strings, Does it matter which ones?

What type of guitar do you have?? I usually use the Ernie Ball brand when I shop for strings, for me personally i like the regular slinky's for my Les paul, and SG style guitars because of the shorter scale neck. But when I need to replace the strings on my Stratocaster I put on the Super Slinky's because its got a little bit of a longer neck. Thats just me personally.

Try to buy a few packs over the next few months and i'm sure you'll find something that you like. Start out with Ernie ball and D'addarrio.

Oh, and if you have an acoustic i would recommend the D'addarrio Lights (blue packaging).
Good Luck.

Are you restringing an acoustic or an electric? I tend to advise beginners to choose a lighter guage string when they are starting. It makes playing a little easier, since the heavier the strings the harder it is to fret them.

For an electric, I would use 9s or 10s (9s are a little lighter). For an acoustic, either 10s or 11s. As far as the brand, there are lots of choices. I like D'Addario, but most brands are fine.

I use D'Addario 10's on my electric and D'Addario Acoustic Lights as mentioned above for my acoustics and acoustic/electric.

Jim

We get asked this one all the time round here, and there's always a whole heap of brands mentioned.

My advice for an electric is to get Rotosound yellows (10 gauge) - they're light enough to be comfortable, strong enough to bend without flying out of tune, and they come with a free extra 1st string in the pack so it doesn't matter so much if you break one. They're also well priced.

If you're using an accoustic, I'd recommend getting phopshor bronze strings as they sound nice and bright when you put them on and they last. Get a set with a wound 3rd string and heavier than strings for an electric. Again, I'd recommend Rotosound, Country Gold 11 guage.

As you go on, it's worth trying out different brands and different gauges just to see what your guitar likes.

Best,

A :-)

you need to tell us if your guitar is electric or acousti first.

strings are rated by gauge or thickness. he numbers refer to that.
thin strings, the easiest to play but rather thin sounding, have a low number; 9 is common.
the low strings have higher numbers, 42 is common, 46 is better.

strings are wound and how they are wound factors into the choice.
most players have round wound. the wire is round and wound around a core.
flat wound, which jazz players like, are very flat. they dont have much sustain; a good thing for jazz where the run of notes are fast and many. flatwound keeps the string from vibrating too much so the notes dont blur together.

for electric 10-46 is good. although you may want to start with a thinner set; that would be 9-42.
I like nickel coating on my strings. it feels good and sounds good. Ernie Ball makes good affordable strings.

for acoustic the gauge changes as does the metal. bronze phosphor is the coating. dont know why.
I forget what I have on my acoustic. probably 11's.

the reason we only state the low number is because strings come in sets.
some players buy individual strings out of set order because they know exactly what they want; some use very heavy strings for the low E,A,D.

Thanks for all the help i need it
It can be a pain when your not sure what to get.
Ok I have an Acoustic have been playing all along with no problem BUT i went out
and got d'addario ( 1st is .012 and the 6th is .053) put them on and i found them very hard on the fingers
my fingers are quite hard as i wont say play but practise quite bit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(getting noware though )
do they sound diofferent ?