Changing Guitar Strings

Changing the strings on your guitar isn't as hard as new players think it is. The first few times you will probably have the shop change them and then after this lesson you'll be saving gas money and time.

Strings

The big difference between strings is the size. String gage is measured by the diameter of the smallest E string. The most common type of string gage is .09, that means the smallest string is .009 of an inch. Different string sized can thicken your tone as they get bigger. A string gage of .010 is popular in heavier music or even with drop D tuning. .011 is for players who are tuned down a step more than standard E tuning.

Changing Strings

Most guitars are styled like a strat but if your guitar isn't you can still follow this guide. The bottom line is to make sure your putting the new string where the old string was. This guide will follow the popular Strat setup with a whammy bar and tuners on one side of the headstock. Make sure to examine your bridge setup. Usually the strings a threaded through the back of the guitars body and out the front of the bridge and then up to the headstock. Sometimes the strings make thread through the back of the bridge and not through the body.

After the bridge, the strings lay over the fretboard and through the nut. The nut is pretty self explanatory: it has 6 notches, one for each string. Make sure you put the 6^th string in the 6^th notch, etc.

After the nut thread the string through the tuning post. This part make take some practice to get it how you want it. Typically you can thread the string straight through the post and pull it tight, then put your finger under the string and let it loosen as needed, just so there is a little slack in the string. You must leave a little slack in the string so that there is at the minimum, one wrap around the post, preferably two or three.

Now you can start winding up your string. If you have somewhat of a musican ear you can wind away till your close to the E, otherwise you may want to hook up a tuner at this point. Make sure to wind all your pegs the same way for convenience. Wind the string up to the correct pitch and a little sharp is even better.

Tighten the string until it is in tune. Use your ear until it gets tight, and then tune with a tuner the rest of the way. DON'T TRIM THEM. When your strings are in tune, play them for about 10 mins, bending them occasionally. New strings will stretch out and be hard to keep in tune for the first few hours. After you stretch and re-tune a few times, THEN can you trim them with a pair of wire cutters.