How To Replace Guitar Strings

If several months have gone by and your guitar has the same strings on it that it had when you brought it home from the store, then you need to know how to replace guitar strings. Putting new strings on your guitar isn't so hard. Electric and acoustic guitars are different when it comes to changing strings, but there are just a few things to keep in mind before knowing how to replace guitar strings becomes routine.

To replace guitar strings, you will need:

• A guitar
• A new string set
• A string winder
• Wire cutters

1. Purchase the correct type of strings. If you play an acoustic guitar, you need acoustic guitar strings. Electric guitar players, likewise, need strings made for the electric guitar. If you bought the wrong kind for whatever reason, just go back to the store and explain the problem. You should be able to exchange them for a different set.
2. Remove the old set of strings. Using your tuners, loosen your strings until they can be unwound from the tuning pegs. For acoustic guitars, remove the pegs on the bridge to get the strings off. If you play an electric guitar with a tremolo-style bridge, slide the strings out through the back of the guitar. If your bridge is a hard-rail bridge, however, just push the strings out through the bottom of the bridge. The bottom of the bridge will come off with the strings, and this is okay. Remember that most of knowing how to replace guitar strings depends on whether your guitar is electric or acoustic.
3. Install the low E-string in the bridge. Now you're ready to put on the new strings. Take out the low E-string because this will be the first string you put on the guitar. This should be the thickest string in your set. Acoustic guitar players will place the end of the string with the ball into the bridge and push the peg down on it so that it is held into the bridge securely. For electric guitars, put the string through the slot in the back of the guitar and through the appropriate hole in your tremolo-style bridge. If you have a hard-rail bridge, just put the string through the back of the bridge. Either way, you'll be doing the opposite of what you did to get the strings off the guitar. The hardest thing insofar as how to replace guitar strings for the first time is being sure each string is secure in the guitar's bridge.
4. Wind the string around the tuning peg. When you've got your E-string in the bridge, bring it up along the fretboard, through the guitar's nut and through the hole in the first tuning peg. Use your string winder to tighten the string, making sure you have left enough slack to make just two or three wraps. Now you're more than halfway done learning how to replace guitar strings.
5. Attach the remaining strings. With the remaining strings in your new set, repeat steps three and four. Clip the excess bits of string hanging from the tuners with your wire cutters. If you leave them there, they are a safety hazard because the sharp ends can pierce through skin.
6. Tune up. Now just tune up your guitar using whatever method you prefer. Since you know how to replace guitar strings now, be sure to put a new set on your guitar once a month. Assuming you're playing regularly, changing strings monthly ensures your sound will remain fresh and crisp each time you strum a chord.