For the Love of Nylon Strings

Several unremarkable Fender electric guitars, all in primary colors, lined the walls of a small guitar shop in Knoxville, TN.

I just felt like getting out of my dorm, and wanted to spend time in a place that was mindless fun. None of these guitars were remotely interesting, but sometimes just being amongst the familiar bric-à-brac of a local shop is a comforting guilty pleasure.

It was 2012, and I was TDY, attending the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy for 6 weeks.

I was about to leave the store when I saw a little unassuming nylon string guitar on a display stand made by Fender. I decided to pick it up just to play for a few minutes.

It played really nice, and the sound of nylon strings has drawn me in since my earliest days as a guitarist, listening to Acoustic Alchemy.

The shop owner heard me play, and said, “Hey, I know you’re military….I’ll give it to you for $300 with a hard shell case.”

You don’t have to tell me twice.

At the time, I was distinctively missing a nylon string guitar from my arsenal, and I figured it’d be a decent little stop-gap until I could save up for a nicer one.

But that damn Fender has now been with me almost 9 years, and all over the world. It’s been on several soundtracks that I wrote, or worked on, and multiple songs that I’ve put out.

And over those 9 years, there’s been a distinct trend of me spending more of my musical life doing quiet finger style on it.

In fact, over the last 2 years, easily 85% of my musical experience has been on that Fender. There are numerous other, much nicer guitars available in the house, but this is the one that keeps drawing me back. I’ll get a proper nylon string guitar at some point, but I think it’s fascinating that a cheap, “beater” guitar has actually been my lifeline to reclaiming musical expression as a fun, relaxing activity.