How to Change a Guitar String

Nothing is more fun than relaxing and playing a guitar, until something goes wrong. If you've broken a guitar string, then you know there is nothing pleasant about possible amputation of body parts as the wire flings out of the instrument. Stings can break for many reason, some people have this problem more than others. Sometimes strings will break because they are old, rusty, over-tightened, pulled, or played to hard. No matter, what, everyone does it at some point in time. Here is a quick and easy way to change a string.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Guitar with broken or missing string
• The correct string replacment

1. First, you have to fully remove the old string. Unwind it out of the peg that it was connected to at the top of the guitar and un-thread it from the bottom of the guitar.

2. Now, have your replacement string in hand. If you don't know which string it is that you broke, the order from largest to smallest is; EADGBE.

3. Now look at your guitar. Depending on what type of guitar you have, there are going to be different ways to thread it. If you have an electric guitar, you may have to slide the string through the holes in the backside in order to get it to the front. If you have a classical guitar, then you will attach the string to the front of the guitar with a knot. Either way you put it on, make sure that you have the string on the right way (the little metal ball goes on the bottom).

4. Stretch the string up to the top of the guitar. Thread the string through the nut with the missing string. Turn the nut until the string tightens, making sure the string lines up with the grove a the top of the fingerboard.

5. Now, tighten the string until it is tuned. New strings tend to go out of tune until they are fully stretched and relaxed. Some people find it useful to let the string stretch overnight before playing it. Good luck.

[Beckybugg]

on 12/20/2008 Really good tips!