I would hardly characterize myself as a "militant" advocate of using nylon-string guitars. I know many excellent guitarists who play musical styles in which the sound of nylon strings just isn't appropriate. Blues is probably the most obvious example. Although I play alternating thumb picking styles on a nylon-string guitar and seem to get away with it, I think this kind of picking actually sounds better on steel strings. And I can't imagine most country music being played on nylon strings, with the exception of Willie Nelson. But you'll note that he gets a particularly penetrating sound out of "Trigger" by playing close to the bridge, and with a pick instead of using his fingers.

I favor nylon strings especially for beginners because steel strings tuned to pitch exert about 2.5 times as much tension as nylon strings. This reflects itself directly in how much pressure is needed to press the strings down on the frets. Also, there is the "cheese cutter" factor, especially with the unwound treble steel strings. These are important matters to a beginner. Sore fingers! Also, if you eventually want to shift to nylon strings as I did, you have to practically relearn a lot of left hand technique because you're used to using far much more pressure than nylon strings require, and this can affect left-hand agility. It takes a long time to learn to lighten up on the left hand. This is something I learned the hard way. I played a steel-string guitar (Martin 00-18) for a few years because Walt Robertson, my first guitar teacher, used a steel-string guitar.

And then, there is the matter of the technique of playing. I was particularly interested in British Isles songs and ballads, and I liked some (but not all) of the accompaniments that Richard Dyer-Bennet did to such songs. This was in the early Fifties, and there were not that many recordings out to serve as examples of how to do folk songs. Field recordings weren't readily available until later. Among the singers who were available on records, Ed McCurdy played a classic guitar. So did Cynthia Gooding. Although McCurdy and Gooding played reasonable well, Dyer-Bennet obviously knew his way around a classic guitar much better than they did. I wanted to be able to play like him, but I was aware his classical style of both playing the guitar and singing was really "iffy" as far as a lot of folk songs are concerned. Imitating him was not my intent. Among other things, since I'm a bass, I sound a whole lot more like McCurdy than like Dyer-Bennet. And besides, being able to play the way Dyer-Bennet could, as well as he could, did not mean that I had to play that way. There is nothing that stops me from playing a simple "Burl Ives basic," or any other folk style. Whatever I figured was appropriate for a particular song. Not stuck in any one style of playing.

I also liked classic guitar music and wanted to be able to play some straight solo classic guitar. When Walt felt he had taught me all he could, he suggested that I seek out a classic guitar teacher, which I did. I traded in my Martin 00-18 on a Martin 00-28-G classic. I was soon able to play some of the simpler pieces by Sor and Tàrrega, and eventually Milan, Bach, Villa-Lobos, and such. It was not long before being able to work out and play song accompaniments, either simple or complex, became duck-soup.

But—more to the point, when I started teaching, I gave my students options:   "We can start right off learning chords and right-hand picking and strumming patterns. Or we can spend a bit of time going through a couple of classic guitar manuals. Personally, I advocate learning some classic first, but it's your call." Some wanted to plunge right in and start learning songs. Fine with me. Also, easier on me as a teacher.

But some (including Maggie's dad) opted to learn some classical technique first. I can think of several of my former students who went this route and did quite well for themselves, playing a whole variety of different styles, some on nylon-string guitars, many on steel-string guitars. Some of them are still at it. One is a gal blues singer/guitarist (HERE). She started on a classic, but currently plays a Martin D-18. She's very active, and has been since her "debut" at the 1964 Berkeley Folk Festival. She was doing a lot of Joan Baez and Tom Paxton stuff until the festival, where she heard Mississippi John Hurt, went nuts over blues, and had chance to sit down with him and get him to teach her some guitar licks. Having spent some time on classic technique, she was nimble-fingered and knew her way around a fingerboard, so she was able to pick up what he showed her very quickly.

And those are my main reasons for recommending learning some classic technique and getting the appropriate kind of nylon-string guitar to learn it on. HOWEVER, I have never tried to claim that this is the only way.

Two other matters:   

First, as far as barre chords versus wrapping the thumb around the neck is concerned, I have no objection to using the thumb, but I, personally, have never encountered a situation where I felt it was necessary. I could, of course, work out chord voicings in which it would be necessary, but I've been playing guitar for over fifty years and have just never needed to. But whatever turns your crank. It's not a religious issue with me.

Second, I am aware that Chet Atkins was self-taught. He started playing when he was nine years old. He mastered the fingerboard, and it's my understanding that he learned finger-picking from Merle Travis (whether in person or from recordings, I don't know), then expanded his right-hand technique from there. He investigated a lot of different styles of playing, including classical. And he could read music. Tàrrega's Requerdos de la Alhambra is not an easy piece to learn and play, but this was only one of several classic guitar pieces that Atkins could play, and play well. What I said above is, "One doesn't do that without studying a fair amount of classic technique." I did not say that Atkins took classic guitar lessons.

I have not had a classic guitar lesson since the early Sixties. But I'm still studying classic guitar:   practicing technical exercises more or less daily, trying to keep my song accompaniments fresh, and working at learning new pieces.

Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to play the damned thing.

Press on.

Don Firth