Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: samanthawolfe69

I am a beginner player that has just finished Guitar Fundamentals I and I'm working on II.

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Congrats on your achievement!

[quote=samanthawolfe69]I've been practicing pretty regularly (as often as my hectic schedule allows) for the past 5 months. When do I need to change my strings?

Things to look-listen for: corrosion, discoloration, dents in the wound strings over the frets, won't stay in tune, dull sounding.

You don't absolutely need to change stings until they break! :) But usually after a week or two of serious & solid practice (a few hours a day) I find that they can use changing. Most beginners can get away with a month or two.

Any brand will do. Fender, Daddario, Ernie Ball. Get something on sale. What ever is inexpensive at the local store or on the web. Some brands react differently to different individual's hand oil, sweat, touch. Some wear out quicker than others. You might try a few different brands over the course of the next few string changes & learn from experimentation what works best for you.

Over the last couple of years I've been using Ernie Ball Paradigms. They actually do last longer & still maintain tone for me. I've been able to keep one set on a Strat that gets regular use for a couple of months & they are still sounding pretty good!

However, they cost a bit more than standard strings. So I usually just use standard Ernie Ball slinkys on most guitars.

I have a tutorial on changing strings if you want to do it yourself.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1974

Hope that helps! Have fun!