I have two guitars, a nylon stringed classical, and a steel stringed acoustic, I find the nylon strings easier to play, but doesn't have as good of sound as the steel stringed, and when I play with the steel strings, it really hurts my fingers, and if I play just a little bit, it feels like the high e string is going to cut my finger. Are the strings too high? What can I do to make the steel strings easier to play?
Your steel-string acoustic should not be all that much harder to play than your nylon string acoustic. Classical guitars have stretchier strings, but they also normally have higher action (string height). It sounds like your steel-string may have a problem. A typical low action would be around 0.090 gap between the low E string and the top of the 12th fret, and 0.070 between the high E and the top of the 12th fret. If yours is a lot higher than that, having it professionally set up will probably help. If it's a very cheap guitar, replacement might be the best option. Why do you need to choose between classical and steel-string? You already own both.
If you want to end up playing acoustic steel string, continue learning on that one. Yes, it will hurt, but that's normal and your fingers will toughen up within a couple of weeks of playing (if you play on a regular basis). You will develop callouses. Also, go take your guitar to a shop to get a set up and they will fix the action if it's too high. (Too high action makes the guitar harder to play). When I started playing, at first my fingers *HURT*, but now they don't anymore, even the pinky. :D
find an online tuner and tune the strings to the tuning you want. trust me, guitar hurts your fingers after a while. but your skin gets used to it's, it's what ever.
You have TWO acoustics - one a classical with nylon strings and another with steel strings. Nylon strings are always easier to play as the tension is lower and the top tree strings are thicker than their steel equivalents and so cause less pressure on the finger tips. Whether the action of your steel string is too high or not is impossible to say without seeing it. The two types of guitar produce different sounds - i like the sound of both and like you, have examples of each. Personally, I wouldn't want to play a guitar with what I thought of as an inferior sound. The choice has to be yours though.
