Steps to Changing Guitar Strings

Guitar strings do not last forever. After a while, you will observe that your acoustic guitar sounds dull and the strings appear dirty and tarnished.

Guitar strings tend to lose their elasticity and tone quality as they are exposed to air, and moist and grease from your fingers.

Changing guitar strings regularly will improve the guitar's tone and prevent them from breaking at the wrong moment. The process may be a pain but the improved tone and feel are worth it. With time, you will be able to change them very quickly.

Tools that will come in handy when changing strings on an acoustic guitar:

• String winder
• Slightly damp cloth
• Wire cutter
• A sheet of paper

Steps to changing guitar strings:

1. Loosen the sixth string (low E) of your acoustic guitar with a string winder. Snap it off with a wire cutter near the tuning peg. Detach the other end of the string from the bridge by removing the sixth string bridge pin. You may want to place a sheet of paper underneath the bridge while pulling the string out so that you will not scratch the paintwork of your guitar. Throw away the old string. This is a good time to clean the newly exposed areas of the neck and bridge of your guitar with a slightly damp cloth.
   
   
2. Attach the new string to your guitar by placing its ball-end into the bridge hole. Replace the bridge pin back into the hole, aligning the carved slot of the pin with the string. Gently pull on it until you feel the ball slip into place.
   
   
3. Bring the string up towards the head of your guitar. Turn the hole of the tuning peg to the direction of the groove on the nut. Feed the loose end of the string through the hole in the tuning peg.
   
   
4. Leave some slack on the string and hold it while turning the tuning peg in a counter-clockwise direction with the winder.
   
   
5. On the first wrap-around, make sure that the wrapped string passes over the end portion of the string protruding from the end of the tuning peg. After the wrapped string has passed over the end, guide the string so that it will wrap under the string on the next pass. Subsequent wrap-arounds will also wrap under the string end, each wrap going below the last.
   
   
6. Once the string is in place, use a wire cutter to snip off the end of if that is protruding from the tuning peg.
   
   
7. Repeat the above steps to change the remaining five strings of your guitar.

If you had managed to change the sixth string, the other five strings will get easier. The only part of the process that differs on the remaining strings is the direction you will feed them through the tuning pegs. Turn the tuning peg clockwise for the treble strings (String 3, 2 and 1) and counter-clockwise for the bass strings (String 6, 5 and 4). After all the new strings are attached, stretch and re-tune them a few times until they are in tune.

You have learned the steps to changing strings on an acoustic guitar. Although it may seem difficult initially, you will master the procedure after a few full string changes.