Description
In this lesson we'll check out classical guitar, which because of it's nylon strings and different body shape has a drastically different sound than the steel-string acoustic we've used up until now.
So here's my own personal nylon string acoustic. As you can see, it's pretty beat-up and it's actually a cheap guitar, but I love how it sounds, and it just goes to show you that you don't always need to spend a lot of money getting something that sounds good.
I tend to refer to it as my nylon string, but a guitar like this has many different names. One of the most common ones is classical guitar, because it's the preferred guitar for playing classical music.
Some players also call it gut string, because the strings used to be made out of animal intestines. Today they're made out of nylon of course, but some players still use the term. The treble strings are all nylon and as far as I know the bass strings are also made of nylon and then with metal wound around it.
When you strum a chord, the first thing you notice is that the notes die out a little more quickly than they do on the steel strings guitar. This is called sustain, so in guitar terms we'd say that the classical guitar doesn't have the same sustain as a steel-string. What it does have is a beautiful, gentle and round sound because of the nylon treble strings.
You'll also notice that the neck feels completely different. There's typically much more space between the strings, which is because the neck is wider. That makes certain things harder and other things easier.
You can play all the same things on it that you would on a steel-string, but you'll get different results.
Now let's check out this example, all by itself so you can hear the details of the sound of this guitar.
Lesson Info
