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BEGINNERS: Strings, Picks, and Amps

October 25, 2018 By Jim Beckwith

(Part of this post is taken from my book, “No Fail Guitar”,

available on Amazon.)

I’m taking a break from the theory stuff and getting back

to basics. In this post I will talk about a truly exciting

subject, guitar strings! It baffles me why so many guitar

players ignore their strings. They’ll happily shell out

thousands of $ for a great guitar and then play on a pathetic

set of crusty old strings until one pops. Strings are half your

sound! Strings are cheap! Take care of your strings; keep

them clean and change them regularly, every month or two.

Your guitar will play better, stay in tune better, and sound

better. First let’s talk about taking care of and cleaning your

strings.

I clean my strings after every session. I just use a piece of an

old cotton T-shirt and wipe them down, I also wrap the cloth

around the string and wipe the crud off from underneath. I

don’t purchase any of the specialty cloths or cleaning

products (you might if you have an expensive, collectors’

gem). When I change my strings I also clean my fretboard

by wiping it down with a little bit of linseed oil (be sure to

wipe it off thoroughly, so your neck doesn’t become a grease

fest). Not only does keeping your strings clean make them

sound better, they last longer too, saving you money!

Although there are many options when you buy strings, my

advice is to stick with a few basics at first.

BUY LOCAL: Local music stores will give you advice and

even put your strings on, for a few extra dollars. Watch and

learn! If there are no music stores in your area, it will have

to be on-line purchase and internet videos.

GET A DECENT BRAND: GHS, Ernie Ball, D’Addario, Fender,

DR, and Gibson among others, all make a good set of strings

for 7 to 10 dollars. Many larger stores/outlets have their own

label made by one of the big string makers, which they sell

for less. Buy those!

GET THE RIGHT TYPE: Buy extra light gauge*, round wound

strings for both acoustic and electric. Get bronze alloy for

acoustic and nickel-steel for electric. While you may eventually

settle on different strings, the above specs will get you a cheap,

good sounding, easy to play set of strings.

(Nylon strings are used only on classical guitars. The neck is

wider, and the strings are harder to keep in tune and put on.

I don’t recommend these guitars for beginners, unless you

only want to play classical.) To sum up:

Acoustic Strings: extra light gauge, bronze alloy, round

wound. (Ask for 10’s) 8-15$

Electric Strings: extra light gauge, nickel-steel alloy, round

wound. (Ask for 9’s) 6-10$

I will talk about picks and amps for beginners in the next

post.

*Extra light gauge refers to the thickness of your strings.

The thinner they are the easier to play, but too thin and

they’ll break easy and buzz. The gauge of a string is

specified by a number; which is the strings’ diameter in

fractions of an inch. (.010 means 10 thousandths of an

inch in diameter.) String sets are named after the diameter

of the first string, you don’t have to know all the string

diameters! For acoustic guitar; extra light strings are

called 10’s (first string is .010). For electrics; extra light

strings are called 9’s (first string is .009).

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