Deciding which guitar strings to use for your particular guitar can be a bit confusing if you don't know what you're looking for. To begin with, there are many different brands to choose from... Martin, Ernie Ball, LaBella, Augustine, Fender, D'Addario, Elixir, GHS, Guild... and the list goes on.
In addition to this, there are various designs, types, gauges and materials used in the manufacture of guitar strings. So, where do you begin?
The first thing you need to know is what type of guitar you have.
When you walk into a music shop you'll typically see a wide selection of guitar strings displayed along the wall. They are usually divided into two distinct groups, or types...
Types:
1. Nylon Strings - designed for Classical and "Flamenco" guitars.
2. Steel Strings - designed for Acoustic and Electric guitars.
Materials:
The materials used in the making of guitar strings are selected on the basis of their intended use...
Classical and Flamenco guitars are plucked with the fingers and originally used "cat gut" for strings. Now they have 3 treble strings which are made of clear mono-filament nylon, and 3 bass strings which have a nylon multi-filament core. The bass strings are commonly wrapped with a silver-plated copper, bronze, or some similar alloy.
Acoustic and Electric guitar strings have a steel core because they are commonly (but not exclusively) strummed or played with a pick.
Acoustic Guitars - have strings that are commonly wrapped with bronze, or brass.Electric Guitars - have strings that are usually wrapped with a nickel-plated steel, nickel/iron, stainless steel, or other alloy (copper,bronze, zinc).
Bronze and brass strings have a bright, bell like tone. Phosphor bronze are very bright and have a quick response. However, I have noticed that they tend to lose their bright tone rather quickly.
Gauges:
When you pick up a box of steel strings at the music store you'll see that they are identified as either...
Light
Medium
Heavy
This designation refers to how thick the strings are in diameter. The specs for each string are usually provided on the back of the box.
When deciding on the gauge of strings to buy you will want to consider three basic things...
1. Volume
2. Tone
3. Playability
Light - are easy to play, but the tonal quality may suffer, resulting in poor volume and/or string buzz.Heavy - produce more volume, but the string tension makes playability difficult, especially if you are a beginner.Medium - fall somewhere in-between, so you might say they provide a "happy medium" for a lot of people. =)
My suggestion is to steer clear of extra-light gauge strings. They are weird to play and don't produce a good sound- at least, that has been my experience.
Nylon strings have two main designations...
Normal Tension - easy to play, decent volume and tone. Hard Tension - harder to play, better tone and volume overall.
The regular Light-Gauge steel strings and Normal Tension nylon are a good choice for beginners in my opinion, but I recommend sticking with a "name brand" you recognize to insure better quality, sound performance and to guard against breaking, unraveling, etc.
The string brands I am currently using right now are...
Elixir - on my steel string acoustic guitars.D'Addario - on my nylon string classical guitarsFender - on my electric guitars.
When it comes to strings the saying is true that... you generally do get what you pay for.
Design:
There are 3 basic designs for steel strings...
1. Round-wound - these produce a broad tonal response and sustain. They are bright sounding with rich harmonies.
2. Flat-wound - are designed to reduce finger noise. They have a very smooth feel, but have a duller "mid-range" sound and less sustain.
3. Ground-wound - These strings are the "middle of the road" and attempt to incorporate the features of both the Round-wound and Flat-wound designs.
Keep these things in mind the next time you are preparing to get new strings for your guitar and perhaps it will help make your decision a little easier!
Kathy Unruh is the webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar.com. She has over over 20 years experience as a guitar teacher and is currently offering lessons online for students of all ages.
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