Guitar strings

[teeisblue]

'Kay, this might be a dumb question, but I'm asking anyway. I'm teaching myself to play guitar, but I hate, hate hate using a pick. I just want to use my fingers. But I think that fingers just don't sound quite right on steel strings. Can I use nylon strings even if I don't have a 'classical' guitar?

I tried asking someone I know, and they got all pissy and self-righteous about it, like I have to take lessons and do it like everyone else. My thought is, it's my guitar, and I'll play it however I want to play it...but I want it to sound okay.

[fearfaoin]

Well, it depends on the strings and the bridge of your guitar.

Steel string guitar bridges often look like this:



which require the string to have some kind of ball on the end so the
pin can hold it in.


And classical guitar bridges look like this:



You can see that the nylon strings are sort of "tied" on... there's no ball.

But, there are a few guitars that have this kind of bridge, that
supposedly can hold steel as well as high-tension nylon strings:



Though, most steel string fingerstyle guitarists I know just grow out
their right-hand fingernails, and pluck with those. Personally, I like
the sound of plucking steel strings with my fingertips...

[BrassBlower]

I have a set of Elixir lightweight (high E = .010) strings on my steel-strung guitar, and they work out quite well for fingerpicking. I might add that I cut off the nails on both hands and fingerpick with my fingertips rather than my nails.

[fearfaoin]

I might add that I cut off the nails on both hands and fingerpick with my fingertips rather than my nails.

I just bite my nails.

[Celtic983]

there are some steel strings that are designed to be lower tension. I cant think of the brand right off. However, do they make playing easier on both your left and right hand's fingers. You do sacrifice tone and volume though

[Ro3b]

Lots of fingerstyle guitarists use steel strings -- in fact, probably most do outside the classical world. Just listen to as much as you can and follow what appeals to you.

For fingerstyle, I keep my fingernails just long enough to give me a half-nail half-flesh attack, and I use a thumbpick. Medium-gauge D'Addario phosphor bronze strings, though I'd go lighter if I had a dedicated guitar for fingerstyle.

You really should learn to use a flatpick as well, though. There's no reason not to give yourself all the options you can. I'm actually getting fond of the sound of flatpick + nylon strings, fwiw.

[Screeeech!!!]

On the steel i use Martin 0.13 guage mediums. If you want them softer you can down tune a semitone or even two (depending on what tuning you use) and capo on the first fret or second fret.

I do think a big part of learning the guitar is experimenting with strings and pitch to find what you like and what works best for you and your guitar. It's so subjective.

You may find that a steel strung guitar doesn't resonate very well with nylon strings. They're built to withstand the tension of steel strings and to resonate with that tension.

If you're after nylon strung, Yamaha make their APX guitars with nylon strings The APX5NA and APX9NA. Both have a slightly wider neck than standard steel strung (though not as wide as a classical) which makes them great for melody playing. They're nice guitars and worth checking out.

You can see the difference in the bracing between the APX9C and the APX9NA on Yamaha's site....

http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_eur ... index.html

[dapolishunicyclist]

You could try Silk and Steel strings. I really don't know any construction details about what makes them special and have never played any , but I have heard them played, and they do sound very mellow. Halfway between steel and nylon and they have ball ends.

I would stick with the phospher bronze strings though. Just listen to some Merle Travis recordings to hear how awesome fingerpicked steel strings can sound.

[teeisblue]

Thanks, everyone. You've given me some good ideas to ponder.