If you are familiar with your guitar and are using it regularly, then changing its strings is part of your routine maintenance of the guitar. You might feel a little uneasy if you are changing the strings for the first time, so take care and carefully observe certain things before you start changing your strings.

Procedure For Changing Your Guitar Strings:

Things you need to keep with you before changing the guitar strings: You will require needle-nose pliers to cut the strings, soft cotton cloth to clean the surface, string winder, and guitar surface polish.

How To Remove The Strings:

Acoustic Steel String Guitar:

Slowly start loosening the strings using a string winder. Use needle-nose pliers to carefully grab the string from the capstan and pull through the hole until it’s free. Using the pliers, grab the pin at the bridge and gently pull until it comes out of the bridge. Continue this process for all strings. Finally thoroughly clean the guitar.

Electric Guitar:

Steps are the same as above, but if you have a guitar with a movable bridge, better if you take it to the local music store and get it done there, as if the bridge is not placed in the correct position, itís difficult to re-tune your guitar after changing the strings.

Classic Nylon String Guitar:

For this, you have to follow first 2 steps above and then using the nose-pliers, carefully loosen the knot eight at the bridge and remove the strings.

How To Restring Your Guitar:

ï Acoustic Steel String Guitar: First of all, bend the ball-end of the guitar lightly and place it inside the hole, below the bridge. Then line-up the strings with any grooves in the pins, insert the pin in the hole and make sure it’s secure. Now take the other end and insert into the hole in the capstan. Pull the string through, leaving some amount of slack. Next, begin to turn the key with your left hand and use your right hand to keep the string taut. You may use the string winder once you are comfortable. Follow this for all the strings. Then cut off the excess strings.

ï Classic Nylon String Guitar: The steps are almost the same as above. Only difference is the way the string is secured in its place. In this, the string is pulled through the hole just below the bridge and passed underneath itself at the original point of entry. Then the string is wrapped around itself in a figure eight pattern. Finally the string is wrapped around the back and then underneath itself in order to secure it in its place. The string is tied as described above in Acoustic steel String guitar.

ï For Electric Guitar: The procedure of changing your guitar strings is the same as Acoustic Steel String Guitar.

After you change your guitar strings a few times on your own, you will get enough confidence and will surely be able to do it easily.

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Go to the next installment of our Beginning Guitar Series,  Maintenance Tips for Your Guitar or back to the Guitar Player Zen Beginning Guitar home page.

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