2. Welcome, let’s get started!
The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate
and teach you how to change the strings on your guitar.
We will go over the different strings and their names,
the process of removing them, and finally putting your
new strings on.
The goals of this tutorial are for you to be able to:
Demonstrate the ability to properly remove and
replace the old strings.
Name the different strings/ know the order they go
in.
Explain the use/reason behind different gauge
strings.
3. Learning your guitar.
Before doing anything to your
instrument, it is very important to know
the anatomy and layout of it, that way
you will know what you are doing to
what. Here are some images to help you
with that!
4. Knowing your strings.
Since the main
purpose of this tutorial is to
demonstrate and teach you
how to properly replace your
guitars strings, it is very
important that you know which
string is which. To help you
out with that, here is a brief
video which will show you the
different strings.
(Hover over and click play!)
5. A little bit of help…
If you are having trouble remember the order and names
of the different strings, I have an acronym that you may find
useful!
E-eat
A-a
D-dead
G-gator
B-before
e-easter
Also remember:
• When holding the guitar in the playing position, the string
at the top of the guitar (E, thickest gauge string) is
technically the bottom string, and the bottom string (e,
thinnest gauge string) is the top string.
‘Bottom String’
‘Top String’
6. Removing the old strings.
Before you start removing your
strings it is very important to know which
direction to turn the tuning pegs to loosen
and tighten the strings, if you over tighten
them they can break on you (which can be
an unpleasant experience) . You can tell
which direction will loosen and tighten
the strings by which way the string coils
up. For example, for the guitar to the
right, I would turn the tuning peg to the
left to loosen and to the right to tighten
the string.
7. Removing the old strings, cont.
Removing your strings is actually a very simple process, to do so, follow
these simple steps:
1. Turn the tuning peg the direction to loosen the string.
2. Once you’ve turned it enough, the string will become very loose, at this point
you should be able to unwind the end and slip it out of the hole on the tuning
peg; by hand.
3. After you have the string free from the tuning peg, the string should then
come out through the back of the body (***if you are using an acoustic
guitar***, it will come out inside the sound hole, you will be required to pull
the pegs holding them into the bridge too).
8. Pop Quiz!
What is the correct order for the strings on your guitar?
eADGBE
DGEBAe
EADBGe
EADGBe
11. Putting the new strings on.
This is also a pretty simple task to do, you just follow the removing process, just
backwards.
1. Feed the appropriate string into the correct hole on the back of
the guitar (shown in the image to the right) and pull it all way
through.
2. Next feed the tip of the string through the hole in the tuning
peg, then start turning the tuning peg the correct direction to
tighten the string (be sure NOT put the string on going the
same way you loosened it, it can cause it to not wind correctly/fall out of tune easier).
*Before tightening the string, be sure to leave a little bit of slack, allowing the
string to wrap around the tuning peg at least 2-3 times.
3. Repeat those steps for the remaining strings, then tune the guitar.
12. Finishing up…
Congratulations on putting your new guitar strings on! The hard part is now
over, and you have have a couple simple, optional, steps left.
• *Recommended* After putting a fresh set of strings on, your guitar may fall
out of tune the first couple times you tune it (due to the strings stretching). You
may need to end up tuning your guitar 2-4 times (with at least 30 minutes
between each) for the guitar to be tuned correctly.
• After putting your new strings on, you will have long, sharp ends left on the
strings. To get rid of this annoyance, you can get wire cutters and trim them up
to about ¼’’- ½” from the tuning peg.
13. Thanks for using this tutorial, I hope you enjoyed it!
Shred on
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