How To Choose The Best Nylon Strings For Your Classical Guitar
Picking strings is easy - figuring out which strings best suit you and your guitar isn't so easy.
Classical Guitar Strings
Apart from your guitar itself the strings that you put on your classical guitar will have the greatest impact on your sound and tone quality.
A great set of strings can make an average guitar sound much better and conversely a poor set of strings can make a great guitar sound worse.
Classical Guitar String Considerations
When purchasing nylon strings for your classical guitar you need to consider a few things:
- Price
- Availability
- Longevity
- Gauge
- Material
Price. For most of us out there price is one the biggest considerations when choosing strings. Most of the time we just go for whatever is cheapest often at the expense of superior tone and longevity. For people like me that change strings every two week the cost can quickly escalate over the year. I personally use Augustine Regal Blue High Tension strings because they are a high-quality string that isn't too expensive and they can endure about 60 to 80 hours of playing before their tone is lost (at least to me anyway).
Availability. The worst thing is heading to your local music store or searching online only to find that your brand is gone. Sticking to established brands with a reliable track record is really important. Brand such as Hannabach, Savarez, Augustine are all fantastic makers with a long and illustrious history of making strings favoured by the world's best classical guitarists.
Longevity. This is probably the most subjective point as when classical guitar strings or any guitar strings for that matter lose their tone is undefinable. For me that point is reached when the notes don't ring true. The sound is dull, sustain is compromised, and the clarity of the note is no longer apparent. Obviously, if you rarely play your guitar your strings will last a lot longer. If you're like me and you play and practice for several hours each day your strings will need to be replaced more frequently.
Gauge. This is the thickness of your strings. In classical guitar terms this is usually measured as tension defined as high, medium, and low. It is generally understood that the higher the tension in the strings the more punch and volume your guitar will produce. The cost of this additional punch and volume is that greater effort is required to 'finger' the notes. I would say that high tension strings are more suited to experienced players or players that have exceptionally strong hands and grip strength. Beginners or people with smaller weaker hand and finger strength should choose low tension strings to begin with.
Material. Classical guitar strings are made using a wide variety of materials with bronze, silver plating, and brass being popular choices for the bass strings. Treble strings can be made from clear nylon, rectified nylon, and carbon fibre. Bear in mind that the very traditional gut strings are still available for those seeking the most traditional sound. They tend to be far more expensive than even the highest quality nylon strings and are probably worth trying if you are seeking a different sound from the majority of players on the scene.
Mix N Match
Another popular method is to mix strings from different sets to come up with your own 'unique' sound and set that suits your playing style. Many players do this and there is no reason that you can't too!
Gut strings: https://www.stringsbymail.com/classical-guitar-strings-1/pyramid-970/gut-and-gut-nylon-974/
Another classical guitar string review: http://equipboard.com/posts/best-classical-guitar-strings
Learn Guitar Online
Learning guitar can be a scary thing - especially with a new teacher. Learning online using Skype can be a cost-effective & super convenient way to learn.
Introduction
The option of learning guitar online has been around for many years but there are still many people that are reluctant to learn using this method, preferring instead to go it alone or learn in-person with a tutor. Years ago I too thought that learning online wasn't really possible but I was wrong.
The event that changed my mind occurred when I was on tour in the middle east several years ago and I needed to learn a fairly complex guitar solo with extremely limited time to do so. Under normal conditions I would've taken a couple of days to learn it by ear but in this case I had less than 12 hours to try to nail it. I was trying to think of an easier way to get it done and I thought of YouTube. I typed in the name of the song and voila - there was a lesson for it! A kind person had posted it on their channel and it took me about an hour to get it all down. Needless to say after that I was hooked and I realised that learning guitar from an instructor on a screen was an entirely valid option. I had learned guitar stuff from the Hotlicks range of videos that were popular prior to the internet so learning from a screen wasn't totally foreign to me but with YouTube & Skype there's a difference and that difference is the ability to interact and receive feedback. The old school instructional DVDs and videos were a strict one-way affair.
The new age = Interactivity
YouTube opened doors with comments section. I have no doubt that most of you that are reading this post have come here because you've watched one or more of my tutorial videos on YouTube. You'll notice in the comments section on my videos that there are tons of questions and I answer them all. This is the wonderful opportunity that online guitar learning offers - interaction with the tutor in the video. The downside with YouTube is that some of the creators that post content don't respond to questions for various reasons but you may (if you're lucky) receive feedback or an answer from someone else. Sadly, though it is hit and miss.
Fortunately, Skype lessons can give you that much needed feedback or answer to that question. The downside with Skype guitar lessons online is usually the price. YouTube is 100% free whereas a private lesson with a guitar teacher online could cost anywhere from $5 to $200 for an hour and a private one-one-one lesson in your home or studio could be even more expensive. You'll also need a decent internet connection, a webcam, and a microphone, and somewhere peaceful to do the lesson and that can be an expensive outlay for some although a smart phone or tablet has all of those features and they're usually within the grasp of most people.
I would say if you are really serious about learning guitar definitely consider online guitar lessons as a viable option. It can also be a great option for those that have hit a plateau and need some assistance or advice to overcome that plateau and move forward.
Let your fingers fly!