Both guitars are technically acoustic guitars in that their sound is created acoustically. Classical guitars will have nylon strings while regular acoustic guitars are available in with both nylon or steel string models. Their designs, however, are distinctly different. For instance, classical guitars typically have considerably wider necks and no reference dots, just to name a few differences between an acoustic and classical guitar
If you’re a beginner guitar player and wondering what kind of guitar to buy, consider first what type of music you’d like to learn to play. In all likelihood this will be the musci you enjoy listening to. True, the terminology about various instruments can certainly make things difficult to understand on a technical level. But rest easy; your first decision will be whether you want to play classical music, which requires a classical (nylon string) guitar or perhaps more mainstream (rock, folk, country, blues, jazz etc.) songs.
Both Classical and Acoustic guitars are played the same way and many guitarists own both types. Regular guitars can be designed for nylon strings though they may not neccessarily be ‘classical’ guitars. These nylon-strung models are softer on your fingertips, if you’re looking for some relief. So if you’ve been wondering what’s the difference between an acoustic and classical guitar, hopefully this page will help.
Acoustic & Classical Guitar Similarities
The two guitar models actually share a number of similarities. For example, both guitars have six strings and are typically tuned in standard tuning, meaning EADGBE. Both include a soundhole and the sounds are generated acoustically. Both include frets, tuning pegs and feature a round body.
Classical & Acoustic Guitar Differences
The main differences between the two are the size of the neck, the type of strings used, the way the strings are strung, the different kinds of bridge, and the type of tuning pegs (aka tuners). A classical guitar uses nylon string. Whereas acoustic guitars may use both steel or nylon strings.
It’s important to know not to put steel strings on a classical guitar. The reason is, the tension from steel strings is considerably higher and could very well end up damaging your instrument. Although nylon strings might not damage a steel-string acoustic guitar, you will discover that the spacing of the strings and the overall setup will not perform well with nylon strings.