Slightly off topic: My 12 year-old son would like to start learning the (acoustic) guitar. Is he old enough to start with a Western Guitar with steel strings or should he start with a classical guitar with nylon strings?
Yes I started when I was 12 with a steel string acoustic.
Buy him a steel string guitar that fits him. Don’t buy a dred he’ll find it big and hard to play. Here’s a chart of different size guitars.
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Came here to say the same thing. A guitar that fits the player is much more important than whether it’s steel or nylon.
Of course, that begs the question of how to tell if the guitar fits the player. But if he has to lift his strumming arm shoulder to get his arm up and around the body of the guitar, or reach way out with his fretting arm… I think those are clues that the guitar is too big.
@stitch , it’s my opinion that too small is better than too big… as long as the neck is wide enough that the player can fret chords properly.
Agree / disagree?
I’m thinking a guitar that is to small for a 12 year old would be more of a toy than guitar.
I think a guitar he likes the look of and the right size is the most important thing and not a junky starter guitar. The fastest way to make a child quit playing guitar it to buy an unplayable starter kit.
You can buy a really good Yamaha or Epiphone for a few hundred dollars.
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Chiming in here with thoughts on the nylon vs. steel string part of the question!
An accomplished guitarist friend who’s been playing since he was about your son’s age learned on a steel string acoustic-electric, and he once told me he wishes he could have started learning on nylon, because the discomfort factor of the steel strings made learning unnecessarily unpleasant. He survived and kept playing, but he would have been happier with nylon at that stage. If your son has a similar temperament it’s something to bear in mind.
I put some “silk and steel” strings on my girlfriend’s guitar when she was learning. Made a big difference, much easier on the fingers.
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