Guitar Strings - Choosing The Right Gauge Of Strings

There are many brands of guitar strings available on the market. Here are some of the more commonly used guitar strings:










































The one that i currently use is made from D'Addario. From personal experience, I find that D'Addario strings are more longer lasting compared to other brands out there. It doesn't break easily and it sounds great too. But do experiment with different brands as you progress. You might find that other brands are more suitable for you.

A thing to note about guitar strings: Use a set of lighter gauge strings when you are starting out. Unless you like pain, you wouldn't want to use a set of thicker gauge strings on your guitar.

So then, how do you know whether a set of strings are of thicker or lighter gauge? Take a look at the 3 pictures above. You'll notice that there are a set of 6 numbers in every package. Those are the string gauges. From the 3 pictures, the lighter ones have a gauge of .009 (That's how D'Addario name their string gauges. Ernie ball name it as 9 but it has the totally same meaning as the D'Addario's) for the high E-string (1st string, or the thinnest string) and a .042 for the low E-string (6th String, or the thickest string). To conclude, I'd have to say the Ernie ball's and the D'Addario's are lighter compared to the DR strings as the DR's 1st and 6th string gauges are 10 and 46 respectively compared to the other two companies which both have a gauge 9 for their 1st string and 42 for the 6th string.

I hope that helps you in choosing the right gauge of strings when you're starting out.