A classical guitar is a guitar used to play classical music. It predates the acoustic steel string guitar, electric guitar and bass. If drawn further from the historical side, the ancestor of the guitar is the Vihuela (a stringed instrument from Spain). So what distinguishes the classical guitar from other guitars?
- The classical guitar uses nylon strings
- Classical guitar has no pre-amp
- the shape of the guitar neck is straight and the size does not shrink like a steel string / electric acoustic guitar
- not modeled cut-away
- played with bare hands (no pick)