Which Strings For My Classical Guitar?

Nicole Neal2 Comments

The choice of classical guitar strings is not necessarily a straightforward one. It’s not as simple as saying use Brand X or Brand Y, all the rest are rubbish (although I’m sure there are some that would say something along those lines). It’s actually a matter of a little experimentation, understanding your playing style, understanding what sound/s you want to produce and understanding your guitar and which strings produce the best sounds from it. Take it from me one particular brand of strings can sound excellent on one guitar, but then can sound quite flat and lifeless on another guitar.

So don’t be afraid to experiment a little. The string technologies are changing all the time too, so it pays to explore around sometimes. We now have all sorts of different materials – copperwound, titanium wound carbon filament basses, carbon trebles. We have flat wound low noise strings. And of course there are the different tensions of strings to play around with too.

Soundhole B&W

 

Too much choice!

In spite of what I’ve just said above, if you’re a beginner to intermediate guitarist you may not want to fluff around too much with strings (and you may not have the ear yet to discern the differences too much anyway). The important thing will be too have a set of reliable strings that produce a decent tone, hold their tuning and keep their sound for a few months before you need to change them.

As a beginner I used to use the Augustine strings. I figured that if they were good enough for  Andres Segovia then they were good enough for me! They were also pretty cheap and cheerful. The top E string did used to have a tendency to go “ping” and snap from time to time (although that may have been related to my playing style at the time!).

As I progressed as a guitarist I then moved onto the d’Addario Pro Arte strings, first favouring the medium tension strings and then moving onto the high tension (EJ46s). And these are still my “go-to” strings – I know I can rely on them to produce a decent tone, hold their tuning and the basses last for a reasonable length of time before sounding dull (it’s your basses that will tend to die before the trebles due to the metal coating). There are also others that I like to use from time to time, such as the d’Addario EXP46 Hards and Hannahbach Silver Special medium tension strings.

 

String tension

In terms of string tension, medium tension strings, particularly for those just starting out, can be a little more forgiving on the hands as you’re building up strength and dexterity. For myself, however, I found once I moved over to the higher tension strings I was able to produce a much bigger, bolder and richer sound. Again, the development in playing technique would have a significant part to play in this.

Which is probably a key point to make – no one set of strings is probably going to be the set of strings you use for the rest of your guitar-playing life. You will change and how you play will change and so you may want to continue your experimentation with strings for your sound. And, of course, if you purchase a new or pre-loved guitar you’ll want to find the best strings you can as the guitar opens up for that instrument.

It’s important to be aware also that there isn’t a universal set of numbers for what constitutes a low, medium or high tension set of strings. Medium tension Hannabach strings, for example, have a higher tension than d’Addario Pro Arte high tension strings. They sound fabulous though and so don’t be afraid to try some things out.

 

My top tips?

  • Don’t be afraid to experiment. Perhaps every other set of string changes try something different.
  • You don’t have to use all of one type or make of strings on your guitar – try mixing and matching.
  • If you’ve found something you really like stick with it for a while.
  • Find a “go-to” string that you know you can rely on, that will always feel good for you to play with (my preference: d’Addarion Pro Arte High Tension).
  • My own other favourite strings: d’Addario EXP446 (hard tension) and Hannabach Silver Special medium tension.
  • Remember that medium tension in one string type could be equal in pressure to high string tension in another make.
  • When trying new strings assess their immediate sound, how long that lovely “new string” sound lasts, comfort of playing, how long they take to bed in and hold tuning, and how they hold their tuning/ intonation in the longer term.

When Can I Say I Play Guitar?

Nicole Neal2 Comments

This is one of those questions that pops up from time to time, folks wanting to know when it is that they can say they play the guitar, that they’re a guitarist, that they’re a musician or some other variant thereof.

The quick answer is really whenever you choose to! This is your journey and how you interpret is up to.John Price Guitar

I think there’s a bit more of an interesting discussion around the questions however.

From my point of view, I don’t think their can ever really be a single, definable point in time or point in a learning trajectory that you can say “I am a guitarist” or “I play the guitar”. I think the answer to the question “when can I say I play the guitar?” also depends a lot on your approach to learning and development in general.

I can’t really recall a point where I went from saying “I’m learning the guitar” to “I play the guitar”, although I think it would have happened relatively soon after starting lessons and getting a few little tunes under the fingers. For me, thinking about it, it was probably a point where I realised that I could play a handful of tunes reasonably well and that it was definitely something I wanted to continue persuing.

And that’s not to say that the two statements (“I’m learning the guitar” and “I play guitar”) are exclusive of one another – far from it! There is always more to learn, there are always things to improve on, there are always ways to develop, change and explore and always people you can learn from. To this day, although I probably wouldn’t actively say “I’m learning the guitar” if somebody asked me if I play an instrument, I most definitely hold the the attitude and approach of continual learning and development.

I’ve often said to students and peers that if you’re following the rewarding path of really studying classical guitar, striving towards mastery, the learning doesn’t necessarily get easier, but the pieces get do more challenging! It’s almost like you’re in a permanent state of learning (including not just a little brain strain at time!) and growth. A funny thing really because in spite of feeling this way (and I can vouch I did when I stated learning La Maja de Goya a few weeks back!), if you flick back to something you were playing say a year or so ago you may surprise yourself. If you’ve been playing for a few years and flick back to something you were playing say three, four, five years ago you may really surprise yourself – something you found a real challenge back then will probably be a walk in the park these days. So whilst you may feel like you’re permanently in a state of learning (which is a good thing in my opinion), your mastery is slowly creeping up on you……

So don’t forget to just stop and take stock from time to time and realise how far up the mountain you really have climbed. That may help you answer the question of “when can I say I play guitar?” for yourself.