What type guitar strings

Pro Tip: Using string wipes after each practice or jam session is another great way to remove acid and residue buildup. This helps give our strings a long and tone-filled life. One important thing to note is that as you progress on your guitar journey, you may find yourself in need of different guitar strings for the different types of music you play. Try and give a unique voice to each one of your guitars. For example, if you play in an indie rock band, you can get away with using light to medium gauge strings.

If you play in a rock band or funk band, you might consider using medium or heavy-gauge strings due to their thickness and tone. This question is asked all the time by guitarists however the price of your guitar strings completely depends on you.

Cheap guitar strings will rust quickly and not hold their tuning the way a well-built guitar string will. Before buying a new set of guitar strings in a different gauge, you should always consult with your local guitar tech. This is one of the most crucial points of understanding different types of guitar strings.

This can make our guitar very hard to play, and can warp the neck. Worse, it can bend the truss rod of the guitar. Pro Tip: Behind every great guitarist is an amazing guitar tech who helps keep their instruments in peak-performance condition. Finding a reliable tech will save you a lot of hassle down the road. Ask around! There are a variety of different string brands on the market, and that can make it difficult to know where to start looking. What Type of Guitarist Are You?

Join over , other guitar learners and subscribe to our guitar-tips-by-email service. Because as they claim, the differences with handwinding become much more apparent as strings get larger. Fender has been perhaps the biggest driving force in the industry since they started way back in Today, they make not only guitars, but a ton of other instruments and music related products as well. If you know a lot of guitar players….

On the other hand, I bet you can also think of another guy who has never changed his strings once since he bought the guitar! When you finally do restring them, it suddenly becomes crystal clear how bad your old strings truly were. It may be a hassle to create those perfectly spiraled coils on your tuning pegs. And some people might even think it looks cool to do a sloppy job…. But that sloppy job is the reason strings break prematurely. String Gauge When comparing string gauges , you often hear labels such as: Extra Light Light Medium However… There are no set-in-stone definitions for any of these terms… Light strings on an electric guitar will have smaller gauges than light strings on an acoustic guitar.

And light strings for either can vary greatly between one manufacturer and another. For example : Extra Light —. So how do heavy strings differ from light strings? Heavier gauges are generally better for : Heavy strummers — because they offer more durability, more sustain, and less breakage. Low-action guitars — because they have tighter vibrations, and are therefore more resistant to fret buzz. Vintage guitars — because they put less stress on the neck. Small-body guitars — because they just sound better.

Up next… 2. Metals With electric strings , the 3 most common metals used are: Nickel-Plated Steel — which has a good combination of warmth and brightness, a strong picking attack, and is the most popular option. Pure Nickel — which is warmer than nickel-plated steel, and has a classic old-school vintage sound. Stainless Steel — which is most resistant to corrosion, least prone to finger squeaks, and has a good combination of both brightness and sustain.

It has a bright, clean sound, but can lose some of its brilliance after only a few hours of play, as the metal corrodes quickly. They are commonly referred to as a hybrid between traditional metal strings, and the nylon strings of a classical guitar. Although much less common today, before , all strings were made from gut.

Nylon — which is the material that eventually replaced gut because it was cheaper, and easier to mass manufacture. Common types of nylon include: rectified nylon, black nylon, and composite.

Although clear nylon is the most popular by far because of its brightness and clarity. Up next… 3. String Core Beneath the outer winding of the bass strings E6 , A5 , D4 and sometimes G3 … There is a solid core wire that comes in 1 of 2 varieties : Round Core Hex Core Check out the diagram above to see how they look from a cross-section view. Got it? Moving on… 4. The most common are:. This creates a more natural feel for the player and makes the strings last longer.

Again, I suggest trying them out to see which set works and feels best to you. At the end of the day, playing the guitar is all about experimentation. Experiment with a wide variety of different strings until you find your "brand" or the set that you feel most comfortable with. Who knows, you might decide that it takes a mixture of different sets to get your ideal sound, or you could find the perfect gauge and brand the first time.

Enjoy the journey and remember, you can always change them around - you're never locked into one style. Check out the complete range of acoustic guitar strings at the Dawsons website. Whether you are just starting out on your musical journey or have significant playing experience under your belt, we want to encourage and inspire everyone to take positive action with their instrument aspirations.

If you have always fancied playing an instrument, getting into DJing, or advancing your knowledge on your chosen instrument, we have everything covered from instrument packs and accessories to blogs and instructional videos that provide everything needed to level up!

Registered in England. Company registration number VAT no. By using the Dawsons website you agree to our use of cookies to improve your experience and our services Close. You might be interested in These can age rather quickly due to oxidisation and will need to be changed around once a month. Nickel Bronze - A very natural sounding string that does not colour the tone of your guitar. This string has an uncanny ability to bring out the tone of your guitar rather than the string itself. Phosphor Bronze — a warmer darker tone that lasts a lot longer and retains tone longer than regular bronze strings.

Due to the phosphor alloy, they do not need to be changed as regularly.