Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you need help choosing guitar strings? One of the biggest things that affects your sound is your strings. Therefore, your choice is very important and very personal. Keep reading to learn how to choose the best guitar strings for you.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission from purchases made through the links. I’ll only recommend products I use, use in lessons, or ones my students or colleagues have recommended.
How to Choose the Best Guitar Strings for You: How Often?
How often should I change them?
- Depending on how much you play, you’ll change them every few weeks to every couple of months. Don’t let it go for years!
- I’ve seen students who hadn’t changed their strings in years, and they became so black and crusty that they were uncomfortable to play.
- Plus, if you let it go that long, they’ll sound dead and become hard to tune.
- Why? Because your sweat has acids that will corrode them. Also, your strings will become slightly dented from the action of pressing them onto the frets.
All of that will affect the harmonic overtones, which in turn will affect your sound and how well you can tune.
- Why does it affect the tuning?
- When your strings get old and damaged through use their harmonic overtones increase in inharmonicity. This means that the harmonic overtones start to deviate from the harmonic series, making them sound bad.
- Also, this makes it so you may be able to get one open chord in tune, but not others.
The editors of Guitar Player Magazine warn of the danger of keeping an old set on your guitar.
If a player practices with old, worn strings, he may develop ‘an ear’ to hearing the incorrect pitches… and thus affect his whole musical ear. (The Guitar Player Book: Third Edition 386)
This is especially bad for young students.
How to Choose the Best Guitar Strings for You: Other Things to Consider
Another factor you need to think about is the gauge.
- In other words, it matters how thick the strings are. The E1 string in a light pack will have a diameter of 9/1000th of an inch (.009). Thus, a light pack (E1 .009 through E6 .042) will be ideal for electric guitar players who perform bends.
- A heavy gauge pack (such as .012 through .054) will give a richer tone as well as greater volume and sustain, but it’ll be painful to perform bends on.
- Also, heavier gauges are important for alternate tunings, especially for those that tune down. The lower you tune down, the more important it is to use a heavier gauge, otherwise your strings will flap around.
In addition, you need to consider the type of guitar you have.
- Classical guitars need nylon strings. The bass strings will have either a nylon or silk core wrapped in metal windings.
- Acoustic guitars have a phosphor bronze alloy. The exact mix of the alloy will determine how bright or mellow they sound.
- Most electric guitar styles sound good with nickel-plated steel strings. For a mellow rock n’ roll sound, you’d go with pure nickel. For a bright sound, you’d go with pure steel, which is favored by heavy metal guitarists.
- There are other alloys as well, but electric strings must have magnetic properties, or they won’t work with your pickups.
- Also, some strings have an extended usable life. These come with an added polymer coating that resists rust and corrosion.
How to Choose the Best Guitar Strings for You: Making Your Choice
So, how do you decide which pack to go with?
- Every time you restring your guitar, try out a new set of strings.
- Make sure you keep a journal describing which packs you liked best and why.
- You may not know exactly what you’re looking for, but you’ll know you’ve found it when you hear it.
You have to start your journal somewhere, so click to check out these best-selling guitar string packs.
The following popular Augustine packs are known for their superior tone quality.
Electric
Acoustic
Classical
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Depending on how often you play, you’ll change your strings every few weeks to every couple of months. Don’t let it go for years!
- Make sure you keep a journal describing what packs you like best and why.
- You may not know exactly what you’re looking for, but you’ll know you’ve found it when you hear it.
Have fun playing!
Glossary
Flexibility in Supplemented Equal Temperament’s Theory
Can Supplemented Equal Temperament help you coordinate your guitar and synth tunings so they sound good? A wide range of Supplemented Equal Temperament (SET) charts and preexisting EDOs (equal-division-of-the-octave tunings) can fit under the umbrella of SET. This gives you a lot of control over how you tune your guitars, ukuleles, banjos, and synths. This in turn will allow your whole ensemble to sound better in tune. Read more to learn about the flexibility in Supplemented Equal Temperament’s theory. Estimated reading time 5 minutes.
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