How Often Should I Change Strings and What Kind Do I Get?

How long you go between string changes depends on a few factors.

Do your strings look rusty or black? Change them. Have they been on your guitar for more than a year? Change them. Does your guitar keep going out of tune? Change them. When in doubt, it's best to replace your strings. The nice thing about guitar strings is that they're fairly inexpensive, so there's really not much of an excuse for not changing them.

What kind of strings should you use?

Guitar strings are pretty confusing especially to a beginning guitar student. There are multiple thicknesses, brands, materials, and much more to consider. Again, since they're not very expensive if you find a set you don't like, get rid of them.


There are three basic types of strings, and many variations.

A classical guitar has nylon strings, an acoustic has steel strings, and an electric also has steel strings although they're usually made of different materials. Nylon strings have 3 or sometimes 4 wound strings which have an inner core of nylon or silk wrapped with very thin wire. The unwound strings are nylon and resemble fishing line.

A steel string, acoustic guitar has strings that are usually made of nickel, bronze or phosphor bronze. The bronze strings have a brighter sound than nickel and project a little better.

Electric guitars have strings that are usually nickel, and they're generally thinner (lighter) than acoustic guitar strings.

Those are the bare bones basics of guitar strings. In future blogs I'll go into more detail about ways for a beginning guitar student to choose the right strings.

Playing Under Pressure

Have you performed a piece well at home only to fall apart at your lesson?

I know how you feel! I had to take Class Piano when I went back to college, and even though I could play well at home, when I had to play for the teacher it seemed almost impossible. Since then, I've narrowed down the causes and the solutions.

• Confidence: The pressure mounts immediately when you lack confidence. Knowing your teacher or the person listening will be critical, you try extra hard to play well. Just another case of stage fright even though there's no stage. How to solve the problem? Record yourself, play for friends and family, go to open mic night, play in jam sessions. All of these are confidence builders. The more you do it, the more relaxed you become.
• Positive Thinking: I can't tell you how many times during the week my students preface their playing with telling me "I always mess this part up," "I'll probably screw this up even though I played it perfectly at home," and many similar comments. Two words: self-fulfilling prophecy. 
• Knowing, Understanding and Liking the Song: For a beginning guitar student it's difficult at the start because you probably don't have the skills to play like you want to. That doesn't mean you can't like the song and practice it until you know it well. I record assigned songs for my guitar students and tell them not to go too long without listening to it. They'll think they have it memorized only to be shocked when I point out that they've learned it wrong. 

So get out of your comfort zone, play in public if you can, or if you can't at least find someone to play for. Negative thinking only makes it worse, so make a game of learning the song. Parts that give you trouble need to be isolated and worked on. See how many times you can play that section without making a mistake. Play slowly so you don't make mistakes and that builds muscle memory as well as confidence. I always tell my students to please tell me if they don't like a song. There are usually many more available that teach the same concepts. Don't be too hard on yourself. Learning guitar takes time, so don't be discouraged if you think you need to move faster.

Five Questions to Ask Yourself About Taking Guitar Lessons

Self Assessment for Beginning Guitar Players

As I said in a previous post, the hardest students to teach are the ones who have no real idea of what they want to play on guitar or why they're even taking lessons. Saying "I just want to play guitar" is far too broad of a statement when you think about the versatility of a guitar. Answering the following questions will help you focus on what you have in mind.

1. What kind of music do you enjoy the most? Don't just answer "I like all kinds of music." We're looking for specific styles.
2. Who are your favorite guitar players? Name no less than 5. Don't worry about whether or not you think they're beyond your ability, just name names.
3. What is your main reason for choosing to learn guitar? Do you want to be in a band, play and sing for fun, jam with other people? Again, "I just want to play guitar" is not helpful.
4. If you could play like ONE GUITARIST who would it be? We all have favorites and I know picking just one is difficult, but it gets you thinking about what you really like. I have guitarists that I like but don't necessarily want to play like them. For instance, I like listening to jazz and classical music on the guitar, but it's not my main interest.
5. Name the songs you'd most like to play. Having a list of songs is a good step towards learning to play guitar. Seek out a teacher, present him or her with the list, and get advice about which songs to start with. Depending upon how long you've been playing, it may not be possible to play them immediately, but that's a great way to set goals. 

Remember, playing guitar should be fun, relaxing and enjoyable. 

Are You a "Google Beginning Guitar Student"

Save money, teach yourself, it's FREE!

We have lots of new students who sign up for private lessons after becoming frustrated with trying to teach themselves guitar. There are all kinds of sites available, from free beginning guitar lessons to a course that contains videos and CDs, to membership sites that promise to teach you something new each month. Are they all worthless? Absolutely not. However, the number one thing a beginning guitar student needs is guidance. A roadmap to help you negotiate the tricky steps of learning to play in some logical order. They teach you chords, note reading, how to read tab and much more, but if you're not at least a little experienced you can be completely overwhelmed.

What should you learn first?

Getting started on guitar can be confusing because there are lots of ways to get started. You can learn notes, tabs, chords, or some combination of those. Let's look at the different ways and see how each approach would be used.

Note reading

The traditional way of getting started on guitar is to get your trusty Mel Bay, Hal Leonard or Alfred's book one and just start working through it. While reading music for guitar isn't as prevalent as it used to be, it's still useful. We recommend that our beginning guitar students with no prior music experience at least get through book one as a foundation. Most of the method books have a logical way of getting started, so if you've never played before that's a good way to get a feel for playing guitar.

Chords

When you hear someone playing and singing, most of the time they're accompanying themselves with chords, so if you're thinking about that as your reason for taking up guitar, chords are a good place to start.

Tabs or tablature; the negatives

Tab is a number system that enables you to play songs without having to be able to read music. While it's got many advantages, there are drawbacks as well. The biggest problem with tab is that no one has standardized it, so there are many markings that mean the same thing. On the surface it seems easy, but like reading music, there's still a learning curve. The other main problem is that most tabs don't notate rhythm, so if you don't have a recording of the song you're not likely to be able to get the tab to sound like it.

Tabs or tablature; the positives

The biggest positive is that it's easier to read for a lot of people. When you read notes, the symbols represent sounds, so the higher or lower the note is in the staff indicates how it will sound. In tab, the lines represent the strings and the numbers are the frets, so it does away with having to identify the names of the notes. The other positive is that it takes some of the guessing out of playing. On the guitar you can play the same note in several locations on the fingerboard, so you could possibly figure out a solo by ear and be playing it in a different place than the original artist played it.

Take your choice

Now that you know the main ways to get started on beginning guitar, just do it! Teacher, videos, member sites, or a combination can all work if you're willing to put in the time and become a true student of the guitar.

What Kind of Guitar Pick Should I Use?

What's the difference in picks?

There are tons of choices when it comes to guitar picks. Different thicknesses, shapes, materials, themes, and who knows what else. I've seen picks made of metal, plastic, tortoise shell, wood, rock, and even had students use a piece of a milk carton or a coin! We'll cover the important differences, then it's up to you to decide. Since picks are extremely cheap, the best advice is to buy an assortment and see what you like.

Shapes and sizes.  Triangles, teardrops and ovals. Those are the basic shapes and there are variations. A lot of people use a triangle shaped pick with rounded corners except for the point. The main thing is to not get one that's real big or real small. After you've experimented with different picks you'll probably find one that you like more than the others.
Thicknesses.

There are almost as many thicknesses as there are shapes and sizes! They vary from simply light, medium and heavy, to thousandths of an inch. My personal favorites are Jim Dunlop nylon picks with a .073 or .088 thickness. They have little bumps on them to help you grip them which is great if you play outside when it's hot and humid. Plastic picks tend to slip and become more pliable in the hot weather. Again, try various picks to see which ones you like best. My advice to my students is to not get one that's real thin or real thick to start with. The thin ones tend to make a slapping sound when you play and the real thick ones can cause your wrist to hurt.
Pictures, cartoon characters, famous people.  There are lots of people who collect picks since they're inexpensive and it's fun to find something different. We've had Star Wars, The Simpsons, South Park, Elvis and many other souvenir type picks. A personal favorite that I own is from Chuck Berry. It has a picture of Chuck on one side and "Roll Over", in honor of his song Roll Over Beethoven on the other side.  Finger picks and thumb picks.  If you play banjo or use your fingers to play, you'll also need a couple or 3 finger picks and a thumb pick. Like their flat pick counterparts they also come in gauges and different materials. Again, they're relatively cheap so see what you like best. Most people use a plastic pick on the thumb since metal on the thicker, wound strings tends to sound raspy.    So take a trip to your local music store and let the experiment begin. If you're in doubt ask your guitar teacher or a guitar playing friend for advice, but be warned that you'll get lots of different opinions.

The 3 Elements of Music

Music is made up of Melody

The melody is simply the tune to the song. Sing Yankee Doodle, Happy Birthday, or Jingle Bells and you're singing the melody.

Harmony

When you have a chord, or 2 or more notes that sound good together, that's harmony. Think church choir or a vocal group like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary and that's the definition of harmony.

Rhythm

The tempo or pace of the song and/or keeping a beat. Rhythm seems to be the most puzzling of the 3 as far as being able to catch on to it, but it's not too hard if you break it down. The next few blog posts will deal with basic rhythms, time signatures, and keeping a beat.

Most beginning musicians and either some who have been playing for quite a while seem to be confused about rhythm. It's a subject that could use a lot more emphasis than it gets. I've had quite a few students with previous lesson experience be totally lost when it comes to keeping a relatively simple beat.

Staying the Course When Practicing

What are you working on?

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what practice is. When you get your guitar out for 15 or 20 minutes, noodle around with a few songs and licks and then put it away, does that count as practice? Or, do you have to be your own taskmaster and force yourself to have every minute of playing be goal oriented? I hope it's obvious that the answer lies somewhere in between. My beginning students seem to be at one extreme or the other on this, with no visible middle ground. Most guitar teachers will encourage you to do both, play for fun and play to improve. Maintaining your focus is hard sometimes, but is a necessary part of advancing. Set aside a specific amount of your practice time to work on something that's holding you back.

Self assessment.

I would say that most of us know what we need to work on and sometimes it appears to be too difficult. The best thing to do is to pick one small improvement you could make and stick to it. Does your timing need help? Get out the old metronome, you DO have a metronome don't you, and set it to a comfortable pace. Smooth out what needs work and then move on. Are you missing the same notes over and over? Slow down as much as you need to so that every note sounds good and is clean and clear. There's no sense in practicing mistakes and I see way too many students do just that. I've heard it all before, it doesn't sound good slow, I can't get it, I don't like this song, it's too hard. Muscle memory is what you're trying to learn, so if you're teaching your muscles the wrong notes, that's what they're going to play.

Play for fun too.

After you've put in your work, play for the sheer enjoyment of playing. I know when you're first starting out that's not easy, but there must be at least a couple songs you can play well and enjoy doing. End on a positive note, leaving yourself open for more improvement next time.