The classical guitar for kids: how it works and what to hear

The classical guitar is a wooden guitar with six nylon strings. The player plucks the strings with the fingers of the right hand, with no pick. Its sound is soft, warm, and clear. It is played solo and in small groups, and it joins an orchestra as a soloist in a concerto.

Quick facts

• Family: strings, plucked
• Strings: six, tuned to E, A, D, G, B, and E from low to high
• Strings are made of: nylon, with metal wound around the three lowest
• Played: sitting down, with the fingers
• In an orchestra: none, apart from a soloist in a guitar concerto

How it makes sound

A plucked string vibrates. The vibration passes through the bridge into the thin wooden top of the guitar. The top moves the air inside the hollow body, and the sound comes out through the round hole.

The left hand presses a string against a metal strip called a fret. That makes the vibrating part of the string shorter, and the note goes up.

How it differs from other guitars

	Classical guitar	Steel-string acoustic guitar	Electric guitar
Strings	Nylon	Steel	Steel
Neck	Wide and flat	Narrower	Narrow
Played with	Fingers	Fingers or a pick	Fingers or a pick
Sound	Soft and warm	Bright and loud	Needs an amplifier
Used for	Classical, Spanish, and Latin American music	Folk, country, and pop	Rock, blues, and jazz

Nylon strings are soft under the fingers, which helps a beginner.

How a classical guitarist sits

The player sits on the front of a chair with the guitar on the left leg. The left foot rests on a small footstool, which raises the neck. Some players use a support that clips to the guitar in place of the stool.

The right-hand fingers have letter names from Spanish: p for the thumb, i for the index finger, m for the middle finger, and a for the ring finger. You will see these letters in guitar music.

A short history

The guitar took its modern shape in Spain in the 1800s. A maker named Antonio de Torres built guitars with a larger body, and later makers followed his design.

In the 1900s, the Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia played the guitar in large concert halls around the world and asked composers to write for it.

Pieces to hear

Recuerdos de la Alhambra, by Francisco Tárrega. One finger after another plucks the same string so fast that the tune seems to shimmer. This is called tremolo.

Asturias, by Isaac Albéniz. Albéniz wrote it for piano. It is now best known on the guitar.

Concierto de Aranjuez, by Joaquín Rodrigo. A concerto for guitar and orchestra from 1939. Start with the slow second movement.

Bourrée in E minor, by Bach. Bach wrote it for the lute. Guitar students often learn it.

Prelude No. 1, by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The tune sings on the low strings.

Romance. No one knows for certain who wrote this Spanish piece.

For more on Rodrigo and Villa-Lobos, read Hispanic and Latin American composers for kids.

Starting to play

• Size. Children’s guitars come in 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full size. Height is a better guide than age. Read guitar sizes for kids.
• Strings. Ask the teacher which kind of guitar they teach. Many classical and Suzuki teachers ask for nylon strings.
• Reading. Classical guitar students read standard notation in the treble clef. Read how to read music.
• Nails. Advanced players shape the nails of the right hand to pluck with. A beginner does not need to.
• Tuning. A guitar needs tuning each day. A clip-on tuner helps.

Read how to choose a first instrument.

Things to do together

Rubber band guitar. Stretch rubber bands of different widths around an open box. Pluck each one. Thin, tight bands sound higher.

Short string, high note. Press one rubber band down halfway along its length, and pluck one side. The note goes up.

Hear the tremolo. Play Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Ask your child how many guitars they hear. The answer is one.

Piano or guitar? Play Asturias on the piano and then on the guitar. Ask which your child likes more, and why.

Print and play

Use a listening journal page for each piece. For the bowed strings, read string instruments for kids. For all four families, read instruments of the orchestra for kids.