Expert: The Luthier Lady! - 1/1/2011

Question
Hi,

I'm a beginner guitarist and bought finally an acoustic guitar. I have an electronic one too, but I wanted to try different sound. So, the guy in the music store said that nylon string guitar is better for beginners so I bought it.. I'm not a native speaker of English, so I try my best to describe my problem here.. So, the nylon one is ok, but the strings are ''higher'' off the fingerboard than in the electric one. So it makes your fingers tired, because you need to push the strings down with more power than when playing the electric guitar. Is it so with all the nylon string acoustic guitars or should the steel string have been better choice? You can't adjust the strings on acoustic guitar like you can do with electric guitar with that screwdriver. So the question remains, is it like the same with all acoustic guitar that the strings are higher, or is it just the nylon string guitar?

Answer
Hi Jenni,

Nylon guitar strings are generally higher off the fret board because they need more room to vibrate in their arc when plucked. The reason the person in the music store probably told you a nylon stringed guitar was easier for a beginner is because the strings themselves are easier on your fingers when you fret them. (your fingers are usually not as sore)

But, in my opinion, a nylon string guitar is not the easiest for a beginner. The easiest is an electric. The reason being, an electric usually has a smaller neck and you can adjust the neck so that the strings set very close to the frets, thus making it easier to press the string onto the fret.

Nylon stringed guitars are usually played by classical performers. This type of playing requires the guitar to have a wider, flat fret board. This set up is usually very difficult for a beginner because they do not have the dexterity to play on a fret board like that.

If the guitar you bought is a regular acoustic guitar, and you just put nylon strings on, then you can take the nylon ones off, and replace them with steel. If you bought a classical style guitar (with linear slots in the peghead where the tuning machines go), then you are stuck with using nylon strings.

However, no matter which you have (classical or regular acoustic) you should be able to have the truss rod adjusted by a repair technician, to make it play better (i.e., feel better on you fingers)

What you need to do is take the guitar back to the music store where you bought it and ask them to do a set up on it. Be sure to tell them the action is too high for you to play comfortably. Since you bought the guitar from them, they should do a free set up for you this one time.

Also, if you do have a regular acoustic (and not the classical), you can put what is called "silk and steel" strings on it. This type of strings are sort of a hybrid between regular steel and nylon. While you will not get a booming sound out of these type of strings, they are MUCH easier on your fingers, and make playing a much more enjoyable experience (especially when you are a beginner)