Is It Worth Having a Decent Nylon String as a Jazz Guitar Player

**jakeguit** · 06-05-2013, 11:27 AM

Hello All,

I purchased a nylon string guitar 2 years ago just for the hell of it, but I have barely used it.

I mainly play on a 335 and Taylor acoustic guitar but I have a decent cordoba GK studio that was $700 when I bought it.

I know John McLaughlin plays it and I study with John Moulder who has some compositions with it, but I'm not sure whether it's worth having or not.

I have a terrible buzz on it at the moment but I'm not sure if I should get it fixed and start using it or not. As a college music student becoming a gigging musician is it worth having?

**mr. beaumont** · 06-05-2013, 11:36 AM

I think it's a different color, a different tone...it's a tone I like. Does a player need one? Well, no...as a college student, are you a jazz major? Will you be taking any classical guitar classes?

What I like about playing a nylon string is how they react to the dynamics of the picking hand...there's really no other kind of guitar as expressive, even with cheap nylon strings (my nylon is a $300 LaPatrie--CHEAP!) It really makes me pay attention to things like the timbre of a note when I strike it a certain way, or even fret it a certain way.

It's stuff I hope transfers to my steel string playing...

**Jim Soloway** · 06-05-2013, 11:41 AM

I recently bought a Cordoba for myself and I'm getting some use out of it. I doubt if I'd ever gig with but Im planning to use if for teaching and casual playing around the house. As a finger style player it's much easier on my nails than a steel string and I find I am able to dig in a lot more as a result. Not essential but I'm glad I have it.

**jakeguit** · 06-05-2013, 11:45 AM

Mr. Beaumont- I am a guitar performance major I don't believe I will take classical lessons but I guess it's a nice axe to have

**mr. beaumont** · 06-05-2013, 11:56 AM

Wow, things have changed since I was in college...back then "guitar performance major" meant classical.

**ecj** · 06-05-2013, 11:58 AM

I'll put in the opposite opinion. I had a cheap (~$100) Yamaha classical for a couple of years but never really played it. I sold it last fall because I couldn't see the point of keeping it around, and I felt like switching between instruments in practice was just limiting my focus on really getting good at one sound.

I think it's kind of like being a multi-wind player. A lot of sax guys can play tenor, alto, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, etc. Then some guys just play tenor.

I just wanted to play tenor, I guess.

**jakeguit** · 06-05-2013, 12:05 PM

I go to McNally Smith college of music so it's all jazz and contemporary for the most part

**NSJ** · 06-05-2013, 12:17 PM

I have decided to work on some classical pieces right now--Charles Duncan's "Classical Guitar Repertoire", so I have grown out my nails a bit. I love the instrument-nylon-, I love the music, and I need to work on my right hand. Nothing better than to work on some tunes from the classical guitar repertoire (is it blasphemous to call them "tunes"?

) I meant "pieces"). It's weird. I have a couple of very nice jazz boxes that I will keep for life. I have no gas, at all. But my only nylon is the first guitar I ever bought- in 1995, from the Haight Ashbury Music store in SF, a thinline Giannini. A friend of mine took it to Europe and smashed the headstock and the binding. He crudely repaired the headstock, and I got the binding professionally repaired.So yeah, it's a beater guitar, but it intonates ok. It has sentimental value. Does anyone ever sell the first guitar they ever bought? So, I'm using it. A nylon guitar has a completely beautiful sound, even a beater one. Well, at least I think so.

**docbop** · 06-05-2013, 12:47 PM

I love the sound for playing Latin music and my first Jazz teacher got me in to working on classical right hand exercises so I was doing those on both steel and nylon string guitars. That actually turned in to a money making skill for me, picking up session work and gigs doing fingerpicking rhythm guitar.

Also when I went to GIT Don Mock a chops monster when teaching and hanging out around school was always playing a Ovation nylon string with a stone pick. He said it helped his technique kind of a weighted bat theory and when he his electric he could fly it was so much easier. So many of us at GIT at the time got classical guitar for practice.

I liked having an old nylon string beater guitar around so I could go practice anywhere the beach, park, janitors closet, it was handy to have. Also many don't have fretboard markers of any kind so playing them really forces you to develop that 2nd sense of where you are on the neck.

So I think its worth having one for lots of reasons being it an cheap beater, or a decent one for playing solo or doing latin tunes on gigs. Also I think switching between electric, nylon, and acoustic during your practice week is good so you learn to adjust your technique as necessary.

**pkirk** · 06-05-2013, 02:26 PM

Possible answers I wish had told myself before I bought one:

1. Yes. It sounds great, and sounds and plays different from a steel string, so its good for getting out of a rut, and for
playing brazilian/classical/fusion, etc stuff.

2. No. It's a different beast. If your goal is to become a jazz guitar player in the strict sense you just won't use it as much, and due to the different feel you'll have to have master different techniques for each instrument, and you'll always wish you played the other one more and end up feeling incompetent on both.

3. Yes, you should have at least one of every major type of guitar, archtop, flattop, solid body, nylon string, etc. since you need to be prepared for any gig or session (get a dobro, a banjo, a 335-type, and both laminated and carved arch tops too, and do it while your parents are still paying, and before you get married and/or have kids)

4. No. The piezo requires an onboard battery which you will always forget to change, so after a few gig disasters you'll just end up leaving it in the case and never playing it, so dont waste your money. (pet peeve of mine, You;d think they would have solved these types of issues by now: cables with an extra wire carrying juice to the instrument)

**rkwestcoast** · 06-05-2013, 04:02 PM

Is It Worth Having a Decent Nylon String as a Jazz Guitar Player??? -

check out John Scofield's album Quiet -

It worked for him!!

**Nabil B** · 06-05-2013, 05:05 PM

My first guitar was a classical, so this type of guitar is dear to me. I really like the sound and feel of nylon strings and love to play bossa nova on a classical. Now my first guitar is on retirement (it's a very low quality product that I bought because I didn't know better back then) and it has been replaced with a nice Yamaha model with a solid top. Whenever possible I take it with me when I go on holiday.

**Mark M.** · 06-05-2013, 05:56 PM

I have had two over the years and ended up selling or trading both. My first was a Martin 00016SGNTE (or some intitals to that effect) and the second was a Breedlove Bossa Nova. Really loved the Breedlove, but I missed having a 335 and ended up trading the Breedlove. I gigged with the Breedlove a few times in a quiet guitar duo setting and really liked it. I just didn;t use it a lot & couldn't really justify it for just playing around the house or the occasional duo gig. However, if you decide to buy one I highly recommend the Breedlove Bossa Nova if it fits your price range. They are beautiful & sound great (electronics are really spectacular).

**coolvinny** · 06-05-2013, 07:34 PM

If you don't use it much and don't see yourself using it much (e.g. for brazilian or classical gigs) then I'd say get rid of it and put the money aside for when it's needed to purchase other gear. Maybe you can trade it towards an amp that's missing in your arsenal or something...you know, something you're actually going to use.

**furtom** · 06-05-2013, 09:47 PM

Well, I'm a classical player and teacher. I play jazz for fun (though it's starting to take me over...) and I have an archtop so...

Really, it's up to you. Do you like the sound? Do you have any desire to learn to play that sort of technique? If you are asking, you must have some attraction to it. I'd say get a cheapo. These days, $400 at GC buys a very serviceable first instrument. If you don't like it, not too much lost.

BTW, I know Mr. B. didn't really say he plays with a pick on his classical. It sounded like it, but he didn't mean it. Right Mr. B?

EDIT: Sorry, I just reread your post and I see you already have one! I read that, and then promptly forgot by the time I got to the end of the page. The old brain ain't what it used to be.

So you have one. Sure, keep it. Fix it. Play it!

If it winds up sitting around, you can always sell it later.

**DC Ron** · 06-05-2013, 10:13 PM

I have a classical guitar based on my EK aspirations, but I'll never get there.

**docbop** · 06-05-2013, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by DC Ron

I have a classical guitar based on my EK aspirations, but I'll never get there.

I love the album with George Benson and Earl Klugh

Greg Poree is a local nylon player that doesn't get much recognition.

**BigMikeinNJ** · 06-06-2013, 09:56 AM

Over the years I've owned just about every kind of nylon string electric there is: Godin, Gibson Chet Atkins, Mosrite (yes MOSRITE), Ovation Viper (the expensive one), Takamine, Alvarez Yairi. More too just can't remember all of them. Had them, sold them, gave some away. What I always really wanted was a nylon string with an electric guitar style neck, you know the best thing that came the closest to that vibe was and still is with me. A Cordoba... Yeah, I have the all rosewood one, I got it used for like $350.00 with the fancy gig bag. It's a great guitar for the guy that wants to do the occasional Pat Metheny impression. Got that digital tuner built into the preamp. Got that narrow neck, that radiused fingerboard, decent pickup, great unamplified projection. And cheap. One of these days I'll either order a Kirk Sand with all that in BRW or find one used with what I want, NARROW NECK, electric guitar radiused fingerboard...
For now the Cordoba is nice.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 06-06-2013, 10:06 AM

I have a *cheap* nylon string guitar. And so, it seems, do lots of us! Is it worth it to get a *decent* one?

**DRS** · 06-06-2013, 10:23 AM

I'd love to get one with a smaller nut and a cutaway like the Takamine crossover. I had a decent classical but the 2 1/16" nut forces you into using a correct classical technique and I'd developed a lot of electric habits like using my thumb for chords, bass runs, etc. So I sold it.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 06-06-2013, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by DRS

I'd love to get one with a smaller nut and a cutaway like the Takamine crossover. I had a decent classical but the 2 1/16" nut forces you into using a correct classical technique and I'd developed a lot of electric habits like using my thumb for chords, bass runs, etc. So I sold it.

The Godin ACS-SA Slim has a 1.715" nut (and I like a 1.75" nut on steel strings!). IS that narrow enough? What's the width on the Takky?

**DRS** · 06-06-2013, 11:45 AM

Actually a bit to narrow. I like 1 7/8 on a nylon guitar. The 1/8" makes a huge difference.

**DRS** · 06-06-2013, 11:50 AM

I think you pay for solid woods (just like you do for a steel string acoustic). This will improve the strictly acoustic tone. If you play amplified for a bossa nova gig, etc. I think the mid priced nylons like the Takamine, Yamaha, etc are fine. In fact the poorer pure acoustic properties may work better for amplified gigs. I had a K&K on an all solid classical and it could feedback like a foghorn even at moderate volumes.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 06-06-2013, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by DRS

Actually a bit to narrow. I like 1 7/8 on a nylon guitar. The 1/8" makes a huge difference.

1 7/8" is the width of the regular model's neck. Sounds good to me, too.

**oldane** · 06-06-2013, 12:19 PM

I have owned a "decent" Levin classical guitar for 30 years. I bought it because I thought every guitarist should have a classical. I never played it much, and I haven't given it a thought since I moved it from one closet to another a couple of years ago. Now that I come to think about it, I don't think it has been out of the case for 10 years by now. Not that I have a problem with the wide neck (I keep my thumb on the back of the neck), but I simply don't play it. One should buy a classical guitar if one really, really wants to play it. Not just to have one.