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Changing Strings on an Acoustic Guitar

Take a look at the strings of your acoustic guitar. What sort of shape are they in? Are they discolored? Rusty? Are all six strings present and accounted for? If you answered no to any of these questions, or if it’s been several months since you put new strings on your guitar, it’s time for a string change. New strings make your guitar sound brighter, and generally make it easier to play.

How Often Should I Change My Strings?

Just like brake pads on a car, guitar strings wear out with use. Old guitar strings often behave badly - they’ll lose tuning more quickly, sound less “bright”, and give you problems with intonation. Old guitar strings also break, often during the most inopportune moment. Be sure to head into any live playing situation with new strings on your guitar, and several more sets of strings packed in your case, should you break a string during performance.

When I’m playing my acoustic guitar a lot, I’ll change the strings at least every two weeks (more than that if I’m using it for gigs). It’s probably not necessary for beginners to be quite as diligent with keeping new strings on their guitar, but changing strings a minimum of every couple months is a very good idea.

What Sort of Strings Should I Buy?

Everyone has an opinion on which strings are best, but let’s put aside the discussion of guitar string manufacturers for a moment, and discuss the type of strings needed for your guitar. If you own an acoustic guitar, you need “acoustic guitar strings”. If you own a classical guitar, you need “classical guitar strings” or “nylon strings”. An electric guitar needs “electric guitar strings”. And a bass guitar needs… wait for it… “bass guitar strings”.

You also need to consider the gauge (thickness) of strings you’d like. This is where personal preference comes into play, but for beginners, I recommend starting with “medium” gauge strings, and varying from that as you develop a personal preference. An oversimplified rule of thumb is thicker strings provide better tone, but are harder to play.

If you’re intimidated by the thought of buying a set of strings from a guitar store, don’t be. Simply march in, and say “I’d like a set of XXXXX (brand name - eg. D’Addario, Fender, Dean Markley) medium gauge acoustic guitar strings please.” Prices vary from store to store, but a set of acoustic strings shouldn’t set you back more than $8 (several brands, like the excellent Elixir strings, cost more, but the merits of these products belongs in another article).

Now, we’ll explore the process of changing the strings on your guitar…

What You’ll Need:

wire snips
pliers (maybe)
a cloth to wipe down guitar
guitar polish (optional)
a “string winder” (optional but recommended)

Begin by finding a flat surface on which to lay the guitar. A table works well, but the floor works in a pinch. Position yourself in front of the instrument, with the guitar’s sixth string closest to you. Completely slacken the sixth (lowest) string of the guitar, by turning the tuner. If you’re unsure of which direction to turn the tuner to slacken the string, pluck the string before you begin turning the tuner. The pitch of the note should get lower as you slacken the string.

Once the string has been completely slackened, uncoil it from the tuning peg at the head of the guitar. Next, remove the other end of the string from the bridge, by removing the sixth string bridge pin from the bridge of the guitar. Commonly, bridge pins will provide some resistance when trying to remove them. If this is the case, use a pair of pliers, and gently coax the bridge pin out of the bridge.

Discard the old string. Using your cloth, wipe down any areas of the guitar you aren’t able to reach with the sixth string on the instrument. If you have guitar polish, now is the time to use it.

It is important to note that some guitarists remove all strings from their guitar at once, and then replace all of them. I highly advise against this procedure. The six tuned strings of a guitar produce a great deal of tension on the neck of the instrument, which is a good thing. Removing all six strings at once drastically changes this tension, which many guitar necks don’t react well to. Sometimes, when all six strings are replaced, the strings will sit impossibly high off the fretboard. Additionally, if you have an electric guitar with a vibrato-style bridge, this procedure can create a whole other host of problems. Change your strings one at a time to avoid a variety of issues.

Uncoil your brand new string from it’s package. Note that there is a small ball on one side of the string. Slide the ball-end of the string down a couple of inches into hole in the bridge. Now, replace the bridge pin back into the hole, aligning the carved slot of the pin with the string.

As you replace the bridge pin, lightly pull on the string (being careful not to crimp the string with your fingers), until you feel the ball slip into place. If the pin pops back out while very lightly pulling on the string, repeat the process. This may take a bit of practice, but you’ll get a feel for it quickly.

Now, very gently pull the string up towards the headstock of the guitar, applying just enough force so that most of the visible slack disappears from the string. Pull the string about one generous inch past the tuning peg you will be feeding it through, and, using your fingers, crimp the string to a 90 degree angle, so the end of the string points in the direction of the tuning peg.

Without yet feeding the string through the tuning peg, turn the tuner until the hole in the tuning peg will allow the crimped end of the string will slide straight through it.

Slide the string through the tuning peg until you hit the crimp in the string. At this point, you may again crimp the end of the string protruding from the tuning peg, in order to help keep the string in place as you tighten it.

Now, we’ll begin tightening the string, to slowly bring it into tune. If you own a string winder, it will come in handy now. If not, consider purchasing one - they can be big time savers while changing strings, and they will only set you back a couple of dollars.

Begin slowly and evenly turning the tuning peg in a counter-clockwise manner. To help keep the excess slack in the string from acting erratically while rotating the tuner, use the hand not tuning the guitar to create artificial tension in the string. Gently press the sixth string against the fretboard with your index finger, using the rest of your fingers to lightly pull up on the string. Meanwhile, keep rotating the tuner with the other hand. Mastering this technique will save you a great deal of hassle when changing strings.

While one hand tightens the tuner, the other hand creates tension in the string. Use your index finger, as shown here, to hold the string in place, while using your other fingers to lightly pull up on the string, which helps to reduce the slack in the string near the tuner, making your string wind tighter and more neatly.

As you begin to rotate the tuner, watch and make sure the wrapped string passes over the end portion of the string protruding from the end of the tuning peg, on the first wrap-around.

NOTE: it is normal for the bridge pin to pop up slightly while tightening the string. Use your thumb to push it back down into position.

Immediately after the wrapped string has passed over the string end, guide the string so that on the next pass, it will wrap under the string end. All subsequent wrap-arounds will also wrap under the string end, each wrap going below the last. Avoid having strings physically lying on top of, or crossing over one another. Keep turning the tuner in a counter-clockwise manner, until the string has been brought approximately into tune. At this point, your tuning peg should look approximately like the one in (there may be additional string wraps on the peg if you left more slack in the string initially).

Although the string has now been brought into approximate tune, you’ll find that the tuning will be hard to maintain unless you take a moment to stretch out the string. Grab the string somewhere over the sound-hole, and gently pull upwards for several seconds. After bringing the string into approximate tune, gently pull up on the string for several seconds, and then re-tune the string. Continue until the string no longer goes out of tune.
Now check the tuning, and you’ll probably find that the string has gone somewhat out of tune. Re-tune the string, and repeat this process. Do this several times, until the string no longer goes out of tune (or until the tuning changes only slightly).

Finally, we’ll use a pair of wire cutters (or the equivalent) to trim the excess string. Simply take your cutters and snip off the end of the string protruding from the tuning peg. Try and leave about 1/4″ of string remaining. Congratulations, you’ve just changed the sixth string of your guitar. It may have taken you a while, but with practice, the process will go much more quickly.

If you got managed to change your sixth string, then the other five strings will only get easier, as you continue to gain experience. The only part of the process that will differ as you continue to change the remaining strings is the direction you’ll feed the strings through the tuning pegs for strings three, two, and one. As the tuners for these three strings are on the other side of the headstock, they’ll need to be fed through the tuning pegs in the opposite direction as strings six, five, and four.

Note that the direction the strings enter the tuning peg for strings three, two, and one is opposite than strings six, five, and four.

Because of this, the direction you’ll turn the tuners to tighten the string is also opposite. While holding the guitar in normal playing position, turning the tuners “up” (away from the body of the guitar) will tune the string higher for strings six, five, and four. In order to tune strings three, two, and one higher, you’ll need to turn the tuners for those strings “down” (towards the body of the guitar).

(NOTE: If you own a guitar that has all six tuners on the same side of the headstock, then you’ll ignore this and put all six strings on in the exact same manner.)

That’s it! You’ve learned the process of tuning an acoustic guitar. It may seem overly tricky at first, but after a few full string changes, you’ll have the procedure mastered. Best of luck!