I have been playing just over 1 month on a used Yamaha I found for $100 bucks. I showed it to a friend who plays and said it had good action and decent sound; but suggested I get new strings. He highly recommended the Elixir brand.
I looked at strings online briefly then went to the Music Store, stepped up to the counter and confidently asked for Elixir Acoustic Mediums. Came home, watched 3 or 4 videos on 'How to Change Strings' and started to work.
I tuned up each string and it sounded great! Then I started playing the open chords that I had memorized and most had dead sounds and lots of buzzing. My lightly calloused fingers were aching in no time. I kept trying for two days but got to the point I didn't want to pickup the guitar - It sounded bad and it hurt.
I did more research through the Forum and found that Medium strings on an Acoustic are actually quite Heavy. I thought Medium should be middle weight - Average - The Norm. Evidently NOT!
Back to the music shop with some humility and asked for Light gauge strings. I was recommended to buy D'Addario Custom Light .011 - .052.
Well I can play again:) but it has cost me $26 bucks to learn this lesson (1/4 of what I paid for the Instrument) I hope other new players might read this and save themselves some time, trouble and CA$H.
Lovin' Guitar Tricks - Great Lessons and Info.
Regards,
Richard