How To String A Guitar Electric

Knowing how to string an electric guitar is an essential skill for a musician. Strings, over time, tend to lose their sound and become dull sounding. Plus, if a guitar string breaks during a live performance, you’ll need to be able to replace it to keep going. So to keep your equipment sounding its best and fix any problem in a pinch, follow these steps for changing guitar strings.

You'll need the following:

• Guitar
• strings (depending on your preference)
• automatic tuner

Steps

1. Get replacement strings. There are several options and brands available for replacement electric guitar strings. Depending on what you want to play, the type of strings you get will differ. For instance, many metal musicians prefer heavy gauge strings, while many blues guitarists use lighter gauges. The best method, though, is to test a few different types out and decide what fits your guitar playing style best.
2. On your guitar, start by tuning down on the high e string. Keep the peg turning until the string is loose enough to remove completely. When the string is off, take the high e out of your new guitar string pack (most are labeled by color) and push it through the hole you pulled the original string out of.
3. Get the guitar string through the hole in its tuning peg. Leave about two inches of slack from the instrument’s fret board. Keeping the string tight with your fingers (while leaving the slack on the fret board end) turn the tuning peg to tighten the string. When it is in tune, you’ve finished replacing the guitar string.
4. Repeat the above process for each string. It is important to do each string individually instead of taking them all off at once in order to keep tension on the neck at least somewhat constant. Otherwise, your guitar’s intonation and tone could be thrown off.
5. When all the strings are replaced, tune your guitar back up. Replacing the strings almost always throws guitars out of tune. To ensure that your guitar sounds its best, use an automatic tuner or a tone producer as a point of reference. Then, pick up your guitar and enjoy its new and improved sound.