[pytrin]

(I've been playing the guitar for 16 years) - beginners should definitely start with a classical guitar, not an acoustic or an electric guitar. Acoustic is the hardest to play correctly, while electric has more setup and cost involved (amplifier, cables, etc). A basic classical guitar is the simplest way to start playing and producing decent sounds.

[davidroberts]

Definitely not a classical guitar unless you intend to play classical only. It's a whole different style of play, and you'll have to relearn everything if you change over to a steel string acoustic or electric. The fretboard is much wider and the nylon strings are stretchy and play differently.

I suggest going for a moderately-priced decent-quality imported steel-string acoustic like a Yamaha or Sigma (low-end line of the Martin Company, made in Korea).

It's good to start with acoustic even if you plan on mainly playing electric. It's the common denominator of the guitar world, and you'll be so glad you can just pick one up and play something cool on it at will.

You might want to consider starting with lighter gauge strings than the ones that come of the guitar while you are developing calluses and learning bar chords.

[pytrin]

I'm sorry, but that's complete BS. Playing any type of guitar does not limit you to a specific style of play - you can play any style you want on any type of guitar. Some advanced techniques and progressions (i.e, solos or conversly fingerstyle) will be more comfortable on specific guitar types, but there's no technical limitation from playing anything on every guitar type. Those distinctions are mostly meaningless to beginners who will be mostly playing simple chords and melodies (to which I would say, a classical guitar is the most comfortable form factor).

[oblique63]

I don't know who's downvoting you, but this is right. You're inspiration is the only thing that determines what will come out of any instrument.

I love my Cordoba classical guitar, but I never actually play classical stuff on it. Hell, I usually end up playing crazy metal on it most of the time. I just really like how it sounds, so I experiment with it. It is more intuitive to play fingerstyle on it given the soft strings and the string spacing, but I could still maneuver a fat 2mm pick on it just fine...

[reidrac]

You're partially right. For a beginner a classical guitar is definitely better (more space in the neck to put the fingers, the nylon strings in 1-3 are easier/less painful for untrained fingers, no need to plug it in an amp, etc), but the guitar type will limit you in certain styles (try playing a solo at some speed on a classic guitar getting to the 14th fret).

Sure, I learnt to play guitar with a classical guitar and I totally recommend it for a beginner, but there are obvious things like my Fendler Telecaster not having a tremolo bar: I can't use it :) Definitely you can play any style with it, but it really shines when jamming some blues with the neck pick.

[austenallred]

I would argue a beginner should start with an acoustic for precisely the same reason. Transitioning from electric or classical to acoustic is difficult, but from acoustic to the other two is very simple.

[pytrin]

It's certainly not difficult once you are proficient enough. I got my first acoustic after 2 years playing a classical guitar and 1 year playing an electric one. It was very similar to playing a classical guitar once your fingers are broken in.

On the other hand, for beginners which usually struggle at first producing clean sounds, an acoustic presents a much bigger challenge and for no added benefits.

[dbaupp]

Isn't this a similar argument to "people should learn to program with machine code/assembler/C because it's easy to move to other languages then"?

[geoka9]

Yes, something like that. If you are proficient with the acoustic guitar, you'll probably be able to pick up an electric for the first time in your life and play.

On the other hand, if all you've ever played is an electric (with its low action and lighter strings), playing an acoustic will probably require some time getting used to.

I would compare electric to something like Python and acoustic to C :)

[AlecSchueler]

The difference isn't really as big as that. It'd be like starting with Perl and then moving onto Ruby or Python.

[austenallred]

I would say its like starting with Python and moving to JavaScript. It really isn't that much more difficult.