If your guitar or ukulele sounds dull, drifts out of tune minutes after you tune it, or the strings feel rough under your fingers, the problem probably is not your playing. It is a sign that your strings are worn out. The good news is that changing strings is a job you can do at home in 15 to 30 minutes, and once you know how, you will save trips to the shop and get to know your instrument better.
When should you change strings?
There is no fixed rule. It depends on how often you play and how much your hands sweat. Watch for these signs:
- The tone sounds flat and lifeless, especially on the bass strings.
- Tuning will not hold, even right after you tune.
- The strings are discoloured, show dark grime or rust, or feel rough when you slide a finger along them.
- Chords higher up the neck sound out of tune even though the open strings are right.
If you play every day, a new set every one to three months is a good rhythm. Occasional players can get away with two or three changes a year.
What you need
- A new set of strings made for your instrument. Acoustic, electric and ukulele strings are not interchangeable.
- A string winder, which speeds things up a lot.
- Wire cutters.
- A tuner or tuning app.
- A clean cloth for the neck and body.
Changing acoustic guitar strings, step by step
1. Loosen the old string. Turn the tuning peg until the string is slack. Beginners should change one string at a time. It keeps tension on the neck balanced and makes it easy to see where each string goes.
2. Pull the bridge pin. Use the notch on your string winder to lift the pin gently, then pull the string out.
3. Clean up. With the string off, it is a good moment to wipe dust off the fretboard.
4. Fit the new string. Push the ball end into the bridge hole and press the pin back in. Pull up lightly on the string while you press, so the ball end locks against the bridge plate inside the body.
5. Wind it onto the peg. Thread the string through the peg hole, leaving about 5 to 7 cm of slack (roughly the distance to the next two pegs). Put a small kink in it, then wind so the string wraps downward. Aim for two or three wraps on the thick strings and four or five on the thin ones.
6. Tune, then trim. Bring the string up to pitch first, and only then clip off the extra length.
What is different on electric guitar and ukulele?
Most electric guitars have no bridge pins. You thread the string through the back of the body or straight through the bridge. The winding at the tuning peg works the same as on an acoustic.
Ukulele strings are nylon or fluorocarbon and usually have no ball end, so you tie a knot at the bridge or slot a knotted end into the bridge. Tie a double knot so it will not slip, and give it a few more wraps on the peg than a guitar string, because nylon is slippery. Remember that a standard ukulele is tuned G-C-E-A, and the G string is usually the high, re-entrant one.
Help new strings settle faster
New strings stretch at first, so they go out of tune often. After tuning, gently pull each string up about 2 to 3 cm away from the fretboard along its length, then retune. Repeat two or three times and the strings will hold pitch much better. This matters even more on ukulele, since nylon keeps stretching longer than steel.
Common beginner mistakes
- Too few wraps on the peg, so the string slips and will not stay in tune.
- Too many wraps, so the string piles up and tangles.
- Turning the peg the wrong way and snapping the string from too much tension.
- Trimming before tuning, which leaves no length to fix a mistake.
Wrapping up
Changing strings yourself is a basic skill every guitar and ukulele player should have. The first time may be slow, but each change gets quicker. Fresh strings sound brighter, stay in tune more easily and make you want to pick up your instrument more often. Once you are restrung, come find chords for your favourite songs on Chordcafe.
