If you’ve got any recordings of yourself playing, I’d like to hear them 
It goes without saying that classical guitars use nylon strings (wire-wound nylon strings for the bass strings) which are much softer on the fingers than the steel strings on a non-classical acoustic guitar.
One thing that can help with this is lowering the action, by lowering the thing at the bridge. This means your fingers have to press less.
Hey I haven’t been here in a long time I didn’t really know where to start or where to post so I guess this thread I made would be fine. Well about guitar, I’ve gotten a lot better than when I first posted. I’ve moved onto an electric and I’m saving up for a Gibson Les Paul now from ‘mowing the lawn’ money. Me and my friends started a band called Valhalla. I might be playing in it as a second guitar, but mostly I’ll be working the keyboards. We haven’t got a singer yet. We’re mostly looking for a sound like Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, and Stevie Ray Vaughn combined. It’s mostly jazz and blues at a fast pace. So yea, that’s all I can think of posting now.
We’ll have recordings up soon - http://www.myspace.com/valhallanh
Good luck to you! I tried learning classical guitar for many years but I was absolutely awful! Then one day someone gave me a clarinet and it was an instant success (and I still play it even though most of my playing these days is on saxophone).
I still have a few guitars including a beautiful Hagstrom acoustic/electric - maybe you’ll inspire me to take up playing again. 
I found this thread on google by chance, I thought I’d reply to it again since my playing has drastically improved. I found a few favorite artists, but my favorite is Bert Jansch. He has many styles that he plays, all of which are styles which I like to listen to and therefore also play. I have a few clips of me playing on a myspace me and my friends made. I’m playing everything but ‘Mood For A Day’ (another great song by Steve Howe), thats my friend playing. So now I’m really looking for a nylon string / classical guitar. I have a new job at BAE Systems as an intern for the summer (still in highschool) so I’ll be saving up money for something in the $400 - $600 dollar range. Recommend any brands? I’ve taken a liking to Takamine. And in case the user ‘William’ is still here, I think I know every Zeppelin song now too
Awesome, Primitive! Good find with Bert Jansch, too. You can’t go wrong with him. Good luck with your band – it sounds like you’ve done quite well.
WB
Hey Primitive,
I’d suggest looking at Yamahas as well. They’re pretty good quality for the money. Otherwise just try a bunch of guitars in your price range and see which one jumps out at you.
Yours
Travis
The one thing I have trouble with is touching other strings I’m not supposed to. It messes up the chord.
practice practice practica
Hello, my name is Rafael Compte. I’m 24 years old. I’m a classical guitar player. I’m still studying though, I’m still in the conservatory. It really surprises me what you say. Guitar strings are not that painful. You can feel pain of course if you play for hours and hours (as sometimes I do have to ). To tell you the truth, if I play guitar for two hours I have to make a pause because I’m tired and my back hurts, not because of my fingers. Also, I’ve never heard of any bloody incedents and the burning the fingers solution sounds more like an irresponsibility to me. That could be dangerous!
i think steel strings are rougher on fingers than nylon. when i first started playing I would play all day. my fingers bled. not a lot, but they did. I was playing on a steelstring acoustic and an electric, though, not a nylonstring.
all that and I still can’t shred like yngwie! 
Well…I don’t know 'bout the rest of y’all…but round these parts we play the banjo…Scruggs-style! Never picked up the guitar though…
p.s. Only with the trimmest of nails, run the bare tips of your fingers up and down the neck with heavy pressure upon steel strings every night until it just starts to become uncomfortable…then stop and resume the next night and so on…you’ll have callouses without bleeding before a week has passed.
EDIT: By the way, I would like to point out that banjo is 3rd declension…i.e., banio, banionis, banioni, etc.
Greetings:
I’ve been playing the guitar for more than forty years, I make my living as a musician and author. I teach music and I perform regularly.
First, for goodness sake don’t burn your fingers ! That’s a dreadful piece of advice that can do serious harm and definitely set you back.
Second, ya gotta practice, a lot. And you should look for a good teacher, even if you have to check out a few. You can teach yourself a lot, but after I had played on my own for about ten years I took lessons for about an equal time. I started out playing rock and blues, then I played nothing but classical music for 15 years (well, I kept my blues chops alive too). I could never have achieved as much without my teachers.
If you’re planning to study on your own you’ll find a lot of good stuff at http://www.harmony-central.com. You might consider augmenting your guitar studies with some more general music studies, but if you’ve played piano you may have already encountered some theory.
In my teaching I focus on what the student wants to learn, shaping the lessons around the acquisition of the necessary technique. Chords and scales are better learned with reference to actual music, IMO. If you want to play a certain style, focus on that style, get relevant tabs and books, and practice.
Good luck. As my t’ai chi teachers told me, “Ten years is a good beginning”, so be patient and keep your sense of humor.
Good luck. As my t’ai chi teachers told me, “Ten years is a good beginning”, so be patient and keep your sense of humor.
Yes, I actually stuck to the acoustic guitar (classical) for about 10 years - and I am still a really BAD guitar player! Luckily I took up the saxophone & clarinet, quickly becoming proficient.
I have relegated guitar playing to a list of things not to bother with, like skateboard riding, skiing and parachuting. I guess you can’t win all the time.