How to String Your Guitar and Bass

How to string and how long is a piece of string? These questions have similar answers.

Essentially, there are plenty of opinions on how to properly string a particular instrument. Some are accepted wisdom and work just fine. Some are plain-wrong.

So, if you’ve learned a particular method that works for you, that’s cool. Keep doing it that way if you like. As long as it’s reliable, that’s what’s important.

What follows here, is my way of stringing the various instruments. There are a couple of tips that might make things better for you if you’re an old hand, and some great information if you’re just starting out.

Before we start, though, a word of caution:

USE GOOD STRINGS

Seriously.

There is plenty of choice when you’re deciding on what strings to use. My advice is to steer clear of the really cheap ones.

Now, let me expand a little on that: I’m definitely not telling you to ‘sort by price’ and then buy the most expensive (unless that’s the sort of thing you like). Mostly, I’m telling you to beware of the ones at the bottom of that list. It’s tempting to buy that set of guitar strings that costs a dollar but I’d advise against it.

You’ll likely know the names of the big brands and these tend to have gotten big by being pretty reliable. Spend a few more bucks on these and avoid the SUPER-BRAND MEGA-GOOD STRINGS brands.

‘Cos they’ll suck.

If you’re unsure, check with your friends. Oh, and do be careful checking on forums, though. It’s hard to sort the good advice from the people with ‘firmly held opinions’ (if someone posts that she’ll never use Brand-X on her bass and only uses strings made from unicorn sinew, weigh that against all of millions of strings that Brand-X sells—it’s possible her opinion might not apply to everyone else).

OK, Let's string

How to Restring your instrument…

How to string a classical, nylon-string guitar

How to string an acoustic guitar

How to string an electric guitar

How to string a bass guitar

How to string a Floyd Rose-style guitar

Remember: These pages will be added to as I can find the time.

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