Learn When to Change the Strings on Your Electric Guitar

Series Summary

The guitar has been around for nearly 5,000 years, developed from even more ancient instruments akin to the sitar, it has been inspiring audiences since its first chord was strummed. It is the primary instrument involved with many genres of music including country, blues, flamenco, rock, and pop, and has been celebrated as one of the most expressive instruments in the world. Whether blending acoustic harmonies on a classical guitar or shredding solos on an electric guitar, the importance of the guitar to 20th century music cannot be ignored.

In this free video series, our expert Matt Graham will show you how to change the strings on an electric guitar. He will show you how to know when to change the strings, how to pick the right new strings, and show you all the tools you'll need to change the strings on your electric guitar. Matt will show you how to loosen the old strings, remove and cut them, clean the guitar, lubricate the nuts, measure the new string, stretch the string, lock it in the bridge, and tune it. Matt will even show you how to clip the excess string and dispose of your old strings properly.

Video Transcript

"MATT GRAHAM: Okay, so if you're watching this series on how to change the strings on your electric guitar, chances are you either just purchased it and it's got strings on it that are gunked up and dead, or even it's missing strings, maybe you just broke a string or your strings are dead. And by dead I mean that they've got lots of oil and dirt in them. You've been playing them for a long time and they've lost their brilliance and their attack, and they just have kind of a muddy sound. If you've only broken one string, you can go to your local music store or guitar shop and they'll actually provide you with the single string that you need, providing you know the thickness of the string and maybe the type of set that it came from. But I recommend any time you break a string to just replace the whole set. Because usually, a broken string is a warning sign that your strings are dead and that they've already lost their life and their brilliance and they're not--that more strings will break, soon after that first string breaks. So again, when you break a string, I generally think it's a good idea to go ahead and change the strings on your guitar."