Take a long hard look at the strings on your acoustic guitar. Are they in good shape? What shape are they currently in? Do they appear to be rusty or discolored?
Are all of your six strings present? If it has been a while since you took the effort to install new strings, or if you think that your strings are looking a little worse for wear, then it is going to be time for you to make a string change. Brand new strings are capable of making your guitar produce sound that is brighter, and it also generally makes your guitar easier to play as well.
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So how often should you change your guitar strings?
Just like when it comes to the brake pads on your car, all guitar strings are going to eventually wear out when you use them. Older guitar strings are capable of behaving quite badly, as they will lose tuning much more quickly and they will sound much less bright.
They may even give you issues relating to intonation. Older guitar strings are also much more likely to break, even during some of the most inopportune moments that you can think of.
If you are heading into any type of live playing situation, then you are going to want to make sure that you head in with brand new strings for your guitar, and you should also have several other sets of guitar strings packed with you in your guitar case in case you happen to break one of your strings during your performance.
When you are playing your acoustic guitar a lot, it is a good idea for you to change the strings every two to three weeks, or even more often than that if you are using your guitar to play in gigs.
It is probably not as necessary for a beginning player to be quite so diligent when it comes to guitar string changing, but changing your strings at a minimum of every few months is going to be a very good idea at the very least.
What sort of strings is best?
Everyone is going to have a unique opinion when it comes to which guitar strings are best. You need to make sure that you are using acoustic guitar strings if you are playing an acoustic guitar.
If you are playing a classical-style guitar, then you need to be using nylon strings or classical guitar strings. Electrical guitars on the other hand require electric guitar strings, also bass guitars cannot be played without bass guitar strings.
You are also really going to want to consider what gauge or thickness of the strings you are looking for. This is really where your personal preference is going to be able to come into play. If you are just a beginning player, however, it is generally a good idea for you to stick with strings of a medium gauge to achieve the best learning and playing results.
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