When it comes to rocking out on the guitar, few things sound—or feel—better under your fingertips than a new set of strings! While you can always squeeze more life out of your guitar strings, you’ll still need to routinely change them.
So how do you know when you should change your guitar strings and why?
Why Should You Change Your Guitar Strings?
A new set of strings feels and sounds great. They add brightness, clarity, and crispness to your overall sound. Most importantly, a new set of guitar strings feels great under your fingertips, inspiring you to practice longer and more often than a set of rusty, old strings!
It’s Time to Change Your Guitar Strings When . . .
- The strings sound dull.
- It’s difficult to get the guitar in tune.
- It won’t stay in tune!
- The strings are rusty and discolored.
- A string breaks.
- The strings feel gross!
- You haven’t changed the strings since you bought the guitar!
As a General Rule of Thumb
On average, you should probably change your guitar strings every three months, but every guitarist is different.
If you own a guitar but never play, you’ll still need to change your strings once a year. If you’re a touring guitarist, you never have to change your strings because you have a guitar tech, you lucky dog!
So which guitarist are you?
|
Type of Guitarist |
How Often? |
|
Touring Guitarist |
Every gig. |
|
Gigging Guitarist |
Once a week. |
|
Semi-Professional Guitarist |
Once a month. |
|
Average Guitarist |
Every three months. |
|
Plays-It-Once-in-a-While Guitarist |
Every six months. |
|
Owns-a-Guitar-But-Never-Plays-It Guitarist |
Once a year. |
What Tools Will You Need?
- A set of new strings: While every guitarist has his/her favorite set of strings, D’Addario makes some exceptional guitar strings, and their new D’Addario NYXL1046 Nickel Plated Electric Guitar Strings, Light
are game changers!
- A string winder, string cutter: Don’t even think about changing your guitar strings without the Planet Waves Pro Winder String Winder and Cutter.
- A microfiber cloth: Planet Waves Microfiber Polish Cloths are great for cleaning guitar strings, which helps them last longer saving you money in the long run!
are game changers!
