Guitar Strings

Birthday was around the corner and the kids was wanting to know what I wanted...Was considering telling them to go to Guitar Center and pick a set of strings up for me. I was checking out their site and have no idea what kind to tell them to get. There are Light, medium ect ect. The guitar is a Washburn X10 series. What would you suggest as far as superlight,light, medium ect for a beginner player?

Thanks

Hi Ironeagle76,

As a beginner light will be easier on your fingers then as you build up some fingertip strength bump it up to mediums. That's my 2 cents :)

I have to agree with that.. if you want a decent sound but still not too heavy on the fingers go with the Lights.. don't bother with the superlights even though it seems to make sense.. they are likely to give you a twangier sound. Lights should be fine..

I started with Lights (.09's) on my Gibson and recently started to find 9's were too floppy & sloppy. I bumped up to 10's this last set and I'm loving it. I am glad I started with the 9's to build up with, though and if I played a longer scale length I probably would have stuck with them.

Conversely, I religiously played mediums (.13's) on my acoustic for 10 years and just bumped them down to 11's. I picked up my acoustic for a change of pace the other day and just found it way too stiff after getting so used to the light action on my electric.

Ch ch changes....

I play with lights personally

but from what I understand and correct me if I am wrong someone
while the lights are easier on the fingers in terms of bending and such...
the heavier the string the more tone you get from them? deeper or richer sounding...
seems to be give and take with everything ya know?

then you have the coated strings....there are just so many different kinds....I have gotten various brands and sizes and saved the box...write down which guitar I put those strings on and see how I like them a month later...

I always seem to come back to the elixer nanoweb lights

I did find a difference in tone. Can't say if it was better or worse, just a little different. A little thicker sounding maybe. I was hoping for a tighter lower end, but I'm not sure it made that much of a difference there. (Assuming I use the descriptive terms correctly. I have only recently assimilated the aural quality of "chunky". :o)

I've been wanting to try one of those fancy coated sets. I'm leery of making the investment in case they don't really last that long, but folks on this board claim they do. Usually I just use D'Addario round wound.

lol @ dating the strings. I also do that! :) Have for years. Which guitar and the date. Funny, when I dusted off my cases and pulled out the guitars, I had packages only dated by the year. I now date them by the day. I change every couple of weeks, which is pushing it, but back then I experienced a lot of character building (read: poverty!) so getting new strings was a really big deal.

For the longest time, I played D'Addario XL '09's. i never found them to be lacking in tone. I could always dial up my chunky tone with them. They were also more useful on my shredhead days too.However, I'm less shred oriented and have been using .10's (I have yet to reacquire an acoustic).

Originally Posted by: JeffS65For the longest time, I played D'Addario XL '09's. i never found them to be lacking in tone. I could always dial up my chunky tone with them. They were also more useful on my shredhead days too.However, I'm less shred oriented and have been using .10's (I have yet to reacquire an acoustic).

I recently tried my first D'Addario Lights on my acoustic and love the bluesy sound they give. I wouldn't say heavier strings are richer per se, mine are quite warm. The advantage to heavier strings is they allow for tunings you can't really achieve on lights (drop C and B come to mind), and they are technically louder. But I'm loud enough on my acoustic I don't see the need. But if you drop the tuning to a C or B the tension decreases and they become a lot easier to play.

Still, I can't play heavier strings. I've picked up many guitars that have heavy strings and been shocked at the unplayability of them (at least to me). I couldn't get a nice sound out of them when fingerpicking. If I were playing powerchords on the acoustic they'd sound nice, but trying to pull of Layla was an utter disaster (more so than usual :P).

To me, they're much stiffer, and I can't see how that'd be fun to play. I do play electric a lot more, so I'm spoiled, but even on my electric I prefer lighter strings.

Again, I'm not an expert in the least, but I'm a big fan of lights.

Since we're on the subject of strings, how often should they be replaced? Everyone's telling me once a month, but I honestly don't notice a performance drop that early, nor do they blacked. Is once every three months okay?

Gibson Vintage has a nice warm sound, and are good even if you don't have a gibson guitar. I loved them on my tele. On my Fender I like to use slinky 10's.

Originally Posted by: Rykoshet
Since we're on the subject of strings, how often should they be replaced? Everyone's telling me once a month, but I honestly don't notice a performance drop that early, nor do they blacked. Is once every three months okay?

That is dependent on both your frequency of play and your tolerance for dead strings. If you are not playing much and/or don't mind the strings getting kind of dead, you can basically go as long as you can stand it. The performance drop will not be so much felt, but heard especially in the wound strings.

For myself, practicing or just goofing around for about an hour per day on the same guitar, I find I really start to notice a difference after a few weeks. I can notice it sooner, but I guess that's when my tolerance level kicks in. I guess for me, I have a tolerance level of about 24 hours of play per set.

On a side note, I find that using a string conditioner, such as Fast Fret, each session seems to extend the life of the strings.

Originally Posted by: RazboI guess for me, I have a tolerance level of about 24 hours of play per set.

Ouch. That's like a week of play. Maybe I'm just lucky (or deaf), but I don't hear it.

I'll keep an ear out for it, I just got a new set 2 weeks ago.

Originally Posted by: RykoshetOuch. That's like a week of play. Maybe I'm just lucky (or deaf), but I don't hear it.

I'll keep an ear out for it, I just got a new set 2 weeks ago.

Keying off of what Raz said, a wipe down after playing certainly does not hurt the life of the strings.

I know that modern guitar strings are constructed of metal, polymers, or animal or plant product materials.

I'm also know classical and flamenco instruments historically used gut strings, but these have been superseded by polymer materials, such as nylon and fluorocarbon materials. Bass strings for both instruments are wound rather than monofilament.

I generally go with 11's on my acoustic and 10's on my Les Paul. I've found that on every acoustic guitar i've had, I can get a good sound out of most gauges, but I think chords seem to sound better and sustain longer with thicker strings. On every electric i've ever had, I have always had a hard time getting lighter gauges to sound good because they tend to bend to easy and I usually fret pretty hard.

Oh, I highly recommend Elixer brand strings for both acoustic and electric. 2nd for me is D'Addario. I used to play Ernie Ball "slinky" strings and I liked them as well.

A little late to the conversation but I've got 2 cents laying around.

My usual electric strings are D'Adds 11s but I've played 12s as well.. just a bit harder to bend. I do love Dean Markley Blue Steel though and will probably switch to them after my D'Adds box is empty.

On acoustic, 12s do but I've yet to find a brand that just "speaks" to me. Will take any suggestions. I've tried coated strings only to ask 'where's the beef (sound)'. I had kept notes on different brands some years back but I lost them in moving. So many different combinations you need to be an alchemist.

Beginners should use as light a gauge as they can get. Tone should be secondary to playability at that stage. If the guitar isn't playable, it will collect dust. When you feel as if your E and B strings are bakery string its time to move up.

I like the feel of 10's on my electric & on my acoustic. Another thing to consider is this: do you detune? Generally for every whole step that you de-tun the guitar, I'd advise going up to the next bigger size. 9's tuned to C will feel like rubber bands.

Well, you don't want the strings to be to light. You would want the strings to be medium, IMO. That way it will help his fingers get stronger and his finger build up calises better so his fingers will tollerate more playing.

Hea All, I've Used A Lot Of Strings In My Thirty Years Of Picking And It Usually Comes Down To What Strings Fit You Best And Of Course The Only Way To Do This Is To Try Some Different Kinds And Types, It May Come Down To What Works Best With The Type Of Guitar You Have, But Remember If You Change The Guage RE: 10;s/ 9;s THen Go To A Heaver String Like 11;s You May Have To Get Your Guitar Set Up Again, I;ve Been Using GHS Boomers Lately. They Have Enough Tone And Last About As Long As Any I've Tried


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