strings

strings

**Choosing guitar strings is a very important decision. After all, this is the junction between your hands and your instrument.**

Guitar strings come in two forms: unwound (plain) or wound.

Unwound strings are your High E (1st), B (2nd) and G (3rd) strings*. These are a solid strand of metal and they feel smooth to the touch. Unwound strings are suited for higher pitches.

Wound strings are your Low E (6th), A (5th) and D (4th). They are plain strings with metal wrapped around them to produce lower pitches. You can see the difference between wound and unwound, or simply slide the edge of your pick against the strings. Wound strings will produce a jagged, scraping sound.

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(*Occasionally you might encounter a guitar with a wound G (3rd) string. This is a throwback to the early days of electric guitar when wound G’s were the only type available. )

Modern guitar strings offer many options– composition, string gauge, round wound/flat wound and coated/non-coated.

Composition-

For electric guitar, the most common string materials are stainless steel and nickel.

Stainless steel strings have great volume, tone and sustain. They’re also the brightest sounding. Given its magnetic properties, it’s a good match for electric pickups. Stainless steel is also very resistant to corrosion, much more so than nickel. These are a fine choice, but some players believe they feel a little “stiffer” than other strings.

Nickel-plated strings are essentially stainless steel strings with a light plating of nickel. The plating makes them feel less stiff than pure stainless steel and also takes away some of the brightness. Nickel is also a smoother surface so they produce less “whisper” ( string noise). These are probably the most common type of electric strings.

Pure Nickel strings are another popular choice. They are less bright than stainless steel and nickel plated strings and they also have more “give” to them.

String gauges-

String gauges are another option to consider. Sets are usually referred to by the size of their thinnest strings. These can vary from very light (8’s) to heavy (12 or higher). Some common string gauges are: 9-42, 9-46, 10-46, 10-52.

***It’s important to understand that the higher gauges are more difficult to bend on. Their additional mass makes them difficult to budge at concert pitch. Higher string gauges are usually preferred by rhythm guitarists and “doom and gloom” metal heads that tune their guitars WAY down. Drop tuners need additional mass to make the strings sound fuller. (A set of 8’s tuned down to Drop C feel like cobwebs and sound about as heavy.)

Round wound/flat wound-

We’ve already learned that a wound string is nothing more than a plain string with windings around it. They are also known as Round wound strings.

Flat wound strings are Round wounds that have the windings ground down to have less of a serrated feel. They produce a mellower tone and are most commonly used by Jazz guitarists and bass players.

Coated/non-coated

Non coated strings are any of the strings mentioned above. They are wound or unwound lengths of plain metal. But since strings are subject to breakage and tuning issues due to body oils and dirt, several companies offer an additional option of “coating” each string in the hopes of prolonging string life. Manufacturers claim that string life can be doubled or even tripled-but then again the prices of coated strings reflect this.

I like to get my “bend” on, so I prefer light gauge strings.*

BASIC STRUMMING PATTERNS

Free Online Guitar Lessons

After beginners learn a few chords, their next question is:

Q:”What do I do with them?”

A: Practice switching between them.

Chords are strung together to form the “backdrop” of a song. Single-note melodies are laid on top to produce a finished piece of music. Try playing 2 chords from the BASIC OPEN CHORDS page. Strum one four times and switch to the next. Strum this new chord four times and switch back again. Here’s an example using A Major and D Major.

AAAA DDDD AAAA DDDD etc.

For now, let’s use all downstrokes.

*Downstroke means that you strum DOWN from Low strings to higher strings.

Downstroke four times on A, then four downstrokes on D. Repeat.

After awhile, you’ll notice that using downstrokes exclusively tends to make a chord progression sound “robotic” or “souless”. Think of it this way, if you only use downstrokes, its kind of like using only one leg to get around. Sure, you can hop from point A to B, but wouldn’t it be easier if you just walked to your destination? It’s much easier and smoother going. Allow me to introduce you to your other leg…

Upstrokes are the opposite of downstrokes- meaning strumming from high strings to lower ones.

The walking analogy will help us understand quite a bit about rhythm. A song starts and walks to the end in a simple fluid motion.

Let’s stop and take a look at Time Signatures.

We know that we can write down any song using TAB and standard notation. But to play it correctly, we need to understand its rhythm.

Music is written in increments known as measures.Think of these measures as train cars passing by, with the engine being the beginning and the caboose being the end.

Each of these cars carries a specific amount of beats. It’s common for each measure/car to carry four beats. So common in fact, that counting in groups of four is known as Common Time. Common time is indicated at the beginning of a piece of music by the symbol(s)

The earlier example of playing AAAA DDDD AAAA DDDD is a good way to explain it. Each measure/car carries exactly four beats.

In common time (4/4) we string together four beats by counting: 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,etc.

There are other time signatures that you should know about, but you’ll be fine if you start with one more. 3/4 Time

Regardless of what time signature you are in, each measure/car has to have a certain number of notes (or rests) to fill it. We call these complete measures.

explain 4/4 & 3/4. empty milk jug analogy. car, pickup, SUV, motorcycle. down & up strokes like walking. choking chords with the left hand. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guitar Strings

Choosing guitar strings is a very important decision. After all, this is the junction between your hands and your instrument.