Chords for Do String Gauges Really Matter?...
Tempo:
84.425 bpm
Chords used:
E
Eb
Gb
A
C
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
People be asking about the string gauges.
Okay, fine.
We'll do it.
We'll finally talk about string gauges
What's up guys?
Andrew Boehner here and on my channel one of the biggest memes and most asked questions
Is about string gauges even if the video I post has nothing to do with strings at all
It is by far the thing that I get asked the most and also the question that I try to avoid
Answering the [G] most for a multitude of reasons which we'll go into in this video
[Gb] But it's not just my channel if you look at any guitar based
Facebook group instagram post anything the questions and the comments are always what string gauge do you use?
What string gauge is the best for blah blah blah in tuning?
It just never ends and I kind of understand it because
There are a lot of weird things about string gauges that we're going to discuss in this video
So the objective of [N] this video is not for me to tell you what string gauges will be perfect for you
Because as we are about to learn it is very subjective
But my goal with this video is to teach you the things that you need to know
So you can decide what string gauges are best for you because it's different for everyone now with that being said
I do know that some of you guys don't want to know any of this information and you do just want to be told
What to buy and how to do it?
So
Again, this might not be the perfect solution for you as I will explain
But if you want to be lazy and don't want to learn any of this stuff and just want to go buy strings
The link is in the description or the pinned comment to all of the string gauges that I use
As well as links to where to buy them and I also make a little commission from that
So that's up to you.
I'm not pushing that this isn't a sponsored video or anything like that
So before we get into some of the science if you want to call it that behind why string gauges matter or don't matter
First we're going to talk about some of the reasons why it's so confusing and why there are is not just one correct answer
For everyone so I have two examples to show you guys of situations that show both ends of the spectrum
So on the one hand we have the guitarist.
Jason Richardson
Amazing player, but he uses something like a 54 all the way down to drop f sharp
Which sounds crazy to me because it's super thin but it clearly works for him
And this is literally him talking about it right now
This guitar is in c sharp standard with a low f sharp is what is what this low string is
I have 11 to 58 on here.
Everyone always asks about like the lighter gauges and what like why you don't use like a
159 million gauge string for the bottom one my opinion on that is the lighter you can go
The brighter that string is going to be and when you're dealing with the low notes like that
Like if you have a massive string kind of rounds and deadens the sound out
And then on the other hand of things you have a guitarist like lee amalia from bring me the horizon
And he uses an 80 gauge for drop c which is super super thick and in my opinion again
I would never do that
But here he is saying that so as you can see from the beginning
This is the first point of what i'm talking about just because something is correct doesn't mean it's right for you
I personally would never use a 54 for drop f sharp and I would never use an 80 for drop c
But these two players both clearly make it work to great success
So it kind of doesn't really matter what I think because it works for them
And that's a recurring theme you'll see during this video
So really my point with this section before we go into the details of what you can look out for to make an informed decision
My point is it's up to personal preference different things work for different people.
Keep that in mind while you watch
So now that we have that out of the way
We're going to be talking about a few things you can look out for
Which will help inform your decision on what string gauges will work best for you
So we have three definitions that are very important to know
And i'm also going to explain why they matter in terms of string gauges
So the first thing is tension tension is the amount of force that the string has when it's tuned up
So basically on average your low e string is going to have about 18 to 20 pounds of tension
Using like a standard string gauge that you would typically find in e standard
The next thing that you guys need to know is something called scale length
The scale length is the length of the guitar neck more specifically
It's the length of points of contact for the string from the bridge to the nut
Again with this the scale length definitely matters because there are things like extended scale guitars
Which basically means how long the guitar's neck is to make it simple
So obviously, you know a bass guitar is way longer than a standard six string
And an eight string on average is longer than a six string and that matters a lot because again
As you increase the points of distance between you know, the two points of the string it increases the tension
Which is what we just talked about
So therefore if your scale length is longer you need a thinner string to achieve the same tension
And the final thing to consider is intonation.
This basically means when you play an open [Eb] note versus the 12th fret
Both of those two points are in tune.
This is very important [E] because if your open string is in tune
It doesn't necessarily mean your 12th fret is going to be in tune
And if your string is too thin [Eb] or too thick you might actually not be able to make it perfectly intonated
And again for some people that doesn't matter because if you literally never play above the 12th fret and you like really thin strings
Then I guess it doesn't really matter if it's intonated because you're never going to be using those frets anyways
but on average you want something that is
Intonatable, I feel like that's not the right word
But you know what I mean
So those are the three big definitions that you guys need to know and how they correlate to string gauges and why they matter
So again, that is tension scale length and intonation
And the fourth one is entirely subjective and there's not really a way for me to talk about it in a way that makes sense
But that of course is the feel so if you don't like playing thick strings because you don't like how it feels
That's entirely up to you and not really a quantifiable thing that I can explain
So now that you have all this information, what can you actually do with it?
Well, there are a few companies out there who make something called a string tension calculator
What this basically means is you input your scale length your desired tuning and the string gauge that you want to use
[E] This is super useful
If you for example are used to playing and let's say you're used to playing an E standard
So you can plug in your string gauges in E standard on a string tension calculator and it'll show you
The amount of tension that each of those gauges have so if you want to keep the tension exactly the same but tuned differently
All you really have to do is adjust the string gauges and the notes and then as long as that tension
Is the same then in theory when you get that new set of strings the guitar should feel the same but just be lower tuned
So that's like probably the easiest way to think of this.
But again, it's up to feel a little bit
Um, sometimes that doesn't quite work
But this is a really good way to start experimenting with different string gauges and [A] making sure that you don't waste your money [E] buying
Super thick or super thin strings and being disappointed when you get them another important thing
Which I also kind of touched on already is assessing your own play style
So again, this mostly comes down to how hard you fret the notes and how hard you pick
So if you press really hard on the string
It's actually going to go out of tune a little easier and same with if you pick really hard
It's also going to go out of tune a little easier because you're basically forcing the string
Out of position and then it springs back into place to show you an example of this
I'm going to show a video clip [B] of my guitar tuner while i'm hitting a low open note
And you can literally see what I like to call the pitch drift
Meaning when I pick the pitch goes up and then kind of snaps back into place over time [Gb] and that looks like this
[A]
[Ab] but yeah, that's pretty much it for this video I was kind of dreading doing this one because
Again, this is just such a widely debated topic in the guitar industry
And again, it is such a meme on my channel that I almost like didn't want to do it
Just out of spite for the amount of people that ask about it
But at the end of the day, I hope this video [Eb] would help someone out there who genuinely just doesn't know about string [D] gauges again
I always go back to that jason richardson example, man
Like I would never ever ever use the string gauges [E] that he does but
He's one of the best players in the world and it clearly works for him.
So who am I to say he's wrong, right?
But yeah with that being said this is a little a bit of a ranty video
But I really do hope that some useful information was given to you guys
Hopefully this helps you make decisions on what string gauges you might [C] want to try
again
It's up to you what brand and what string gauges [E] you use
But if you want to use the same ones that I use I have clearly listed them
In that [C] pinned comment or in the description
You don't have to use them.
Those are just a guideline
Maybe [N] you can take those and adjust them accordingly to how you think you would like them
Regardless it serves as a guideline that will hopefully help you
So that's pretty much all I have to say for this video
I want to give a big thank you to all my patreon members whose names are on the screen at this point in time
Normally, I give you guys audio downloads guitar tabs and stems in this video
Of course, that's not applicable
But if that sounds interesting to you on pretty much everything else I make you can get that all over on patreon
As well as a shout out on the screen.
Thank you guys so much for watching again
I really hope this was informative and hopefully helpful in some way.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments
Okay, fine.
We'll do it.
We'll finally talk about string gauges
What's up guys?
Andrew Boehner here and on my channel one of the biggest memes and most asked questions
Is about string gauges even if the video I post has nothing to do with strings at all
It is by far the thing that I get asked the most and also the question that I try to avoid
Answering the [G] most for a multitude of reasons which we'll go into in this video
[Gb] But it's not just my channel if you look at any guitar based
Facebook group instagram post anything the questions and the comments are always what string gauge do you use?
What string gauge is the best for blah blah blah in tuning?
It just never ends and I kind of understand it because
There are a lot of weird things about string gauges that we're going to discuss in this video
So the objective of [N] this video is not for me to tell you what string gauges will be perfect for you
Because as we are about to learn it is very subjective
But my goal with this video is to teach you the things that you need to know
So you can decide what string gauges are best for you because it's different for everyone now with that being said
I do know that some of you guys don't want to know any of this information and you do just want to be told
What to buy and how to do it?
So
Again, this might not be the perfect solution for you as I will explain
But if you want to be lazy and don't want to learn any of this stuff and just want to go buy strings
The link is in the description or the pinned comment to all of the string gauges that I use
As well as links to where to buy them and I also make a little commission from that
So that's up to you.
I'm not pushing that this isn't a sponsored video or anything like that
So before we get into some of the science if you want to call it that behind why string gauges matter or don't matter
First we're going to talk about some of the reasons why it's so confusing and why there are is not just one correct answer
For everyone so I have two examples to show you guys of situations that show both ends of the spectrum
So on the one hand we have the guitarist.
Jason Richardson
Amazing player, but he uses something like a 54 all the way down to drop f sharp
Which sounds crazy to me because it's super thin but it clearly works for him
And this is literally him talking about it right now
This guitar is in c sharp standard with a low f sharp is what is what this low string is
I have 11 to 58 on here.
Everyone always asks about like the lighter gauges and what like why you don't use like a
159 million gauge string for the bottom one my opinion on that is the lighter you can go
The brighter that string is going to be and when you're dealing with the low notes like that
Like if you have a massive string kind of rounds and deadens the sound out
And then on the other hand of things you have a guitarist like lee amalia from bring me the horizon
And he uses an 80 gauge for drop c which is super super thick and in my opinion again
I would never do that
But here he is saying that so as you can see from the beginning
This is the first point of what i'm talking about just because something is correct doesn't mean it's right for you
I personally would never use a 54 for drop f sharp and I would never use an 80 for drop c
But these two players both clearly make it work to great success
So it kind of doesn't really matter what I think because it works for them
And that's a recurring theme you'll see during this video
So really my point with this section before we go into the details of what you can look out for to make an informed decision
My point is it's up to personal preference different things work for different people.
Keep that in mind while you watch
So now that we have that out of the way
We're going to be talking about a few things you can look out for
Which will help inform your decision on what string gauges will work best for you
So we have three definitions that are very important to know
And i'm also going to explain why they matter in terms of string gauges
So the first thing is tension tension is the amount of force that the string has when it's tuned up
So basically on average your low e string is going to have about 18 to 20 pounds of tension
Using like a standard string gauge that you would typically find in e standard
The next thing that you guys need to know is something called scale length
The scale length is the length of the guitar neck more specifically
It's the length of points of contact for the string from the bridge to the nut
Again with this the scale length definitely matters because there are things like extended scale guitars
Which basically means how long the guitar's neck is to make it simple
So obviously, you know a bass guitar is way longer than a standard six string
And an eight string on average is longer than a six string and that matters a lot because again
As you increase the points of distance between you know, the two points of the string it increases the tension
Which is what we just talked about
So therefore if your scale length is longer you need a thinner string to achieve the same tension
And the final thing to consider is intonation.
This basically means when you play an open [Eb] note versus the 12th fret
Both of those two points are in tune.
This is very important [E] because if your open string is in tune
It doesn't necessarily mean your 12th fret is going to be in tune
And if your string is too thin [Eb] or too thick you might actually not be able to make it perfectly intonated
And again for some people that doesn't matter because if you literally never play above the 12th fret and you like really thin strings
Then I guess it doesn't really matter if it's intonated because you're never going to be using those frets anyways
but on average you want something that is
Intonatable, I feel like that's not the right word
But you know what I mean
So those are the three big definitions that you guys need to know and how they correlate to string gauges and why they matter
So again, that is tension scale length and intonation
And the fourth one is entirely subjective and there's not really a way for me to talk about it in a way that makes sense
But that of course is the feel so if you don't like playing thick strings because you don't like how it feels
That's entirely up to you and not really a quantifiable thing that I can explain
So now that you have all this information, what can you actually do with it?
Well, there are a few companies out there who make something called a string tension calculator
What this basically means is you input your scale length your desired tuning and the string gauge that you want to use
[E] This is super useful
If you for example are used to playing and let's say you're used to playing an E standard
So you can plug in your string gauges in E standard on a string tension calculator and it'll show you
The amount of tension that each of those gauges have so if you want to keep the tension exactly the same but tuned differently
All you really have to do is adjust the string gauges and the notes and then as long as that tension
Is the same then in theory when you get that new set of strings the guitar should feel the same but just be lower tuned
So that's like probably the easiest way to think of this.
But again, it's up to feel a little bit
Um, sometimes that doesn't quite work
But this is a really good way to start experimenting with different string gauges and [A] making sure that you don't waste your money [E] buying
Super thick or super thin strings and being disappointed when you get them another important thing
Which I also kind of touched on already is assessing your own play style
So again, this mostly comes down to how hard you fret the notes and how hard you pick
So if you press really hard on the string
It's actually going to go out of tune a little easier and same with if you pick really hard
It's also going to go out of tune a little easier because you're basically forcing the string
Out of position and then it springs back into place to show you an example of this
I'm going to show a video clip [B] of my guitar tuner while i'm hitting a low open note
And you can literally see what I like to call the pitch drift
Meaning when I pick the pitch goes up and then kind of snaps back into place over time [Gb] and that looks like this
[A]
[Ab] but yeah, that's pretty much it for this video I was kind of dreading doing this one because
Again, this is just such a widely debated topic in the guitar industry
And again, it is such a meme on my channel that I almost like didn't want to do it
Just out of spite for the amount of people that ask about it
But at the end of the day, I hope this video [Eb] would help someone out there who genuinely just doesn't know about string [D] gauges again
I always go back to that jason richardson example, man
Like I would never ever ever use the string gauges [E] that he does but
He's one of the best players in the world and it clearly works for him.
So who am I to say he's wrong, right?
But yeah with that being said this is a little a bit of a ranty video
But I really do hope that some useful information was given to you guys
Hopefully this helps you make decisions on what string gauges you might [C] want to try
again
It's up to you what brand and what string gauges [E] you use
But if you want to use the same ones that I use I have clearly listed them
In that [C] pinned comment or in the description
You don't have to use them.
Those are just a guideline
Maybe [N] you can take those and adjust them accordingly to how you think you would like them
Regardless it serves as a guideline that will hopefully help you
So that's pretty much all I have to say for this video
I want to give a big thank you to all my patreon members whose names are on the screen at this point in time
Normally, I give you guys audio downloads guitar tabs and stems in this video
Of course, that's not applicable
But if that sounds interesting to you on pretty much everything else I make you can get that all over on patreon
As well as a shout out on the screen.
Thank you guys so much for watching again
I really hope this was informative and hopefully helpful in some way.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments
Key:
E
Eb
Gb
A
C
E
Eb
Gb
People be asking about the string gauges.
Okay, fine.
We'll do it.
We'll finally talk about string gauges
What's up guys?
Andrew Boehner here and on my channel one of the biggest memes and most asked questions
Is about string gauges even if the video I post has nothing to do with strings at all
It is by far the thing that I get asked the most and also the question that I try to avoid
Answering the [G] most for a multitude of reasons which we'll go into in this video
[Gb] But it's not just my channel if you look at any guitar based
Facebook group instagram post anything the questions and the comments are always what string gauge do you use?
What string gauge is the best for blah blah blah in tuning?
It just never ends and I kind of understand it because
There are a lot of weird things about string gauges that we're going to discuss in this video
So the objective of [N] this video is not for me to tell you what string gauges will be perfect for you
Because as we are about to learn it is very subjective
But my goal with this video is to teach you the things that you need to know
So you can decide what string gauges are best for you because it's different for everyone now with that being said
I do know that some of you guys don't want to know any of this information and you do just want to be told
What to buy and how to do it?
So
Again, this might not be the perfect solution for you as I will explain
But if you want to be lazy and don't want to learn any of this stuff and just want to go buy strings
The link is in the description or the pinned comment to all of the string gauges that I use
As well as links to where to buy them and I also make a little commission from that
So that's up to you.
I'm not pushing that this isn't a sponsored video or anything like that
So before we get into some of the science if you want to call it that behind why string gauges matter or don't matter
First we're going to talk about some of the reasons why it's so confusing and why there are is not just one correct answer
For everyone so I have two examples to show you guys of situations that show both ends of the spectrum
So on the one hand we have the guitarist.
Jason Richardson
Amazing player, but he uses something like a 54 all the way down to drop f sharp
Which sounds crazy to me because it's super thin but it clearly works for him
And this is literally him talking about it right now
This guitar is in c sharp standard with a low f sharp is what is what this low string is
I have 11 to 58 on here.
Everyone always asks about like the lighter gauges and what like why you don't use like a
159 million gauge string for the bottom one my opinion on that is the lighter you can go
The brighter that string is going to be and when you're dealing with the low notes like that
Like if you have a massive string kind of rounds and deadens the sound out
And then on the other hand of things you have a guitarist like lee amalia from bring me the horizon
And he uses an 80 gauge for drop c which is super super thick and in my opinion again
I would never do that
But here he is saying that so as you can see from the beginning
This is the first point of what i'm talking about just because something is correct doesn't mean it's right for you
I personally would never use a 54 for drop f sharp and I would never use an 80 for drop c
But these two players both clearly make it work to great success
So it kind of doesn't really matter what I think because it works for them
And that's a recurring theme you'll see during this video
So really my point with this section before we go into the details of what you can look out for to make an informed decision
My point is it's up to personal preference different things work for different people.
Keep that in mind while you watch
So now that we have that out of the way
We're going to be talking about a few things you can look out for
Which will help inform your decision on what string gauges will work best for you
So we have three definitions that are very important to know
And i'm also going to explain why they matter in terms of string gauges
So the first thing is tension tension is the amount of force that the string has when it's tuned up
So basically on average your low e string is going to have about 18 to 20 pounds of tension
Using like a standard string gauge that you would typically find in e standard
The next thing that you guys need to know is something called scale length
The scale length is the length of the guitar neck more specifically
It's the length of points of contact for the string from the bridge to the nut
Again with this the scale length definitely matters because there are things like extended scale guitars
Which basically means how long the guitar's neck is to make it simple
So obviously, you know a bass guitar is way longer than a standard six string
And an eight string on average is longer than a six string and that matters a lot because again
As you increase the points of distance between you know, the two points of the string it increases the tension
Which is what we just talked about
So therefore if your scale length is longer you need a thinner string to achieve the same tension
And the final thing to consider is intonation.
This basically means when you play an open [Eb] note versus the 12th fret
Both of those two points are in tune.
This is very important [E] because if your open string is in tune
It doesn't necessarily mean your 12th fret is going to be in tune
And if your string is too thin [Eb] or too thick you might actually not be able to make it perfectly intonated
And again for some people that doesn't matter because if you literally never play above the 12th fret and you like really thin strings
Then I guess it doesn't really matter if it's intonated because you're never going to be using those frets anyways
but on average you want something that is
Intonatable, I feel like that's not the right word
But you know what I mean
So those are the three big definitions that you guys need to know and how they correlate to string gauges and why they matter
So again, that is tension scale length and intonation
And the fourth one is entirely subjective and there's not really a way for me to talk about it in a way that makes sense
But that of course is the feel so if you don't like playing thick strings because you don't like how it feels
That's entirely up to you and not really a quantifiable thing that I can explain
So now that you have all this information, what can you actually do with it?
Well, there are a few companies out there who make something called a string tension calculator
What this basically means is you input your scale length your desired tuning and the string gauge that you want to use
[E] This is super useful
If you for example are used to playing and let's say you're used to playing an E standard
So you can plug in your string gauges in E standard on a string tension calculator and it'll show you
The amount of tension that each of those gauges have so if you want to keep the tension exactly the same but tuned differently
All you really have to do is adjust the string gauges and the notes and then as long as that tension
Is the same then in theory when you get that new set of strings the guitar should feel the same but just be lower tuned
So that's like probably the easiest way to think of this.
But again, it's up to feel a little bit
Um, sometimes that doesn't quite work
But this is a really good way to start experimenting with different string gauges and [A] making sure that you don't waste your money [E] buying
Super thick or super thin strings and being disappointed when you get them another important thing
Which I also kind of touched on already is assessing your own play style
So again, this mostly comes down to how hard you fret the notes and how hard you pick
So if you press really hard on the string
It's actually going to go out of tune a little easier and same with if you pick really hard
It's also going to go out of tune a little easier because you're basically forcing the string
Out of position and then it springs back into place to show you an example of this
I'm going to show a video clip [B] of my guitar tuner while i'm hitting a low open note
And you can literally see what I like to call the pitch drift
Meaning when I pick the pitch goes up and then kind of snaps back into place over time [Gb] and that looks like this
[A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] but yeah, that's pretty much it for this video I was kind of dreading doing this one because
Again, this is just such a widely debated topic in the guitar industry
And again, it is such a meme on my channel that I almost like didn't want to do it
Just out of spite for the amount of people that ask about it
But at the end of the day, I hope this video [Eb] would help someone out there who genuinely just doesn't know about string [D] gauges again
I always go back to that jason richardson example, man
Like I would never ever ever use the string gauges [E] that he does but
He's one of the best players in the world and it clearly works for him.
So who am I to say he's wrong, right?
But yeah with that being said this is a little a bit of a ranty video
But I really do hope that some useful information was given to you guys
Hopefully this helps you make decisions on what string gauges you might [C] want to try
again
It's up to you what brand and what string gauges [E] you use
But if you want to use the same ones that I use I have clearly listed them
In that [C] pinned comment or in the description
You don't have to use them.
Those are just a guideline
Maybe [N] you can take those and adjust them accordingly to how you think you would like them
Regardless it serves as a guideline that will hopefully help you
So that's pretty much all I have to say for this video
I want to give a big thank you to all my patreon members whose names are on the screen at this point in time
Normally, I give you guys audio downloads guitar tabs and stems in this video
Of course, that's not applicable
But if that sounds interesting to you on pretty much everything else I make you can get that all over on patreon
As well as a shout out on the screen.
Thank you guys so much for watching again
I really hope this was informative and hopefully helpful in some way.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments
Okay, fine.
We'll do it.
We'll finally talk about string gauges
What's up guys?
Andrew Boehner here and on my channel one of the biggest memes and most asked questions
Is about string gauges even if the video I post has nothing to do with strings at all
It is by far the thing that I get asked the most and also the question that I try to avoid
Answering the [G] most for a multitude of reasons which we'll go into in this video
[Gb] But it's not just my channel if you look at any guitar based
Facebook group instagram post anything the questions and the comments are always what string gauge do you use?
What string gauge is the best for blah blah blah in tuning?
It just never ends and I kind of understand it because
There are a lot of weird things about string gauges that we're going to discuss in this video
So the objective of [N] this video is not for me to tell you what string gauges will be perfect for you
Because as we are about to learn it is very subjective
But my goal with this video is to teach you the things that you need to know
So you can decide what string gauges are best for you because it's different for everyone now with that being said
I do know that some of you guys don't want to know any of this information and you do just want to be told
What to buy and how to do it?
So
Again, this might not be the perfect solution for you as I will explain
But if you want to be lazy and don't want to learn any of this stuff and just want to go buy strings
The link is in the description or the pinned comment to all of the string gauges that I use
As well as links to where to buy them and I also make a little commission from that
So that's up to you.
I'm not pushing that this isn't a sponsored video or anything like that
So before we get into some of the science if you want to call it that behind why string gauges matter or don't matter
First we're going to talk about some of the reasons why it's so confusing and why there are is not just one correct answer
For everyone so I have two examples to show you guys of situations that show both ends of the spectrum
So on the one hand we have the guitarist.
Jason Richardson
Amazing player, but he uses something like a 54 all the way down to drop f sharp
Which sounds crazy to me because it's super thin but it clearly works for him
And this is literally him talking about it right now
This guitar is in c sharp standard with a low f sharp is what is what this low string is
I have 11 to 58 on here.
Everyone always asks about like the lighter gauges and what like why you don't use like a
159 million gauge string for the bottom one my opinion on that is the lighter you can go
The brighter that string is going to be and when you're dealing with the low notes like that
Like if you have a massive string kind of rounds and deadens the sound out
And then on the other hand of things you have a guitarist like lee amalia from bring me the horizon
And he uses an 80 gauge for drop c which is super super thick and in my opinion again
I would never do that
But here he is saying that so as you can see from the beginning
This is the first point of what i'm talking about just because something is correct doesn't mean it's right for you
I personally would never use a 54 for drop f sharp and I would never use an 80 for drop c
But these two players both clearly make it work to great success
So it kind of doesn't really matter what I think because it works for them
And that's a recurring theme you'll see during this video
So really my point with this section before we go into the details of what you can look out for to make an informed decision
My point is it's up to personal preference different things work for different people.
Keep that in mind while you watch
So now that we have that out of the way
We're going to be talking about a few things you can look out for
Which will help inform your decision on what string gauges will work best for you
So we have three definitions that are very important to know
And i'm also going to explain why they matter in terms of string gauges
So the first thing is tension tension is the amount of force that the string has when it's tuned up
So basically on average your low e string is going to have about 18 to 20 pounds of tension
Using like a standard string gauge that you would typically find in e standard
The next thing that you guys need to know is something called scale length
The scale length is the length of the guitar neck more specifically
It's the length of points of contact for the string from the bridge to the nut
Again with this the scale length definitely matters because there are things like extended scale guitars
Which basically means how long the guitar's neck is to make it simple
So obviously, you know a bass guitar is way longer than a standard six string
And an eight string on average is longer than a six string and that matters a lot because again
As you increase the points of distance between you know, the two points of the string it increases the tension
Which is what we just talked about
So therefore if your scale length is longer you need a thinner string to achieve the same tension
And the final thing to consider is intonation.
This basically means when you play an open [Eb] note versus the 12th fret
Both of those two points are in tune.
This is very important [E] because if your open string is in tune
It doesn't necessarily mean your 12th fret is going to be in tune
And if your string is too thin [Eb] or too thick you might actually not be able to make it perfectly intonated
And again for some people that doesn't matter because if you literally never play above the 12th fret and you like really thin strings
Then I guess it doesn't really matter if it's intonated because you're never going to be using those frets anyways
but on average you want something that is
Intonatable, I feel like that's not the right word
But you know what I mean
So those are the three big definitions that you guys need to know and how they correlate to string gauges and why they matter
So again, that is tension scale length and intonation
And the fourth one is entirely subjective and there's not really a way for me to talk about it in a way that makes sense
But that of course is the feel so if you don't like playing thick strings because you don't like how it feels
That's entirely up to you and not really a quantifiable thing that I can explain
So now that you have all this information, what can you actually do with it?
Well, there are a few companies out there who make something called a string tension calculator
What this basically means is you input your scale length your desired tuning and the string gauge that you want to use
[E] This is super useful
If you for example are used to playing and let's say you're used to playing an E standard
So you can plug in your string gauges in E standard on a string tension calculator and it'll show you
The amount of tension that each of those gauges have so if you want to keep the tension exactly the same but tuned differently
All you really have to do is adjust the string gauges and the notes and then as long as that tension
Is the same then in theory when you get that new set of strings the guitar should feel the same but just be lower tuned
So that's like probably the easiest way to think of this.
But again, it's up to feel a little bit
Um, sometimes that doesn't quite work
But this is a really good way to start experimenting with different string gauges and [A] making sure that you don't waste your money [E] buying
Super thick or super thin strings and being disappointed when you get them another important thing
Which I also kind of touched on already is assessing your own play style
So again, this mostly comes down to how hard you fret the notes and how hard you pick
So if you press really hard on the string
It's actually going to go out of tune a little easier and same with if you pick really hard
It's also going to go out of tune a little easier because you're basically forcing the string
Out of position and then it springs back into place to show you an example of this
I'm going to show a video clip [B] of my guitar tuner while i'm hitting a low open note
And you can literally see what I like to call the pitch drift
Meaning when I pick the pitch goes up and then kind of snaps back into place over time [Gb] and that looks like this
[A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] but yeah, that's pretty much it for this video I was kind of dreading doing this one because
Again, this is just such a widely debated topic in the guitar industry
And again, it is such a meme on my channel that I almost like didn't want to do it
Just out of spite for the amount of people that ask about it
But at the end of the day, I hope this video [Eb] would help someone out there who genuinely just doesn't know about string [D] gauges again
I always go back to that jason richardson example, man
Like I would never ever ever use the string gauges [E] that he does but
He's one of the best players in the world and it clearly works for him.
So who am I to say he's wrong, right?
But yeah with that being said this is a little a bit of a ranty video
But I really do hope that some useful information was given to you guys
Hopefully this helps you make decisions on what string gauges you might [C] want to try
again
It's up to you what brand and what string gauges [E] you use
But if you want to use the same ones that I use I have clearly listed them
In that [C] pinned comment or in the description
You don't have to use them.
Those are just a guideline
Maybe [N] you can take those and adjust them accordingly to how you think you would like them
Regardless it serves as a guideline that will hopefully help you
So that's pretty much all I have to say for this video
I want to give a big thank you to all my patreon members whose names are on the screen at this point in time
Normally, I give you guys audio downloads guitar tabs and stems in this video
Of course, that's not applicable
But if that sounds interesting to you on pretty much everything else I make you can get that all over on patreon
As well as a shout out on the screen.
Thank you guys so much for watching again
I really hope this was informative and hopefully helpful in some way.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments