Originally Posted by Guitarbitz
Finding a string that suits you, your guitar, your style and gives you the sound you want is a bit of a journey.
There are a lot of different guitar strings out there (Just take a look at guitarbitz.com's guitar strings page, we have 11 pages of guitar strings).
Just make sure that when you replace them you opt for the correct strings for your type of guitar.
Electric strings for electric guitars, acoustic strings for acoustic guitar, classical nylon strings for classical guitars and bass strings for bass guitars.
For Acoustic guitars, choose between Phosphor Bronze which give a mellow, rounded tone, or 80/20 Bronze which gives bright, crisp tones.
The gauge of the strings is related to the thinnest string. Gauge 12, aka 0.012, aka 12 thousandths of an inch, is the standard found on most acoustic guitars. Heavier gauge strings (e.g. 13, 14, etc) are harder to play as they have more tension but give more bass tones and volume. Lighter gauge strings (e.g. 11, 10, 9, etc) have less tension and therefore easier to play, but have more treble tones and less volume.
Try the different manufacturers D'Addario, Martin, Elixir, even Ernie Ball. They all make their strings slightly differently so will all produce slightly different tones.
For electric guitars, choose between the different string materials:
Pure Nickel will give soft, mellow tones and feel smooth to the touch;
Stainless Steel will give sharp, powerful tones but feel rough to the touch;
Nickel Plated Steel is a combination and gives the best of both with almost the sharp powerful tones of steel but with a smooth feel.
Again, try different gauges (lighter gauges give you more treble tones and are easier to play, heavier gauges give more powerful bass tones but are hearder to play). Or look at a hybrid set, light treble strings for easy bends with heavy bass strings for that power and bass.
There is a lot more to guitar strings than first meets the eye, there is a lot of science behind them nowadays, for example the shape of the core wire on wound strings, should it be round, square, hexagonal, etc, etc.
Just try a few different strings from different manufacturers and see which you like the best.
Now, shall we start a debate on the science of plectrums, they are just as complicated as guitar strings and they can give quite a difference in tone to your playing, but perhaps thats for another post.
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