I’ve been playing guitar for well over 20 years and have some credits to my name. I started fumbling on an old, crappy acoustic (“Kent” brand) with a high, tight action. This forced me to get incredible strength, but at the cost of finesse. (Tough to play a gentle fingering pattern when you have to stand on the strings.) I really got serious when I bought an electric guitar at a pawn shop for $50. The action was so light, I was screwing up on simple chords, and I had to relearn a lot. Now, I’m back to acoustics (I gave my electric to my nephew.)
While I agree with the above respondents about starting on an acoustic (they are also lighter, easier to travel with, don’t require an amplifier to listen to them, etc.) I would like to specifically recommend a brand or two.
Consider
[li] The quality of a guitar is important to your enjoyment. A guitar that is too hard to play (high action) or doesn’t stay in tune will never be fun to play and will gather dust faster than you can say “ab-roller”.[/li]
[li] The cost of a guitar is important to your wallet. High quality guitars come with high price tags. Cheap guitars are, well, cheap. The difficult part is finding that middle ground of what you can afford vs. what is reasonable quality.[/li]
I’ve played old Epiphones and new Epiphones, Collings, Nationals, Ovations, Applause guitars, Martins, Takamine, Taylor and a few others. All have good and bad points specific to my likes/dislikes. I have, however, been impressed with a few models…
Takamine has quality guitars for reasonable prices. For about a grand, you can get a B to B+ Takamine, if you don’t mind that tinny sound.
About a year of so ago, Martin started producing a line of less expensive guitars. These run in the $600 range. Most of them are part mahogany and have a mellow sound. These are in the B to B+ range also, if you like that mellow thing.
Martin also started making a new composite backed guitar. It’s a carbon/fiber composite back with a wood top. I think it’s called an X-1. I’ve played one, loved it and had my father buy it! Because they were just testing the water with this guitar style, the prices were very low. I think my dad paid $185 and got a case! (I almost bought one for myself!) It’s bright and has the high quality of a Martin.
I am not suggesting that you buy an X-1. I am just mentioning it as a model you might want to check out for quality and price. Of course, all above recommendations regarding comfort and feel are spot on.
What do I play? Right now I divide my playing between a $300 Applause (Made by Kaman guitars, which makes Ovation) and a custom built guitar, hand made for me by JWL guitars. (I won’t tell you the price. 
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