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Five Thoughts on Guitar Strings

August 19, 2010 by Jeremy Casey 2 Comments

Guitar Player has a helpful article discussing string materials, height, size, durability, and shape. Here’s an excerpt:

HEAVIER STRINGS CAN SOUND BIGGER… BUT NOT ALWAYS: Thicker strings can make you sound bigger, but only if partnered with an appropriate playing style. If you hammer the strings hard to get a lot of movement out of those wires, going up a gauge or two might suite your playing style fine. But if you’re a more delicate player, you might not get those strings moving, and going up a gauge might just choke your tone. Jimi Hendrix is known to have used .009 and .010 sets, and tone monsters Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page both purportedly used super-light sets with .008 high-E strings. Wimps? Ha! SRV used .012 or .013 sets, but also tuned his Strats down a half-step to Eb, which makes a .012 feel more like an .011.

photo by ZuuzuuBabee

Filed Under: guitar links Tagged With: guitar blogs, guitar effects, guitar strings, Guitar Technique

About Jeremy Casey

Jeremy Casey is a frustrated guitarist who copes with mediocrity by writing about guitars online. Elsewhere on the internet he writes about a variety of topics including music, sports, and more. Click here to see my other posts.

Comments

  1. Roger Gilmore says

    August 20, 2010 at 10:00 pm

    Thanks for any and all advice hat can be passed on to us.

  2. Blues Licks Master says

    August 29, 2010 at 4:11 am

    Man, I’ve been back and forth with this over the years and I totally agree that technique is an important consideration, but it also depends on the music you are playing and the particular guitar too.

    When I play Jazz I like a heavier string…I go for D’addario flatwound 11’s, but I swap out the 11 for a 12. The guitar is a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion. But those would suck on my strat, which is strung with 10’s. I play everything else, and some jazz too, on that.

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