Beginner Strings?

Can somebody help me with acoustical guitar strings? i just started to play and my guitar came with some medium strings that are killing me. i do understand that pain will be there at first and i can live with that. however my issue is that since im a newbie after practicing for longer than 30min i cant seem to press hard enough to get clean sounds .
i have a Washburn Dreadnought and ive been told to look for Lights. ive been looking at GC for some new strings and i found Marting Co. $4.99 and D'Addario $12.99 both have Extra Lights. 10,14,23,30,39,47. the difference was the coating Martin has none and the D'Addario have their EXP coating.

my question is are the D'Addario worth it? and what does the coating do exactly? or if you have a better suggestions.

Hi Lroa,

The coating keeps the wound strings (the lower sounding strings which are a very thin wire coiled around another wire) from getting gunky from sweat and oil from your hands, etc. The effect is that the brightness of the strings lasts longer. They do not become dulled in sound as quickly as non-coated strings. The flipside of that is that some people feel the coated strings start out lacking the brilliant brightness of brand new uncoated strings. True - so you have to decide what's most important to you.

The coating also makes the strings a little slipperier, and less squeaky if you are doing any kind of sliding techniques.

In my opinion, the coated strings are well worth it. Personally, I love them - but I'm sure you'll find other experienced players who feel the opposite!

As far as the brand and the guage, I'd recommend you go with the cheaper ones simply because you are still in the process of figuring out the best fit for you. If you put on $5 Super Lights and decide you don't really like them, you can try Lights, and not have spent much money on the experiment. Once you land on the ones you like best, then you might invest in the better quality strings at that time.

Just my two cents!
Have fun
- Lisa McCormick, Guitar Tricks Instructor

I second Lisa's suggestion to start with the cheaper ones if you don't know which ones you want. It makes it easier to switch and toss out strings that still have life in them if you don't like them. :D

I've never been much of an acoustic player, so I've never really had a preference for acoustic strings. I recently bought an acoustic that came with a set of D'Addario EXPs, and I hated them, but I kind of felt bad about changing and throwing out a set of $13 strings. I wouldn't have felt so bad about it if it had been a $4 or $5 set.

I've used Ernie Ball Super Slinkys (.09-.42) on my electrics for years, so I decided to go with the acoustic version of that (which is, I believe .11-.51), and I've been happy with them so far. They run about $5.50 per set. I may eventually experiment with some more coated strings, but the D'Addario's felt uncomfortable to me, kind of like I was trying to play with cables instead of strings -- it could very well have had as much to do with the fact that they were slightly heavier (.12-.53) as than the coating, though.

awesome thanks for the replies. my next question is what does 92/8 and 80/20 mean? the only thing i was able to tell between them both was that they have different tensions.

You'll probably find that lighter strings are easier to play. However, as you gain strength in your fretting hand, you may want to gradually move up to heavier strings again.

Light strings tend to give a thinner sound than heavier ones, and they will more easily sound out of tune when you hold down the chords with a lot of pressure. (very subtle but noticeable)

you might give elxir nanowebs a try they are pretty expensive but they last a while and sound good.

im not 100% certain but i believe that the 80/20 and 92/8 is the alloy of the metal of the string.

I'm just starting with an acoustic as well, but I have to ask -- have you had your action checked at a music shop? My fingers were absolutely killing me before, and it seemed like I couldn't press hard enough. I brought the guitar in and they lowered the action significantly by sanding down the saddle and now it feels like I barely have to touch the strings to sound the notes. The difference on my fingers is night and day.

Just wanted to make sure you're not barking up the wrong tree.

interesting info, thanks. ill have that checked when i go in for the strings today. however my action seems to me at least to be pretty low. i remember when i got it that it was one of the sales tool that the person sold me on. but its at least worth to check, so thanks. im pretty sure that its my strings though. the same sales person had told me that since im starting out that i mite need light instead of the mediums that come with.

that being said, Martin Co. has a cool reference guide to help pick your strings, by choosing your type of guitar. for a dreadnought like mine it said to go with Mediums or Lights. so i guess i better not really mess with the Extra Lights. like Kevin Taylor said they mite get out of tune as i hold a chord.