Guitar Strings - Your Basic Insight
Dominick Harvey
made.
Steel - used on electric and acoustic guitars
Nylon - primarily used on classical and flamenco guitars Guitar
strings are normally wound with either type of nickel, brass, or
copper alloy. On most standard set of strings for an electric guitar,
the 1st - 3rd string is usually unwound, but the 4th - 6th string is
wound. Each individual string is of a different thickness, and they
each have a specific note to be tuned to. The 12 string guitar is the
alternative to this, because they have 12 strings to tune instead of
six.
Electric guitar strings that are wound are created by rolling a string
made of white metal around a centrally located string. The different
types of material used for wrapping around the central string depend
on the durability and tone wanted by the musician. Typically you will
find that an electric guitar uses a nickel or nickel alloy material.
The thickness of the string is referred to as the gauge of the string.
The guitar string is measured by fractions of an inch.
Light Gauge String
(.008 - .038) (.009 - .042) (.009 - .046) (.010 - .046)
Easier to push down, and you will be able to bend them without any
problem.
Allow you to be able to play much faster
Do not hold their tune very well
Have very little sustain
Produce very little volume
Not good for lower tunings Heavy Gauge Strings
(.011 - .050) (.010 - .052) (.012 - .052) (.013 - .056)
Heavier gauged strings are preferred by many of todays guitarists
because of the tone and the feel of them.
Good for guitar players that prefer to have their guitars tuned down
lower than standard (drop D, drop C, drop B etc.).
Will hold their sustain much longer in the drop tuningsWhy Your
Strings Break
As annoying as it is, you will have guitar strings break on you, and
there are many reasons for this to happen. Here are the four main
reasons that you may experience this problem:
Aggressive Playing - This happens to be the most common reason for
breaking strings - No doubt, you will get so deep into your jam
session, that you will tend to strum a little to hard with your pick
and snap a string. Unfortunately there is no way to fix this problem
other than change your playing style, but I don't recommend that at
all.
Old Strings - Over time your guitar strings will loose their
elasticity simply from the constant stress that is put on your
strings. - If you have not played or changed your strings in a long
time, they will rust over, and become very susceptible to breaking.
Over tuning - This simply means that when you are tuning your guitar,
you may wind the tuning pegs to high, resulting in a broken string. -
Because this could very easily happen, it is wise to tune your guitar
with the strings facing away from you.
Sharp Objects - You may find sharp areas on the guitar that are
capable of breaking a guitar string. These areas include but are not
limited to: The bridge, the nut, tuning peg.
Guitar strings are the heart and soul of any guitar. Without them,
there would be no possible way to create sound. To get the best sound
out of your guitar, you should change your strings on a regular basis.
This is an easy way to experiment and try out different gauges to see
what tone fits your style.
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