There are two basic types of guitar. The first has metal strings, the second (normally called Spanish guitar) nylon strings. Even at this early stage it is important that you should understand the essential differences between the two types, because if you don't you could waste a lot of time and money.
The best Spanish guitar ever made would be completely useless to someone whose ambition is to play in a beat group, and the most fabulously ornate Electric guitar with three pickups, tremolo arm and on board pre-amp would be equally unsuitable for someone who wants to play Classical Finger Style.
So where do you start? Well, unless you have your heart set from the very beginning on becoming a Classical Finger Style Player.
You can work through Sections Two and Four of this book on a metal string instrument, training the fingers of your Left hand and learning the notes on the fingerboard. If you later decide that you would like to go on the Finger Style nylon string guitar nothing you have learned will be wasted.
But before we go any further I must give you one very important warning! Whatever you do, Never put metal strings onto a guitar which was built to carry nylon strings. Spanish guitars are much lighter built than metal string guitars and the higher tension needed to tune metal string can cause irreparable damage.
This may be obvious to you, and you're probably wondering why I lay so much stress on the matter. But I will always remember with a shudder of horror the time when a lady turned up at one of my classes with a beautiful little American made finger style guitar, ornate with mother of pearls inlays and over hundred years old. (The guitar, not a lady!) Full of good intentions she had taken it along to a supposedly reputable music shop on the previous day and asked them to fit it with a new set of strings. This they did-metal ones, under the strain of which the neck of the guitar was already warping visibly!.
To help you avoid this kind of pitfall, please study the illustrations and descriptions of the different kinds of the guitars on the following pages carefully. Metal String guitar can be divided into three types the Acoustic, the Acoustic/Electric or Semi-Acoustic and the Solid Electric.
