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The Classical Guitar In terms of sheer beautiful gorgeousness the classical (or Spanish) guitar wins out of the three hands down. The sound of a classical guitar is nothing like the other two, it has a soft, relaxing sound that can (if played correctly) be very nice. Unfortunately, the classical guitar is often given to new players, who then relate its sound and feel to their learning days, this means that it gets played less. Truthfully, classical guitar music is the most difficult style to learn on the guitar, take it from me. To play the classical guitar properly, it takes more practice than any of the other styles. You should have a good knowledge of scales and chord positions (Arrrghh!) to play it properly and be able to use dynamics and accents properly (serious bit over) but it’s worth the extra learning and practicing for the sounds that you can get out of it. You play the guitar in what is called finger style, using the fingers on the right hand. The classical guitar is also the oldest of the three, the style that we now recognise as a classical guitar has been around for a long time. The strings on a classical guitar are made of nylon, with the three lowest strings being wound with metal. Nylon strings have a lot less tension than steel strings; this low tension means that the neck can be made entirely out of wood, with no truss rod. This can lead to some weird intonation however. Compared with an electric or steel string acoustic guitar, a classical guitar can seem quite difficult to play. The classical guitar has a much thicker neck than other types of guitars, with a nut width of 48–54 mm, whereas a modern electric guitar has a nut width of 42 mm. Although it doesn’t sound like a lot, this feels much thicker. Hopefully this article has expanded your musical knowledge, or sent you to sleep; either way if you are thinking about buying a guitar you should give this a read. Remember that the guitar that you buy is an investment. The guitar will not go down in price, so if you are buying for a wannabe rock star, buying a nylon strung classical guitar will prompt sighs of boredom. A cheap electric (even if you get it from a car boot sale for £20) will get much more of a reaction and want to play from them. From teaching I have seen that the pupils who have a guitar that they like learn better, whereas kids who aren’t particularly happy will pick up the guitar less. If you want to impress people, to get on a course of music for example, the classical guitar would be a good idea (there are MILLIONS of electric guitar players who are doing music at universities. Classical guitar would also be beneficial to your progress in general; it would give you ideas of chords and scales that you can put into electric and steel string acoustic playing.
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