensive) LTD (Humbuckers) for around 250-300€.

For amps, tell hem to get a Laney, their cheap models are surprisingly good.

Chlor, is right. Its all about they're music taste.
Majority guitarist have an acoustic and electric guitar. So he also has to decide how much money he wants to spend. Shop around for sales, go to a music boutique you can some times haggles there. Once he knows what kind of guitar he wants (elec or acoustic) how it feels is most important. Should fell comfy and as if an extension of your body.

*Nylon guitars have darker tones, better suited for classical, flamenco, fingerpicking and can do most of what a regular acoustics can do.

*Acoustic guitars usually higher/lower tones depending on wood body. Can be used to play a large spectrum of music.

*electric guitars - Best when plug in to amp there are Solid body Semi-hollows. solid bodies dont get much feed back when they're amp'd fully hollows get a reasonable amount of feed back. Semi hollows bodies usually the size of an acoustic, while solid bodies are heavier. But both have can be played in a vary of styles and play very high and low pitches. Just depends on what kind of music you like more.

-Some of the cheapest elec/acoustic guitars but still have a nice tone are around $200-$500 (sometimes they all ready come with a gigbag or cheap amp).

-Then there are the second highest quality guitars $600-$900 usually made of higher quality wood, better pick-ups, and a nicer tone.

-Then $1000 and up wouldn't recommend.

I would recommended starting off with a decent acoustic guitar. You can get a very high quality acoustic for much cheaper then an electric. I remember my acoustic costing just $400 compared to my electric at $1,200.

I say start with acoustic also because of the finger skills you learn. The strings on an acoustic are more difficult to bend and usually requires more pressure to fret. This builds up great finger technique, thus when you make the transition into an electric you will be amazed how easy it is to play.

Remember to tell your friend to learn the basics before they even think of playing a song. I paid attention to nothing but songs from my guitar lessons instead of what was being taught and payed for it later down the road (took about 3 months to get over a rut).

PS: Don't buy a crappy amp or electric guitar, quality is a huuuuge factor when you step up to electric.

Some good amps to look at:

Mesa boogie
Marshall (the king of kings)
Fender (twin re verb)
Peavey (they make great little practice amps with build in effects, great for dorm room or apartment situations)

Guitars:
Gibson (expensive but worth every damn penny)
Epiphone ( a more affordable but lesser quality Gibson)
Fender (we are talking a high quality start here not your $500 knock-offs)
Ibanaz (solid yet affordable guitars overall)

i bought the guitar of my favourite musician/biggest inspiration.
not one bit of regret has ever got me to this day

^
If you're not sure of whether you'll keep on playing or not then buying an expensive brand-guitar is quite stupid. I'll just assume that your biggest inspiration plays on an expensive brand guitar like most professionals do.

Every guitar is a brand-guitar....unless you build it yourself.

Also some professionals don't use very expensive guitars all the time. Look at Noodles from The Offspring, a Ibanez is a very affordable guitar and he uses it all the time aside from his Gibson Les Paul.

brand-guitar, used the way you use brand-clothes, you don't call a Squire a brand-guitar, since it's just a cheaper, low-quality edition of Fender's good stuff. The same way you don't call a shirt from like H&M a brand-name shirt.

Ibanez make quite good stuff yes, but it's not like Noodles and Steve Vai and the rest who uses Ibanez use their Jumpstart-package gear. Now Ibanez may be cheaper than getting a Custom Les Paul or an ESP or something like that, but the 3-400€ difference isn't much when we're talking guitars that cost around 2000-2500€ anyway. In my opinion, not a plausible option for a complete newbie.

if they are just starting out then the best advice I can give is to get a guitar that is comfortable for them to play, and that they like the sound of.

I would suggest getting an acoustic just because it is 'pick up and play' and requires no setup, which is important when you are starting off.

I would also suggest learning chords first (especially barre chords as opposed to open position chords) because it is FAR better for you to get a sound you like out of the guitar as soon as possible so that you WANT to keep playing. If you enjoy playing then you will naturally get interested in learning all the 'proper' excercise to start getting good later, but you should be having fun with it as soon as possible, even if it means taking shortcuts like using open tunings.

I've taught a few people to play guitar (I've got a TAFE music teaching qualification) and I'm convinced that they best thing you can do is just keep them interested in playing.

light gauge strings are also good for begginers

Your best bet is to go into a local music ,or pawn shop ,and have him try their line-up of guitars until he finds one he like..I can't really recommend a brand ,or even style cause at least in my opinion those things really depend pretty heavily on what type of music he likes,and what type of sound he wants to put out.

Side Note: Though if I was under gun-point ,and forced to choose I'd say a Les Paul...never heard a bad thing about em

I have an Ibanez with SH-2 Jazz model at the neck and SH-4 model at the bridge. I love the mahogany body and warm and long sustaining tones. IMO it can create a wide range of sounds.

My friend had a cheap guitar with a maple neck (white color) and his would get really dirty and nasty(sweat I think or he's just dirty). From what I've seen stay away from white guitar necks.

Les Paul have built a good reputation respect within the music area but I haven't tried playing it.