Friday, August 7, 2009

How To String A Guitar - 5 Tips Before You Start

By Jon J Tan

Every budding guitarist should maintain his or her own guitar and changing the strings on the guitar is an important part of that. It is fairly easy to change your guitar strings and it is unlikely that you will damage it. Because of this, there is no reason why you should pay someone else to do it for you. Below are 5 tips to ensure that you do it the correct way:

1. Use the correct guitar string. Stringing your guitar with the wrong kind of string will result in irreversible damage to your guitar. Different materials are used to make strings for different kinds of guitars. For example, acoustic and electric guitars are strung with metal based strings while classical guitars are strung with nylon based strings.

2. Buy the correct tension of guitar string. For all kinds of guitar strings, there are different tensions. This might be indicated as a number known as "gauge". The higher the guitar string gauge, the higher the tension. For beginners, I recommend low tension strings, which have a lower gauge to make it easier to play.

3. Do not change all the guitar strings at once. Rather than removing all the strings from the guitar before restringing, it is recommended to change the strings one at a time. This helps reduce the chance that the guitar will be damaged by preserving the tension of the guitar neck and body during the process.

4. Use a string winder for speed. If you want to string your guitar fast, then using a string winder is important. This will enable you to wind up and down the strings so you can get back to playing the guitar quickly.

5. Cutting your strings. You should cut your strings to the right length only after the strings are on the guitar and are fully tuned up to the correct pitch and tension. It is possible that the strings will slip slightly and if you cut too early the string might just slip off the guitar!

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