I believe you should not have to worry about what a "beginner bird" is. That's what happens to a lot of cockatiels, you know? People get them as beginner birds, decide they can handle more, get rid of the 'tiel and get the other bird they ACTUALLY wanted. So, tell us, what kind of bird do YOU want?
I started off with parrotlets. When I got my first bird I had never owned a bird before and a parrotlet was the first bird I ever met that I wanted. I have had her for 5 years now, and have gotten other birds since, but my p'let goes nowhere
So just make sure you get a kind of bird YOU want, not feel you SHOULD get.
Parrotlets are very quiet, the loudest sounding like the birds outside your window in the mornings (in the US, at least, lol). They have an attitude of a much larger bird and are FEARLESS. This is my experience with the females, which i prefer over males. Males are more timid, can be harder to train, but are prettier and can talk. I got mine hand fed and was fully hand trained in a week. But I had another female that was hand fed and ended up never being hand tamed, so it depends on the personality- the more outgoing a baby bird is, the better luck you have. They live approx 20yrs. She is still pretty nippy, as parrotlets are notorious pickers!!!
My green cheek conure is actually very quiet for the most part. I mean, any bird you get is GOING to make noise. I have found that parakeets tend to be louder than my p'let or my conure. My conure is VERY fun, like a little acrobat, he talks, he LOVES to snuggle, and loves toys more than any of my other birds. We got him as a hand fed 4 month old at a bird fair and "he", too, was trained in a week. Green cheeks need to be DNA sexed, you can't tell by just looking at them. They live 20-30yrs. He, too, can be a little nippy, but only to ears, and he is still very young. But he will become sexually mature at about 2yrs and he will get nippier again. The importance is to keep them socialized with BOTH sexes of humans (this applies to any bird). That way when sexual maturity comes around, they don't end up hating a gender of person for that reason alone.
Our male bare-eyed is that way. Cockatoos come into sexual maturity around 3-4yrs, he is 4yrs and was never well socialized. He flies across the room to attack my face. I am not a fan.
Our Goffin's cockatoo is not loud persay, EXCEPT at night when we first cover her, she throws a fit. Or if you are in another room and she wants to be with you she gets loud. But if there is one room you are in predominantly (aside from your bedroom), you would be fine.
AAAnd then there is my ekkie... he is the quietest of the bunch!! I have literally come to terms that he is the perfect bird. He is quiet except for the talking, and they have VERY sweet voices!! He is not nippy, in fact I can "beak wrestle" with him. He just wants to be WITH me, so more often than not, he is sitting on his special basket perch next to me, sleeping, watching, or mumbling, lol. When he's not there, I have him on my chest while he lets me pet him like a kitty and he falls asleep. Everyone needs an ekkie! They do have stricter diet requirements, but it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I feed fruits and veggies 5 days a week minimum, with my busy days getting an all organic ekkie formulated pellet. Even then, I usually mix it with some applesauce or frozen veggies which takes about 2 seconds.
So, there is a little bit of facts to work off of if you already haven't decided what to get
which is a pitty cause they are my first choice and I know a few of them in person, and I just LOVE them!!! 
but i didn't have much choice since i was the only one willing to care for him after my grandmother died. i had to learn by trial and error there were no sites like this to help when i started. fortunately we had 17 happy years together before he passed in 2011.you have to get the one who appeals most to you i've seen too many "practice" birds on craigslist, i say practice because people actually say" they are getting rid of their small parrot to upgrade to larger." we can give you an idea based on your lifestyle. do you have an apartment or house? do you have a family with kids yet? have you started a career and will it allow you the time a parrot needs?
