Why, When, & How to Change The Strings on Your Guitar

June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
strings

Why You Should Change Your Strings

When most people start playing the guitar they just want to start playing their favorite songs. It’s exciting to finally start playing the guitar the way you imagined when you first picked up the instrument. However, it is important to learn how to maintain your guitar properly so it can produce quality sounds for a long time.

The strings on your guitar are probably the most important part on your instrument to keep maintained. If you were to place a brand new set of strings on your guitar you’ll be surprised at how much of a better sound it produces. This is especially true if you have a set of older strings that produce a duller sound.

Not only will the sound of your instrument improve when you change the strings but you will also keep dirt and sweat from making your strings vibrate unevenly. Hearing a guitar play out of tune is one of the worst things you can do to your ears. Changing your guitar strings on a regular basis will help you avoid having to deal with this problem.

How Often Should You Change Them

It really depends on you and how often you use your guitar to decide how often you should change them. If you clean after each session it help them to last a much longer time. Regular maintenance on the strings are important but you should definitely know when to replace them.

The best way to know when to change them is when you begin to notice that the sound is beginning diminish. Most guitarists that use their instrument everyday change their strings every 2 to 3 weeks to keep the sound crisp. If you are more of a casual player and you only play 3 to 4 times each week you should try to change your strings every 2 to 3 months.

If you don’t utilize your guitar that often then changing the strings after they are 6 months old is a good idea. A common mistake most beginner guitarist make is thinking their strings will remain good just because they don’t play their guitar on a regular basis. Your strings are so sensitive that they can be stretched out just by you tuning them up.

Once your strings begin to stretch they are no good unless you want your guitar to play like crap.  You should definitely change your strings if you notice any green or black buildup beneath them. This black or green buildup is old dirt and skin from your fingers as you were strumming away. Once you change your strings you will quickly notice a much brighter sound and much more elasticity in your strings.

At the end of the day though, noticing this difference will only come with experience. There is more than one way to decide whether or not your strings need to be changed. With experience you will be able to maintain your guitar strings better so you won’t need to change them that often.

How To Maintain Your Strings

When it comes to maintaining the quality in the sound of your guitar strings is to wash your hands with soap and water before you start to play. The dirt on your fingers can easily diminish the quality in your strings, so it’s makes sense why washing your hands regularly will help keep the sound of your guitar good for a longer time.

There are music stores out there where you can buy string cleaners like Dr. Duck’s Axe Wax or Mr. Sheen. You can use these string cleaners to clean your strings regularly and increase the lifespan of them. It’s a good idea to clean them with a string cleaner once every 2 days.

Another important thing to know is that if your string breaks you should replace the entire set of strings and not just the one string. This will guarantee that all your strings are on the same level when they are being played. It will definitely sound a little uneven if you throw a brand new string in with five other strings that have been used for awhile.

How To Change Your Strings

When it comes to changing your guitar strings you can either remove each string one at each time, or just replace every string at once. If you’re a beginner the best way to change your strings is to replace them one at each time.

The first thing you need to do is take out the strings by loosening them with a tuning machine until you can pull them out of the pegs you use to tune your guitar. You can find great tools you can use for this purpose at your local music store.

Next you will need to take out the bridge pins. The bridge pins look like knobs and they keep the strings hooked inside the instrument. To help you remove the bridge pin you could get a bridge pin puller from your local music store. You could also remove them pushing the pins out from within the instrument. As soon as the pegs are free you will be able to easily pull them out of the pegs.

Once you take out the strings from the pegs you should then clean the body of your guitar before you replace the strings. To clean your guitar neck, fretboard, and headstock you just need to damp a cloth with a little water. Try not to use too much water or it could damage the wood of your instrument.

Now it’s time to prepare your new strings to put them on your guitar for the first time. The best way to put your strings on is to start at the thinnest string and then work your way up to the thickest string.

When you have successfully placed each string inside it’s peg hole you should stretch it to it’s correct tuning peg and then put in the end through the hole in the peg.

Now put the strings through the hole and pull them tightly. Try to leave a small amount of slack to allow some excess string to wind around the tuning pegs. Doing this will keep your strings from getting loose while you’re playing.

Once you’ve followed these steps through you will just need to repeat the same steps for the other strings. Once you have replaced your strings it’s time for you to tune your guitar. After you tune your strings properly you will have successfully changed your strings. You will easily notice the difference in the sound your instrument produces if you haven’t changed the strings in a while.

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Online Guitar Lessons For Beginners – The Fundamentals

June 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
online guitar lessons for beginners

The guitar is one of those things that can bring a lot of happiness to someone who understands how to play it. Sometimes it can get discouraging because it does require plenty of dedication to practice to become good. However, with the right online guitar lessons for beginners you’ll be playing the guitar like you never thought you could.

There are a few guitars out there that will look differently than the average guitar, but for the most part they both normally contain the same fundamental components.  I will be going over the important parts you need to be familiar with on your electric or acoustic model.

The headstock  is located at the very top of your guitar and it is where the tuning pegs and tuning mechanisms  for your guitar are located. Next you’ll find the neck area which is between the body and the headstock. This neck area is where you’ll find the strings of your guitar (normally six) which run lengthwise down the fretboard, sometimes called the fingerboard.

The fretboard is separated by the guitar’s frets and runs down the body of the guitar. Take a look at the dots in the image below. These dots are known as markers and they are there to allow you to find any fret you want fast. Frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15 are where these markers are normally located.

beginner acoustic guitar lessons

 

The guitar fretboard is one of the first and most important things you need to learn and memorize. You need to know your notes which are named after the first 7 letters in the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. When you have arrived at G the name of these notes will start all over again, making A the next note after G and so on again.

After every two notes there is a sharp and/or flat note. The sharp symbol looks like this “#” and when you see it you should raise a note a half step. The flat symbol looks like this “B” and it means to lower a note a half step.

Every half step is one fret and you should note only a half step separates the E and F notes and the B and C notes. Every dot you see on the fretboard represents the various frets on the guitar. You should learn how to count the frets on your guitar. The most frets a guitar will have is 24 but most have only 19 frets.

Next in this quick guitar lesson online we’ll talk about the six strings. Two of these 6 strings on your guitar are known as the E string. The Low E can be found on the bottom and is the largest string on the guitar. The High E which can be found on the top is the other one, and it’s the thinnest string on the guitar.  Take a look below at the image to get a visualization of what I’m talking about.

beginner guitar lessons
These are the basics you have to learn and understand if you want to start playing guitar chords, a scale, or even a lead lick. You should practice daily and try familiarize yourself with your fretboard and strings.  Even when you don’t have your instrument you can pick a chord and try visualizing how you would play it on your guitar. Learning to play the guitar will become a whole lot easier once you understand what frets and strings you are playing and this little trick will help you do that.

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How to Make Chord Changes – Exercises To Help Your Fingers Work as a Team

May 8, 2012 by 1 Comment
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Learning to play chords is one of the first things you need to learn how to do when you start playing the guitar.  This can be a little challenging at first, which it’s why you need to keep practicing forming and changing chords. When learning a new chord you have to work on developing your ability to move your fingers to play it when it turns up in a song. Once you’re comfortable playing a new chord you should start practicing changing from that new chord to another chord that you’ve already learned.

What you don’t want to do when moving between chords is remove your fingers completely from the fretboard because your fingers will have to travel too far thus making your chord changes slower. There is less chance for delay and issues when you don’t have to move your fingers a lot in and out of various chord positions. You will find that you are much quicker transitioning between chords when you don’t have to do a lot of movement with your fingers.

When you lift your fingers you just need to raise them enough to clear the strings. The best way to accomplish this is to just relax your hand and allow your fingers to lift up on the neck  naturally. Once you learn to relax your hands your fingers will begin to move as a unit, which is what you want when making chord changes.

One exercise to help you get better at your chord changes involves forming a chord you want to play. Put your fingers in position and try to relax them without losing contact with the strings. Now press your fingers on the strings harder than you usually would to play the chord. Once you press hard on the strings try to relax again while still maintaining contact with the strings. Try to do this exercise at least 10 times to quickly get your fingers used to working as a unit on the chord. After a while your fingers will develop the ability to move from one chord and reach another as one.

There are some chord changes that are pretty tough to get the hang of like moving from Em to Am. In order to change from Em to Am you will have to lift both your ring and middle fingers and move them to the second fret of the D and G strings from the second fret of the A and D strings. You will also have to add your index finger to the first fret of the B string.

Meanwhile there are chord changes that are pretty simple since some fingers don’t have to move between chords. For example, shifting from G to Em is simple because you don’t need the second and third fingers to hold their positions in G when you play the Em chord. So when changing from G to Em try to relax these fingers as much as possible and allow them to naturally lift out of the way.  Avoid lifting your first finger and put your second finger back on the D string, second fret, and you’ll arrive at the Em chord. Do your best to pivot on the first finger without lifting it.

online guitar lessons for beginnersDon’t worry about timing and keeping the beat when you’re practicing changing between two chords. The most important thing is to work on getting your fingers from one place to another. Even though some chord shifts allow the fingers to remain on a certain fret. For example, if you want to change from the D chord to A7 you won’t have to use your third finger to play the A7. This means you can allow the third finger to relax and let it rise up out of the way without you trying to lift it. If you actively try to lift it you’ll be adding one more job for your hands to do, which is not what you want here.

Even better, some chord changes are great for beginners because one finger will remain on a certain string in both chords. Moving from the D chord to the E7 chord is a great example of a chord change where the finger stays on a string. The more difficult chord changes are those that don’t have a common string.  When trying to switch from one chord to another when they don’t have a common fret or string you’ll find it helpful to concentrate on moving your farthest finger to its proper place in the chord and then position the other fingers. This helps because the farthest finger usually does the most traveling across the neck so it makes sense to move it before the other fingers.

You could also try moving your first finger first in order to make it easier for your fingers to move from chord to chord without a common string. Focus on moving your first finger to its right place in the chord and then position your other fingers. Whether you move your farthest finger first or your first finger first is up to you to figure out which method works best for you.

Getting your fingers accustomed to transitioning from one chord to the next is challenging. Practice the exercises outlined in this guitar lesson and you’ll get your fingers used to working together on any chord. Soon your fingers will be able to change chords as a team.

 

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