Strings
Another way to help with reducing finger pain in the early stages is to look at changing strings. Steel strings come in different gauges or thicknesses. Thinner strings will cause less discomfort in the fingertips and are easier to bend. The down side is they don’t have the same level of sustain and tone as thicker strings. However it is probably a worthwhile trade-off until the fingers have toughened up. Start off on Light or Extra-Light strings and then move up to Medium or more once you are more experienced.
Note well, changing to strings of a DIFFERENT gauge might require slight adjustments to be made to your guitar. Heavier strings could raise the action and lighter strings may lower it. This can usually be overcome by adjusting the truss rod. Check out the
tech forum for more details.
Nylon strings are naturally easier on the fingertips but obviously they produce an entirely different sound than steel strings. Although the thicker nylon strings look like they are steel they are actually a nylon core wrapped in steel. It is not a good idea to put steel strings on a guitar built for nylon strings. The extra tension required to get the steel strings up to tune will probably cause serious damage to the guitar.
Owning a particular type of guitar shouldn’t restrict you to playing a particular style of music. You can certainly play classical pieces on a steel string guitar just as you can play pop/folk music on a nylon. If you want to specialise in a particular style then buy the most appropriate guitar, but if you just want an all-round guitar then either a nylon or steel string will do fine, go with what sounds best to you.