Originally Posted by: buckwheat1You were so right Jess about that free guitar not being good for strumming. I'm not sure I even want to practice on it. It doesn't give any exciting positive feedback or even let the songs sound right. Any ideas as to how it might be useful in my learning? Would changing the strings help?

Fingerpicking? Flamenco style? You might get bored one day and want to learn classical guitar.
You can't put steel strung strings on a classical guitar as the neck on a classical isn't strong enough. The tension required will more than likely warp the neck. You're gonna have to stick with nylon which as you have found is not for strumming.