How To Change Guitar Strings

So Your Strings Stay In Tune 5 Easy Steps

How To Change Guitar Strings, Learning how to guitar change strings correctly are essential to having your guitar stay in tune. In this lesson, I will explain a simple and effective procedure on how to change guitar strings. If you are new to the guitar and are unsure about how to change guitar strings than you might appreciate the information below.

Asking sure that you have the proper amount of string wound onto the tuning posts and having it secured properly will save you many potential headaches.

Also having your guitar properly set up by an experienced Luther beforehand will help as well.

How to change guitar strings

Step 1

First, grab your guitar and place it on a workbench or table in front of you. Lay the neck to the left or right of you, whichever is comfortable. To make changing strings a lot faster, it’s handy to you have a string winder.

It’s a little tool that fits over the tuning keys and acts as a crank, to speed up the rotation of the tuning key, so you haven’t got to sit there forever using your fingers to turn them.

It’s also good practice when learning how to change guitar strings to change one string at a time, it helps keep tension on the neck, and keeps any floating bridge or tail piece parts in place. Unless perhaps you are going to clean the fretboard or do other maintenance that requires all the strings to be removed.

O.K., starting with the 6th string you are going to loosen the tension of the string and remove it from the tuning post. Then remove the string from the bridge and get rid of it. Into the trash! Be careful though, the ends of the strings are sharp. I made myself bleed more than once while changing strings.

Step 2

Now take the tuning key and turn it so the hole in the tuning post runs parallel with the nut on your guitar neck. Grab the new string, feed it through the tailpiece or bridge of the guitar, and pull it down to the tuning post.

Step 3

Next, place the string against the inside of the string post, then wrap it around for one full turn.

Keep tension on the string, by holding your thumb against the string and tuning post. Use your free hand to poke the string through the hole in the tuning post, coming from the outside, pulling it right through to the other side.

Doing this will add another turn above the first turn.

While still keeping the tension on the string, bend the loose end of the string at a right angle and downward from where it emerges through the hole in the tuning post.

Step 4

Next tune up the string.

This was covered in a previous lesson on How To Tune A Guitar if you need a refresher course.

Having a string winder can help save you time and frustration at this somewhat tedious part of the procedure.

Now cut the excess string off with a pair of wire cutters, and then repeat this procedure for the A and D strings.

The strings should neatly wound onto the post.

Step 5

Now we’ll move onto tuning the G, B, and high E strings. These strings are a little different from the above strings because the B and E strings not wound, so they require a few more turns around the tuning post.

Follow the same procedure as mentioned above, except you wind the strings around the post 3 or 4 times before poking the loose end of the string through the hole.

What is the tuning keys on both sides of the headstock?

If your tuning keys happen to be all on one side of the headstock then you will follow the same procedure for the rest of the strings. If your guitar has 3 tuning keys on each side of the headstock, like most acoustic guitars, you would follow the same procedure except you would be winding the strings on the opposite way.

Important Note!

After putting new strings on a guitar, they should stretch, to break the strings in. You may have to do this 2 or 3 times on each string before they finally stay in proper tune.

If you are looking for an awesome selection of acoustic or electric guitar strings, might I recommend checking out zZounds. They offer a wide selection of name-brand strings at guaranteed lowest prices.

TIP! Purchasing your favorite strings by the box or case will save you a lot of money over your guitar-playing career.

Moreover, there you have it! You’ve just learned how to change guitar strings properly and saved yourself a lot of future headaches.

Hope you have enjoyed this lesson on how to change guitar strings.