Electric Guitar Strings Tips
Hello, this is TJ again from the Beginner Guitar Lessons blog. Do you play electric guitar? What is your choice for the electric guitar strings?
If you want a clear, brilliant tone and good sustain then you have to consider the stainless steel electric guitar strings. They are hard to rust and respond well to the pickups due to their high magnetic characteristic. Fingers rub on this string will create noise especially on the rough string surface. While this may seem as a drawback for some guitarists, some people who like to play with distortion will take it as a benefit.
Nickel-plated string will minimize the fingers noise. In addition to less noise it created, it also improves the strings playability because it gives smoother surface which allow the players to play faster but normally it does not last as long as the unplated stainless steel string.
If you like softer strings there are pure nickel type available. They have bright and round-warm sound characteristic but less sustain compare to the other types.
Based on the string materials above now we understand why we cannot mix them together on electric guitar. Some of them will vibrant longer or ring louder than the others. Better stick to one type of string.
Other factors that affect playability and tone are string winding and string gauge.
Round-wound electric guitar strings have better tone and volume but they are not really good for fast finger style, firstly because the string surface is rough and secondly because of the fingers noise it created. Flat-wound strings are smoother and faster to play with minimum fingers noise but unfortunately they have poor brilliance compared to the round-wound strings.
String gauges are generally classified as super heavy, heavy, medium heavy, medium, light, super light and extra super light, although some manufacturer may use different terms. If you can’t remember which type you are using just remember the first string gauge dimension. I personally like the 0.009” set (0.009” is the dimension of the high E string) because the strings are easier to bend and faster to play licks. For my acoustic guitar I prefer thicker strings because I play picking a lot with it.
How to tell that one certain gauge works better for you? You need to find out yourself. Change your electric guitar strings with different sizes or even from different manufacturers and see which one works best. There is no right and wrong strings but you need to choose the best set that is suitable for your guitar playing style.
To Your Guitar Success,
-TJ-
Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin
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