They are so brassy and responsive and slippery. Oh, how I love the sound and feel of a fresh pair of guitar strings.

But as well do I love the feel and sound of a well worn, well used pair before they lose all of their twang and resonance. You know THE sound...the "life" in strings. Dead strings make my heart hurt.

I can't decide which I love more. Does my fellow guitarists have an opinion on the matter? I do not change strings very often, I "ride them until the wheels fall off", so to speak, so sometimes hearing the clarity of a fresh, virgin pair of strings still amazes me.

I was in a sad state of affairs, I had not played in over a month, due to financial reasons, and I am so very out of practice.

I know what I'm doing, but my callouses and finger tips are much softer due to the lack of playing, and my hand/wrist muscles must have lost some of their strength in that month. I feel like somebody who hasn't ridden a bicycle in awhile...yeah, it can be done, but it doesn't feel "natural", so to speak. I must practice all the harder now, so as to regain the "feel" again.

Also, tuning by ear was a tad strange and foreign as well. The ringing warbles (know what I'm talking about, guitarists? that inner ringing we hear whilst tuning?) were much fainter, they were much more...distant. Like talking to somebody through a closed door, as opposed to face to face.

Almost as if I had cotton in my ears. Is it possible to "lose" the ability to hear those ringing warbles? I've never gone such a long period of time without playing, so this is all very strange and peculiar to me.

It kinda feels like how one does when they haven't fucked in awhile. Like...oh fuck, where did my "oomph" go, where did my natural rhythm and intuition disappear to?

Alas, today is going to be a very, very long practice day. I must get back into the swing of things. Feels like I'm starting all over again, to be honest. It's kind of nice

What kind of strings do you all enjoy using? Acoustically, Earthwood Light (or Extra Light, if I'm feeling frisky) have yet to fail or disappoint me. Everyone "swears" by Elixir strings, but screw that, my local music store offers Buy One Pair, Get One Free, so I'd rather buy two fresh pairs of Earthwood's for eight dollars, and stretch my playing out for much longer, instead of buying one expensive ass pair of "Top Quality" Elixir. I think it's all rather moot, to be honest!

Also, red and yellow Tortex picks for the win. Can't go wrong! Greens are so much heavier and sloppy, I feel. The Yellow Tortex .73mm are nearly perfect, I believe...they're light enough for a clean, evenly rhythmical strum (doesn't feel like you're beating on the strings), but still strong enough for a decent lead or solo bit, or say an arpeggiated song. Couldn't find the right kind of thumb pick I wanted, for finger-style...they were all much too heavy. So alas, my thumb will have to do.

Guitar dorks, share your thoughts and opinions. I have a rather large guitar boner right now, I can't help but feel giddy and discuss such topics.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2012 07:38AM by Redlandsman87.

Ernie Ball Earthwood 13s, tuned down a full tone so that my constant retuning (damn you nick drake, damn you!) doesn't snap 'em too frequently, no picks - just fingers.

also new strings: too bright, too much twang. give them a week of playing and they sounds shit hot.

---

let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

I use D'Addarios, ever since I fell in love with their Chrome XL flatwounds on my old semi-hollow electric. The perfect string for smooth atmospheric background metal music.

My acoustics all get the bluegrass hybrid strings D'Addario offers. I prefer Clayton .80 or 1mm picks in the big ass triangle shape, or Tortex in similar thicker gauges. My playing gets sort of percussive so thin picks can't give me the volume I want.

EB EW 11s here, they have that nice "snap" to them, a fair bit of resistance, doesn't feeling like I'm playing on an untuned guitar, with slappy strings. They're harder to bend as well, but it can be done. Great for building hand strength and maintaining those tough as nail calloused finger tips. Also, my guitar is somewhat old (late 70s model) with a fairly high action, so I've really got to dig my fingers into them so as to avoid fret buzz. It's great, I love the burn personally. I mean, after playing on those and switching to an Electric...holy fuck at the world of difference. It nearly feels like my strings and hands are spring loaded!

And we've got another Nick Drake fan, eh? It was him who got me into finger-style/classical type playing. Though I'm slightly sloppy at it (my fingers sometimes have a mind of their own, they don't like to follow PIMA strictly, they sometimes go "Merle Travis" on me, i.e. index and thumb primarily, or even Hammerclaw...of course, if it sounds great, I just go with it) it's easily the most diverse style I've come to enjoy playing. So much going on at once, what with the ambidexterity of the hands both working with and for each other, slides, hammer ons/pull offs, the really skilled can throw some harmonics and taps into it...and it's so very un-flashy, as well! A finger-stylist doesn't ever really look like they're doing "all that" like some crazy, in your-face-flashy lead players. Finger-stylists are more in control, and have the widest range of sounds available, I believe. I'm a rhythm/finger-style player. I am terribly behind in the lead department...I've got to practice leads and licks more. I dunno, it just doesn't "click" quite as much as the other styles...maybe because I just haven't dedicated much time and practice to it, or scales.

I've heard stretching the strings manually, or even boiling them prior to stringing/tuning helps stretch them out, so you stay in tune easier and they lose much of their brass twang, even when first strung. I can't be arsed to do all that though, I'd rather string up, deal with the bright twang (again, I love it for its own reasons) and let the strings work out themselves.

Useful trick - prior to stringing, use a lead pencil and go over the grooves in your nut. This will help the guitar stay in tune more often...that's what I've been told, anyways. Not sure how exactly, but a professional luthier/ex-Gibson manufacturer I know named Jason swears by it...I've done it ever since being told, like any other part of regular guitar maintenance. Could just be an old wives tale or something, but hell, it doesn't hurt, and it might just be right after all. Some sort of sciency answer for it, I'll bet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2012 02:00PM by Redlandsman87.

dood, you're using up way too much valuable songwriting material on this forum! i swear, you need to take your posts and turn them into songs.

NOW

Duly noted! I write a lot outside of forums, as well. You think these posts are long? You should see some of my notepads on the desktop...walls and walls and walls of poetry, lyrics, song ideas, or useless stream-of-conciousness type ramblings.

I've been told I should be a novelist, because of how much shit I type out, but I can't write stories. Alas, a double edged sword.

if every post you did was a song, you'd never have to think up songs! i don't think it's a bad thing at all. if anything, i think you should post more, and longer, posts.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2012 02:06PM by mike10k.

You've inspired me to write all the more frequently. I'll try to burn off the majority of this mind-diarrhea (as I like to call it) via songwriting, for as much as I type and write out, as of late the "creative well" has run a bit dry, and I haven't written too many songs.

It's a bit oxymoronic, I know, saying I have writers-block and yet typing out as much as I do. I'm actually a relatively quiet person in face-to-face situations.

type away buddy.

you'll notice that i too am somewhat of a wallflower here.

won'tcha dance wit me!

You are the dancing queen

young and sweet

ONLY SEVENTEEN, OOOH YEAAAH

YOU CAN DANCE!

YOU CAN JIVE!

HAVING THE TIiiiMMMeeeEEE OF YOUR LIII-EYE-IFE

SEE THAT GIRL (dude?)

Watch the scene!

Digging the dancing QUEEN OOOH YEAAH

Rohrbacher low tension nickel flatwounds. I've had the same strings on my main guitar for nearly two years, and they shine like new. $22 a set, but totally worth it.

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Redlandsman87
*text*

Huge Nick Drake fan, and it was probably him (along with Clapton's Unplugged album, Led Zep's Bron-yr-Aur and the teeniest Jansch influence) that got me into fingerstyle. I don't think i'm strictly PIMA either, and i don't think you need to be, but then i'm self taught, and never examed, so i've developed a whole raft of bad habits that a tutor would no doubt cringe at.

But, i can play the tunes, so who fucking cares, eh?

I used to be able to play a passable lead, and i could have solo'd for hours over any blues number, mainly because i had long hair and a Les Paul and i thought i could be Jimmy Page. (pro tip: Turns out, in secondary school (high school, for those across the pond) not many girls want to hang out with weird 70s throwbacks. Who knew?). Then, i sold my Les Paul, got sick of losing plectrums, started playing with fingers and haven't looked back.

Now, i suck at lead.

(It's bad for me. I'll no doubt end up poisoned)

@sethie. I don't think i've heard of Rorbacher, but if they're still strong after two years i'm impressed. Are they not super dirty?

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mike10k
you'll notice that i too am somewhat of a wallflower here.

lol.

---

let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2012 05:14AM by betamax.

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betamax

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Redlandsman87
*text*

@sethie. I don't think i've heard of Rorbacher, but if they're still strong after two years i'm impressed. Are they not super dirty?

They're engineered to last bascally forever. Titanium core instead of stainless or phosphor bronze.

They do get dirty, but rorbacher also makes a string polish that cleans and protects.

I was super skeptical when I first heard of the company, but I'm hooked.