Stringing a Guitar

Stringing a guitar can be a complicated process, but you will eventually become good at it. I've read many different articles on how to string a guitar and everyone seems to have their own personal preference. The most complicated part of stringing a guitar is the application and or tightening of the strings to the tuning knobs. I've actually developed my own way that I find extremely fast and easy, but I'll let you be the judge.

My own guitar stringing technique:

This guitar stringing technique works for pretty much every guitar out there. Let's first starts by cutting/removing all the guitar strings on your guitar except the low E string. I usually loosen each peg except for the low E and then cut them with wire cutters down the middle and then remove the remaining guitar string from each individual peg. From there, I start with the High E string and first secure the bottom of the strong with the coil to the bridge mechanism on the guitar. Then here's where it gets tricky.... pull the guitar string through the appropriate tuning peg's hole and pull it through so that its snug at first but then give it about 2-5 inches of slack (The more slack the better). Now with the appropriate amount of slack, press the extended half of the guitar string against the tuning peg causing the string to form a sharp ridge around the peg. The sharp ridge will bight on itself when you tighten the tuning knobs. Now here's the fun part, place the end of the guitar string in your mouth and hold it directly about the peg with your teeth so your head is directly about the tuning peg. Now all you have to do is tighten the knob and the ridge in the string will bight down on itself and all that slack that you created at the beginning of the process will be wrapped around the knobs as you tighten. Tighten enough so the guitar string produces a tone, however to not worry about tuning the string to what you desire until later, just make it snug. 

and remember...

The string is going to be held in place by your mouth, one hand will be tightening the knob and the other hand will be pushing the other side of the string on the bridge side of the peg down so it does not raise over the peg causing the string to not get tight and get all fudged up.

One more thing!

I understand that stringing a guitar is complicated and that my verbal directions may not be enough to show you. I'm working on a video to place on this page that should be up soon. Hopefully the video and verbal instruction will help you get the ball rolling on stringing your guitar. 

What type of strings should I use?

As you'll find, there are many different types of guitar strings out there. The strings that I personally prefer are:

For Acoustic Guitar - Elixir Strings

For Electric Guitar - Power Brights, If Power Brights aren't available, choose DR's.

Elixir acoustic guitar strings sound the best by far. They have the most bright and full sound out there. They also last extremely long. You will end up paying about $10 on average for them though. Power Brights are the best electric guitar strings that I've come across. They sound great and last a very long time. I really don't like changing my strings every day so I like to spend a little extra money on good strings instead of spending it on cheap strings.


What's the difference between the thickness in the strings?

String usually vary in size from about .09's to about .12 with .09 being the thinnest guitar strings and .12 being the thickest guitar strings.

The thinner the string:

The easier to play

The thinner the sound

The easier it is to break

The thicker the string:

The harder it is to play

The "fuller" the sound

The harder it is to break

*One nice thing to try to improve your finger strength and playing ability is to start off on very thick strings (like .012's) and then move to a set of thin strings after a while (.09's). Once you make the move from thick to thin, you won't believe how easy it is for you to make the change and how much easier the licks are (mostly bends) along with overall playing.

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