What is a better guitar for a beginner, a classical guitar or an acoustic guitar?

: What is a better guitar for a beginner, a classical guitar or an acoustic guitar?
I’m planning on buying a new guitar but I’m not sure whether or not i should buy a classical guitar or an acoustic guitar. All my friends have started out with a classical guitar, then after they advanced, they got an acoustic. But I’m not looking forward to wasting my money on both..

Answers and Views:

Answer by Rafael DeOliveira
It depends on wht you like, but make sure you have light gauge strings on it so your fingers dont as much of a beat

Answer by John
You mean, and “electric” guitar or acoustic guitar. I personally started with an electric, only because I could get good sound by playing it through an amp. But it is honestly whatever you prefer. If you are planning on getting an electric, I reccommend the Squier Stratocastor

Answer by Sam R
Go with an acoustic, once you get the feel of playing decide what type of style you wish to play.

Answer by neolinked
With acoustic, you can play thousands of songs with just several chords. So I would say its easier to sound good with acoustic, but on the more advanced levels its hard to compare.

Answer by Blacke Adder
It doesn’t matter what others do. I suggest you go to a guitar shop and mess around with both and see which sounds better to you. Technically they are very similar so I wouldn’t worry about that. One has nylon strings and the other steel. The latter may be physically harder to play but seriously its not that difficult to press down a string.

Answer by LucasMan
Well, for starters a classical guitar IS A TYPE of acoustic guitar. You meant to ask about a classical guitar or a steel string acoustic guitar.

Anyways, which type of guitar you buy has absolutely nothing to do with your skill level. You don’t “graduate” from a classical guitar to a steel string acoustic… that’s retarded. In fact, I’ll just say it right now that classical guitarists are typically better than steel players.

It depends on the type of music you want to play. Classical guitars are for classical music (obviously). Steel string acoustic guitars are more common in rock, pop, jazz, blues, etc. Some people use classical guitars in those genres (like Willie Nelson), but it’s not common.

Answer by Arnold Layne
rock, folk, blues and metal songs sound much better on acoustic than a classical guitar. here is an example of a classical guitar

It sounds deadly, but if you wanna play non classical, an acoustic would sound much Better.

*also, it is known that classical is the hardest of all genres to play. Listen ti Bob Dylan and get a feel for the simplicity of the chords. It’s easy, but it sounds good. If you decide you’re up for the challenge, tackle classical (only if you like it).

**Electric is the easiest to play because the strings are a lot lighter (with acoustic they are thicker and really hurt you’re fingers!)

Answer by saacommander
Actually even though they don’t have an authentic sound electric guitars have lighter strings making it easier on your fingers when you play. You can also tune an electric guitar for a lighter or heavier sound or for a darker or happier sound.

Answer by OU812
Simple, if you want to play classical music get a classical guitar. If you want to play any other kind of music get a steel string.

Answer by The Unborn
Both have their pros and cons.
Classical guitars have a wider neck with nylon strings.
So playing chords will require more reach but the strings are easier to press down.

Accoustic will have a more narrow neck but the strings are steel.
So playing chords will not require as much reach but the strings will be harder to press down.

Electric guitars are generally the easiest to play have a narrower neck than the classical and nickel wound steel strings that are generally softer than accoustic guitar strings.

Answer by Mango Bearlan
I started out with an acoustic steel-string guitar. The steel strings helped build up callouses on my fingers faster, but they were a bit painful. It was worth it though 🙂
It all depends on what you want. Do you want to just get it over with and build up your callous(pain included)? Or do you want to use a nylon and build your callous up slowly and over time?
Go over to your local music store and try out some of the steel-strings and nylon-strings and pick the one that feels the best 🙂

Answer by Ana
I would stick with a plain acoustic guitar. Why your friends bought a classical to practice and learn with only to later buy an acoustic is silly. Just buy an acoustic, you can do a lot more things with acoustics and your songs sound fuller and not as gentle. Also I find acoustics easier to play, since classicals seem very big to me. Make sure though, no matter what, that your strings are light or very light because heavy strings are harder to play with and hurt your fingers.

Have fun learning guitar, it is a great instrument.

Answer by atriya501
classical guitar because it forces you to learn the fundamentals as well as develop finger interdependence which is invaluable when you want to advance.