Like most I have tried super heavy to very light. For years I thought they would break right away with light weight strings. I read about that Gibbons played with super lights, he said something like he didn’t want to fight his guitar. I used to play really hard. I found that as I went to lighter strings, I didn’t need to press as hard, I got faster. And I instinctively started playing lighter and lighter. Game changer. I even play 9’s for drop C. I like the floppy sound, I feel like it adds texture to my playing.
Just commented on one of your previous videos. You're really took a deep dive with this one. In a good way. Billy Gibbons uses very light strings. I think 7s. Even with my arthritis, i use 10s on my Strat... with fairly high action. My fingers make a cleaner bend...in my style of agessive playing. I play mostly clean with some dirt. Jimmy and BB, mixed different gauges of strings. Experimenting is half the fun! Slinkies are the best, IMO. Never cared for coated strings. In other words, if you play enough, a player uses what works for them. Nothing is written in stone. Thanks for you down to earth videos! I rarely comment on videos, but you seem to be real. Very rare these days.
While heavy string sets certainly have their place they don't necessarily mean your tone will be better or that you are a better guitarist because you are a manly man simply because you have the strength to play them. I played GHS 11-52 on 24 3/4 scale guitars for ages because I've always been a bit of a hard hitter and mostly a rhythm player attacking the strings with a lot of force (not necessarily always a good thing). Eventually I moved up to 12-52 and even finally experimented with 13-56 and a wound G because I wanted to understand what guitar players back in the "old days" used. In the last few years I have learned that before there were light gauge strings many of the great players had the secret of swapping a banjo string for the high E and moving all the others up a position and ditching the low E, essentially making a lighter gauge set than was available to purchase at the time even before Erine Ball started offering light sets in 1962. This info along with me starting to get interested in doing more than just slamming chords got me to realize that 11 gauge can be a bit difficult to do bends on even with 24 3/4 Gibson scale so as I was wanting to do more than just play rhythm I gave a try to the Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom 10-52 set and I'm finding it to be a very good compromise between being able to do fairly heavy handed rhythm playing and still being able to do bends fairly well. Use whatever strings work best for the kind of playing you are after and what personally works for you. Heavier gauges can make sense if you tend to have a very strong pick attack and don't bend much but lighter gauges can offer much easier bending and less overall effort in playing the instrument. Also keep in mind that the scale length of your guitar affects string tension so 10's on a 24 3/4 scale guitar will feel similar to 9's on a 25 1/2 scale instrument and shorter scales (24" and 22") will be even easier to play to the point that some might want to use heavier strings so they are not so floppy or to simply go with that scale and enjoy the extreme ease of playing. One last thing I will mention is downtuning. Obviously if you down tune your string tension is less making playing and bends much easier. Stevie Ray Vaughn who is known for playing very heavy strings but the story often is missing the fact that he played in E flat standard which obviously changes things quite a bit. Definitely give a shot to playing in E flat or even D standard as it can give you a different sound and outlook to your playing. I recently realized that many twelve string players tune to E flat or D and that has given me a whole new outlook on my crappy Mitchell twelve string that is so difficult to play in E standard but even on electric lower tuning can be very cool for all kinds of guitar styles of playing. Hope this mini novel of my journey informs or inspires somebody !!!!!
You should try some Rotosound 8's - I moved to them and haven't looked back. They're just really nice-playing strings (the 9's are also worth a look as well)
I switched to 8's in 2019 when I started having some RSI issues in my fretting hand. D'Addario NYXLs never break. Play hard, bend hard ... they don't break. Anyone who says 8's break is either just making it up out of ignorance, or they are using shit strings. I tried a lot of picks over the years and I think I tend to try to maintain a fairly consistent "right hand resistance" which means heavier strings = lighter picks, and lighter strings mean heavier picks. I've been using Chicken Picks 2.7 mm (and sometimes 2.1 mm) since I switched to 8's. It is a good combination for me.
Like the idiot guitarist I am, I went from playing Ernie Ball 9s (which were totally fine and probably the best strings in the world) to D'Addario hybrid sets on ALL my guitars 20 years ago (top light bottom heavy, 10 to 52!) just because that's what Dan Hawkins from the Darkness plays. I no longer have any feeling in the fingertips on my left hand; there is no skin, just callouses.
When I am in shape, 11's when I'm lazy, 10's I hit and dig in a lot , ham fisted. Yes a tube amp. I saw SRV live. I built my own clones of all the od-distortion pedals. Now if I was 30 years younger.
I have like like played many. everything from resonators 0'16 to 0.58's, to 0.9's. 0.10's now seem to be the sweet spot.
Like most I have tried super heavy to very light. For years I thought they would break right away with light weight strings. I read about that Gibbons played with super lights, he said something like he didn’t want to fight his guitar. I used to play really hard. I found that as I went to lighter strings, I didn’t need to press as hard, I got faster. And I instinctively started playing lighter and lighter. Game changer. I even play 9’s for drop C. I like the floppy sound, I feel like it adds texture to my playing.
Just commented on one of your previous videos.
You're really took a deep dive with this one. In a good way. Billy Gibbons uses very light strings. I think 7s. Even with my arthritis, i use 10s on my Strat... with fairly high action. My fingers make a cleaner bend...in my style of agessive playing. I play mostly clean with some dirt. Jimmy and BB, mixed different gauges of strings. Experimenting is half the fun! Slinkies are the best, IMO. Never cared for coated strings. In other words, if you play enough, a player uses what works for them. Nothing is written in stone.
Thanks for you down to earth videos! I rarely comment on videos, but you seem to be real. Very rare these days.
Wow. Thank you so much for the kind words. I do my best just to tell it how I see it - not in a mean way thto. Thanks for the comments
I played 8s for many years, but I hit the guitar so stupendously heavily that, when I eventually tried 10s a few years ago I never went back.
I think I'm too lazy to hit anything hard these days lol
I was the exact opposite, except Eb and 11’s to 9’s.
Stringjoy pure nickel 10-46
While heavy string sets certainly have their place they don't necessarily mean your tone will be better or that you are a better guitarist because you are a manly man simply because you have the strength to play them.
I played GHS 11-52 on 24 3/4 scale guitars for ages because I've always been a bit of a hard hitter and mostly a rhythm player attacking the strings with a lot of force (not necessarily always a good thing).
Eventually I moved up to 12-52 and even finally experimented with 13-56 and a wound G because I wanted to understand what guitar players back in the "old days" used.
In the last few years I have learned that before there were light gauge strings many of the great players had the secret of swapping a banjo string for the high E and moving all the others up a position and ditching the low E, essentially making a lighter gauge set than was available to purchase at the time even before Erine Ball started offering light sets in 1962.
This info along with me starting to get interested in doing more than just slamming chords got me to realize that 11 gauge can be a bit difficult to do bends on even with 24 3/4 Gibson scale so as I was wanting to do more than just play rhythm I gave a try to the Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom 10-52 set and I'm finding it to be a very good compromise between being able to do fairly heavy handed rhythm playing and still being able to do bends fairly well.
Use whatever strings work best for the kind of playing you are after and what personally works for you. Heavier gauges can make sense if you tend to have a very strong pick attack and don't bend much but lighter gauges can offer much easier bending and less overall effort in playing the instrument. Also keep in mind that the scale length of your guitar affects string tension so 10's on a 24 3/4 scale guitar will feel similar to 9's on a 25 1/2 scale instrument and shorter scales (24" and 22") will be even easier to play to the point that some might want to use heavier strings so they are not so floppy or to simply go with that scale and enjoy the extreme ease of playing.
One last thing I will mention is downtuning. Obviously if you down tune your string tension is less making playing and bends much easier. Stevie Ray Vaughn who is known for playing very heavy strings but the story often is missing the fact that he played in E flat standard which obviously changes things quite a bit. Definitely give a shot to playing in E flat or even D standard as it can give you a different sound and outlook to your playing. I recently realized that many twelve string players tune to E flat or D and that has given me a whole new outlook on my crappy Mitchell twelve string that is so difficult to play in E standard but even on electric lower tuning can be very cool for all kinds of guitar styles of playing. Hope this mini novel of my journey informs or inspires somebody !!!!!
I love obsessing over strings. Everything about them matters for me
I know that 8s aren't for everyone but I thought I'd share my thoughts. I just obsess over anything guitar lol
Thanks for watching. Would love to know everyone's thoughts on this......
Thought I would play 9s forever but recently switched to 8s and I like it better
I'm raging I didn't change sooner. Thanks for the comment man
You should try some Rotosound 8's - I moved to them and haven't looked back. They're just really nice-playing strings (the 9's are also worth a look as well)
100% I will try them out. Thanks for the comment
I switched to 8's in 2019 when I started having some RSI issues in my fretting hand. D'Addario NYXLs never break. Play hard, bend hard ... they don't break. Anyone who says 8's break is either just making it up out of ignorance, or they are using shit strings. I tried a lot of picks over the years and I think I tend to try to maintain a fairly consistent "right hand resistance" which means heavier strings = lighter picks, and lighter strings mean heavier picks. I've been using Chicken Picks 2.7 mm (and sometimes 2.1 mm) since I switched to 8's. It is a good combination for me.
Like the idiot guitarist I am, I went from playing Ernie Ball 9s (which were totally fine and probably the best strings in the world) to D'Addario hybrid sets on ALL my guitars 20 years ago (top light bottom heavy, 10 to 52!) just because that's what Dan Hawkins from the Darkness plays. I no longer have any feeling in the fingertips on my left hand; there is no skin, just callouses.
9s for MY Fender 10s For My Gibson and 12s on my acoustics
When I am in shape, 11's when I'm lazy, 10's I hit and dig in a lot , ham fisted. Yes a tube amp. I saw SRV live. I built my own clones of all the od-distortion pedals. Now if I was 30 years younger.
I'm always lazy these days
Is there much difference between 10-## vs 10-##, i want the deepest sound i can get out of 10's?
I wouldn't have thought so
yea gunna give that ago,,,like you the old fingers have had their share,,,been on 9-42s for years,,,anything to make life easier.
You might be surprised