Classical Guitars

The Bottom Line:

Classical guitar

A specialty instrument

Not for most players

A Completely Different Kind of Guitar

As a kid, the guitar fascinated me.  There was something about pressing down the strings to play different notes, but only in certain places, that was pure magic.  Or maybe it was the fact that it wasn't the piano, the instrument I actually took lessons for.

While I was in high school, my grandparents gave me a guitar for Christmas one year.  They bought it off some family friends.  I was thrilled.  I played around with it off and on for a few years before seriously learning how to play it in college.  Okay, so seriously probably doesn't describe my playing.  I know maybe a couple dozen chords and two strums.  If I can't play a song with those abilities, I am completely sunk.

The one thing I have learned over the years is that my guitar is a classical guitar.  That makes it very different from your normal guitar.

There are two basic types of guitar, the classical guitar and the guitar everyone else uses.  Most people have the normal guitar.  This basic category includes everyone from rock stars to those who strum and sing a few songs around the camp fire.  (That last category is me, by the way.)

Have you ever heard a musician play a song on the guitar where he is actually playing specific notes?  (Beautiful, isn't it?)  That is a classical guitarist, and that is the kind of musician who would be best served by a classical guitar.

So, what's the difference?  Probably the most obvious difference is the neck of the guitar.  This is the long part of the guitar where the player presses down on the strings to change their sound.  It is much wider than your normal guitar.  Since a classical guitarist is attempting to press and pluck one string at a time, he needs the added room to move his fingers.  However, for a guitarist like me, this makes it hard to play certain types of chords.  The farther apart you need to stretch your fingers, the harder time I have playing the chord.  And forget bar chords (chords where you have to press down all six strings).  Even with my long fingers, I find them completely impossible.

Another difference is the type of string.  Most guitars use steel strings.  But those would ruin your classical guitar.  The neck isn't reinforced enough for the strain because they are designed for nylon strings.  These are softer, so they are easier on your fingers and produce a softer tone.  I've also found the nylon strings to be generally cheaper, but that may just be me looking for a bargain.

What do these differences mean for playing?  For starters, the classical guitar is quieter in volume.  Frankly, I find this fine for the smaller groups I am normally involved with.  Since most classical guitars don't have inputs for amps, you would need an external microphone if you wanted to be heard by a large crowd.

The nylon strings are easier on your fingers.  While I am not playing regularly right now, when I did, the "calluses" I had on my fingers were very small and invisible to the eye.  I could feel them, but no one else noticed them.  In fact, some friends who played guitar gave me a hard time about how my fingers looked compared to theirs.  While my fingers didn't bother me when I played my own guitar, if I picked up someone else's, I noticed the difference in the strings right away.

The difference in the neck size can really throw you off.  Again, when I played a friend's guitar, I often found myself hitting the wrong strings because my fingers were spreading too far apart for the position I needed on their guitar.

Finally, classical guitars are designed for the player to sit down and play.  There are no holders for straps.  So when I want to play, I need to have a chair, either to sit on or to rest my foot on.  Honestly, it isn't a big deal because there is almost always something I can use.  If I am going camping, I make sure I throw in my folding chair, and I am set.

If I were looking for a guitar for myself, I would not get a classical guitar.  Why not?  Because I play it as a folk player, strumming and playing chords to lead worship choruses with church groups.  And it would be nice for me to have a similar guitars to others, so I don't need explain the differences when someone picks up the guitar.

But you know what, my classical guitar works for my needs.  I'm just a casual musician (at best).  I can get used to anything, and after all these years of playing my classical guitar, I am used to it.

Of course, if I wanted to learn to pick out notes and play like a classical guitarist, I would absolutely want a classical guitar.  It's just a matter of your needs and intent.

A classical guitar is a specialty instrument meant for a certain type of musician.  If that isn't your intent, you don't need to get one.  But you can make it work for your purposes if that's what you have.