New Guitar Strings

[jami2k60]

Helloo!
how are you guys?well i am playing guitar since 6 month when i bought my first guitar it was with steel strings it was very hard for me in the beginning to play guitar on steel strings bcoz i had to press each string very hard.then on of my friend told me to but nylon strings nylon strings were very good.bcoz i was able to play easily with nylon strings i used nylon strings 4 month then they broke up again i have bought steel strings but they are still very difficult for me to press and play chords bcoz i have to use my left hand with full power,bcoz they are very hard to press.is there any technique that i can make my strings soft for me or any technique so that i can reattach my strings and they become easy to play or i should by the nylon strings.
and tell me guys which is the best company for guitar, Strings.I bought "FENDER"strings.
thankx guys..
BYE

[delicious]

just keep playing, once you get some harder callises they wont hurt at all. you can also drop the string height to make it abit easier to press down.

[TheJeffinator]

It'll also help to get one of those two dollar stress balls and squeeze that thing a few thousand times a day. As for making strings soft, it can't really be done - all you can do is use a lighter gauge (11s, or even 10s if you can find them) and experiment with different kinds of strings - I've found that many people I know use silk & steel strings for playability reasons. We can't really say what strings are the 'best', unfortunately - it all comes down to taste. You'll have to find your favorites by using different strings until you're happy.

Rock On,
TheJeffinator

[LIChick]

Related to this topic...how do I know when I should replace my strings? My current strings have been on about a year. I play 20-30 min. perhaps 3x week.
I have no idea what gague etc they are. I just brought my guitar to the music store for restringing --it was included for 1 yr maintenance.

[perth]

Related to this topic...how do I know when I should replace my strings? My current strings have been on about a year. I play 20-30 min. perhaps 3x week.
I have no idea what gague etc they are. I just brought my guitar to the music store for restringing --it was included for 1 yr maintenance.

this is a personal matter. some people dont mind old strings and would rather save money, where other people cant play without brand new strings and would rather change them once every other week. gauge is the same way. the higher the gauge, the more difficult the strings will be to play, but the sound will be noticeably richer and fuller.

a couple tips: when you need a quick callous, apply a small ammount of super glue to your finger tips.

try as many different types and gauges of strings as you can just to get a feel for what you like and dont like.

do any kind of exercise you can when youre waiting in line, sitting at a stop light, watching a movie, etc. if you need to build strength, squeeze a ball. if you need to build finger control, practice your scale fingerings (or my favorite, touch your index and ring fingers to your leg, then alternate with your middle and pinky fingers).

[Carvinite]

(or my favorite, touch your index and ring fingers to your leg, then alternate with your middle and pinky fingers).

dude, thats a good/hard exercise! I like it!

[oRg]

I use DR "Tight Fit" .09 guage strings on my 7-string and Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on my 6-string. I go with lighter strings becuz I find them to be the easiest to play on. The only thing I hate about changing strings is having to re-stretch them out. I heard that boiling your strings helps but I haven't tried it and don't know whether there's truth to it or not.

[TheJeffinator]

I haven't seen much benefit from boiling, personally. I tried it (with DR tite-fits too, incidentally) and it didn't seem to have much benefit.

I end up going with 10s or 11s for the extra tension - I just can't play strings with a lot of slack on them - my legato gets sloppy and my picking goes to hell if I don't have enough string tension, so I don't use 9s. I only tried 8s once, on a YJM strat... razor-wire strings and the removal of wood between frets makes very unhappy hands.

Rock On,
The Jeffinator

[oRg]

Well, I heard boiling is supposed to help you stretch the strings out but like I said I don't know if there's any truth to it.

I'm thinking about getting a Tremol-No for my 6-string, hopefully this will help keep things better in tune.