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Walking into a guitar store, you can’t help but notice the sheer number of different packs of guitar strings that are mounted on the wall behind the counter. A large shop could easily have over a hundred different brands, guages and types of strings available for sale.

It can be quite intimidating to try to parse all of that information at once, particularly when the clerk is standing there waiting for you to make your decision. How can you find out which strings best suit your guitar and your style of play?

Let’s start with string composition. Electric guitars almost always use steel strings. Acoustics use steel strings, but classical acoustic guitars use nylon instead. We’ll focus on steel strings since they are the most common. There are two types of steel strings used on guitars. Wound strings wrap a steel core with a thinner wire. This wrapping is usually bronze, nickel, or steel.

Wound strings are used for the lower registers, as they are thick and strong. Unwound strings, or standard strings are usually used for the upper registers, and they are thinner with a sharper tone.

The different string metals and wrapping metals can affect the sound of the string. Bronze is usually considered to have a ‘bright’ sound, which steel is more mellow, particularly when wrapped in nickel.

How the string is wrapped can also affect the sound – ‘roundwound’ strings are loud and vibrant, but can be hard on the neck of your guitar and can also produce noise when you slide your fingers on them. ‘Flat wound’ strings are not as crisp sounding and are easier on frets and fingers.

The next thing to consider is the thickness or gauge of the string. Thicker strings sound louder, but they are also under more tension to maintain the required pitch. This can make them hard to play, as the pressure required to push the string down behind the fret is considerable.

Thicker strings also usually have to be mounted a bit higher off the soundboard than thin strings, to avoid buzzing against the frets. This can slow down the ‘action’ of the instrument, making it harder to play quickly.

Finally, thick strings can do quite a number on your fingertips, particularly the unwound top strings – the thin wire under heavy tension can cut quite deeply into your fingertips until you acquire the necessary calluses.

I found that playing thicker strings worked well for me, as I had a bad habit of pressing down too hard with my fret hand. This would bend standard strings to the wrong pitch, but thick strings were able to take the pressure. However, I sacrificed speed because of my bad habit, and I eventually learned how to fret properly.

As for which brand of guitar strings you should use, that is up to you. Each brand has its own sonic characteristics, but what works for one person might not sound right to another. The best thing you can do is buy 2 or 3 packs of strings from different manufacturers and see which one sounds the best to you.

This also goes for gauges – but first make sure you have the tech at the guitar store check out your guitar to make sure it is properly set up for the thickness of string you want to use. Experimentation is at the root of all music, so don’t be afraid to switch things up in the string department – it took me several years before I found a brand of string that worked for me consistently.

Here’s a video that shows you the different kinds of guitar strings and explains the difference between them.

 

 How to Choose Guitar Strings: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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