How To String A Guitar

In this article you'll learn how to string a guitar the right way. Replacing guitar strings is not very difficult, but you need to use the right technique or your guitar will get out of tune easily.

1. The Right Guitar Strings For You

What kind of strings suit best for you depends on the following factors:

• String Brands: what guitar string brand sounds best is a question of personal taste. Test some different brands to discover which one sounds and feels best to you.
  
  Some of the more popular brands: D'Addario, Dean Markley, Elixir, Ernie Ball, ...
  
  
• String Composition: what material are strings made of?
  
  Electric guitar strings and acoustic guitar strings are made by winding a wrap wire round a metal wire. The sound of the string is determined by the material used for the wrap wire:
  
  
  • Nickel: the most popular kind for electric guitar strings.
  • Stainless Steel: provides a brighter tone.
  • Phosphor Bronze: provides a warmer tone, most suitable for acoustic guitar strings.
  • ...
    
    
  Classical guitar strings are made of nylon. Treble strings are also made of carbon fiber, while bass strings are made of bronze wire or silver plated copper wire around a core of fine threads.
  
  
  
• Winding Type:
  
  
  • Roundwound: has a round wire. Produces a brighter sound, but more extra noises.
  • Flatwound: has a flat ribbon wire. Produces a duller sound, but the strings have less resistance and make less extra noise.
    
    
    
• String Gauge: the diameter of guitar strings.
  
  Strings are usually bought in a set. Sets are named after the diameter of the first string (for example .010) or the first and the last string (.010 - .042). These numbers represent the diameter in inches.
  
  A light string set is best suited for beginners, they are the easiest to handle and they don't hurt your fingers as much as heavier sets.
  
  Heavier sets are suitable for guitarists with a little more experience. Heavier string sets have more volume and sustain, but are harder to fret.
  
  Remember: when changing to a set with a lighter or heavier gauge, you (or the technician at your local guitar center) need to readjust the neck and intonation of your guitar. Heavier strings produce more tension and pull more relief into the neck.
  
  

2. Replacing Guitar Strings

Here's how to change guitar strings properly:

• Remove your old set of strings. Some say it's better not to remove all strings at once, but one at a time and always replacing an old string with a new one. When you remove all strings at once the loss of tension might cause your guitar neck to warp. I never had this problem though. Guitars are made without strings and a luthier will always remove an old set of strings when doing repairs.
  
  
• Polish the guitar and oil the fretboard. This is a good time to do it, since there are no strings that get in your way. Use a guitar polish for the guitar body and linseed, olive or walnut oil for the fretboard .
  
  
• Secure the 6th string to the bridge or tail piece of the guitar. How this needs to be done depends on what type of guitar you have, but is usually straightforward. On most acoustic guitars you need to remove a peg to change the string (use a plier to do so):

Align the tuning peg with the nut slot, then put the string through the hole of the tuning peg and keep about 2" (5cm) left between the string and the fretboard. Now you have enough string left to make 2 or 3 windings, which is sufficient. Excessive winding may cause the strings to slip.

Bend the string and put it underneath itself:


Bend the string upward and turn the tuner in clockwise direction, until the string has the right pitch (use a guitar tuner or tuning fork) . Make the windings go down from the top.

• Now pull the string at it's midway point so it is stretched. Tune it again and stretch it some more, until the string doesn't go out of tune anymore.
  
  
• Cut the leftover string with a wire cutter or a toenail clipper.
  
  
• Repeat for the other 5 strings.

3. More String Tips

• Wash your hands before playing guitar (and before eating) and wipe your strings after playing. This helps to preserve string longevity.
  
  
• When you break a string, always replace the whole set and not a single string. The new string will sound entirely different compared to the older strings.
  
  
• If your strings break regularly, look for sharp edges on the hardware of your guitar.
  
  
• It can happen that a string gets stuck in the nut slot when tuning down. Solve this problem by putting a bit of flake graphite (scratch it of the lead of a pencil with a knife) in the nut slot (under the strings).
  
  
• When your guitar strings loose brilliance and intonation, it's time to change them. How frequently this happens depends on how much time your guitar is played and how good it is taken care of.

Wild Thing

The guitar chord chart for Wild Thing:

This is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.

The guitar chords and lyrics for 'Wild Thing':

         A          D   E      D
        Wild thing           you make my
        Heart sing           you make
        Everything groovy
        Wild thing
   

Guitar tabs for the break:

Lyrics for the break:

         Wild thing, I think I love you
        But I wanna know for sure
        Come on and hold me tight
        I love you
  

Some fun facts about Wild Thing:

• Chip Taylor, the writer of the song, made a lot of money from Wild Thing, because so many people have covered the song. Unfortunately Chip had a gambling problem, for years he blew about $10,000 away in the casinos in Las Vegas. Chris Taylor is an uncle of Angelina Jolie and a brother of Jon Voight.
• The intro and ending is borrowed from "Heartbreak Hotel", an Elvis Presley song.
• The instrument playing in the middle section is an ocarina.
• The Troggs recorded this song in 20 minutes.
• Jimi Hendrix covered Wild Thing, it's the song he plays on the Monterey Festival when he sets his guitar on fire.

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama is a classic song composed by the Southern rock band called Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was a big hit in 1974, the band's first. In 2004 it got listed in Rolling Stone's list, The 500 Greates Songs of All Time, at number 398.

Ed King, the guitarist of the band said that he dreamed the chords and 2 main solos of Sweet Home Alabama.

Sweet Home Alabama is not very hard to play, although the hammer ons and pull offs in the riff need some practicing. This song's a good exercise for mixing chords with riffs. Use a pick to play this song.

Here's the guitar chord chart for Sweet Home Alabama:

The D chord is a regular D chord, but we don't play the top string (like the rest of these chords). You'll notice in the guitar tabs that is not necessary to fret the 4th string of the C chord and the 5th string of the G chord, but I advice you to fret them anyway, just so you know what you are playing.

Here are the guitar tabs:

Some fun and not so fun facts about Sweet Home Alabama:

• Sweet Home Alabama is a response to two songs of Neil Young, Alabama and Southern Man, in which he sings that people in the South of the US are racist. Sweet Home Alabama is Ronnie Van Zandt's (the singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd) reply to Neil Young, it's a song about all the good things in Alabama. All this is good-natured though, Neil Young and Ronnie Van Zandt are fans of eachother.
• Neil Young played Sweet Home Alabama on a concert once, after 3 members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash in 1977.
• There are rumors that Ronnie Van Zandt is burried in a Neil Young T-shirt. Some sick people vandalized his grave, trying to check if the rumors were true or false.
• The Y's in Lynyrd Skynyrd is a reference to The Byrds.
• Sweet Home Alabama is one of the most featured songs in film. Some examples are Forrest Gump, Con Air, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the new version), The Girl Next Door, Sahara, To Die For, ...

Mary Did You Know Guitar Chords

The guitar chord chart for 'Mary Did You Know'

This is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.

The guitar chords and lyrics for 'Mary Did You Know':

   
   
            Em             D
Mary did you know that your baby boy
     C               B7
would someday walk on water?
            Em             D
Mary did you know that your baby boy
     C                 B7
would save our sons and daughters?
       C              D
Did you know that your baby boy
   G       D        Em
has come to make you new?
    Am7
This child that you've delivered
    Em7          B7
will soon deliver you.
            Em             D
Mary did you know that your baby boy
    C               B7
will give sight to a blind man?
            Em             D
Mary did you know that your baby boy
    C                 B7
will calm a storm with His hand?
       C              D
Did you know that your baby boy
   G            D      Em
has walked where angels trod?
           Am7
When you've kissed your little baby
           Em                 B7
then you've kissed the face of God.

Em        D       C       B7
             Em
Mary, did you know...?
         D       C
             B7
Mary, did you know...?
   C                   D
The blind will see, the deaf will hear
   G                Em
the dead will live a-gain
   C                   D
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak
   G              B7
the praises of the Lamb.
             Em             D
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
  C              B7
is Lord of all creation?
             Em             D
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
    C                B7
will one day rule the nations?
       C              D
Did you know that your baby boy
   G        D       Em
was heaven's perfect lamb?
    Am7
This sleeping child you're holding
      Em7    B7  Em
is the great "I   AM".


   

'It's A Small World'

The guitar chord chart for 'It's A Small World'

This is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.

The guitar chords and lyrics for 'It's A Small World':

   
   
      A                    E7
It's a world of laughter, a world of tears
                           A
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears
                       A7               D          Bm7
There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware
      E7                A
It's a small world after all

A                  E7
It's a small world after all
                  A
It's a small world after all
      A7                Bm7
It's a small world after all
      E7           A
It's a small, small world

        A                     E7
There is just one moon and one golden sun
                               A
And a smile means friendship to everyone
                      A7           D          Bm7
Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide
      E7                A
It's a small world after all

A                  E7
It's a small world after all
                  A
It's a small world after all,
      A7          D     Bm7
It's a small world after all
      E7           A
It's a small, small world


   

The House of the Rising Sun

Here's the guitar chord chart for The House of the Rising Sun:

Here's the sheet music with guitar tabs:

Here's the easy version, I simplified the finger picking to make it more playable for beginning guitarists:

The guitar chords and lyrics for House of the Rising Sun:

Am C D F
There is a house in New Orleans

Am C E
They call the Rising Sun

Am C D F
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

Am E Am C D F Am E Am E
And God I know I'm one


Am C D F
My mother was a tailor

Am C E
She sewed my new blue jeans

Am C D F
My father was a gamblin' man

Am E Am C D F Am E Am E
Down in New Orleans


Am C D F
Now the only thing a gambler needs

Am C E
Is a suitcase and trunk

Am C D F
And the only time he's satisfied

Am E Am C D F Am E Am E
Is when he's on a drunk



*** Organ Solo ***



Am C D F
Oh mother tell your children

Am C E
Not to do what I have done

Am C D F
Spend your lives in sin and misery

Am E Am C D F Am E Am E
In the House of the Rising Sun



Am C D F
Well, I got one foot on the platform

Am C E
The other foot on the train

Am C D F
I'm goin' back to New Orleans

Am E Am C D F Am E Am E
To wear that ball and chain



Am C D F
Well, there is a house in New Orleans

Am C E
They call the Rising Sun

Am C D F
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

Am E Am C D F Am E Am F Am F...
And God I know I'm one

Some fun and not so fun facts about House of the Rising Sun:

• The melody comes from an old English ballad, the lyrics are written by Georgia Turner and Bert Martin, two people from Kentucky.
• 'House of the Rising Sun' is slang for brothel. This brothel is situated in New Orleans and was named after a certain Marianne Le Soleil Levant (Marian Rising Sun in French). Other sources say it is slang for a women's prison in New Orleans.
• Bob Dylan nicked an arrangement of this tune for his first album (1962) from a guy called Dave van Ronk. Eric Burdon arranged Bob Dylan's version for his band, The Animals, and made it a hit. Bob was not too happy about that (how's that for karma?).
• The Animals recorded House of the Rising Sun in one take.
• It was the first time a rock rhythm was applied to a folk song.
• The Animals' version of The House of the Rising Sun was the first number 1 hit over 4 minutes long.
• They played it for the first time while touring with Chuck Berry. The public liked it so much that they recorded it between stops during the tour.
• The arrangement credits are owned by Alan Price, the organ player of the band, all royalties go to him. Unnecessary to say that the other members of the band were not very happy with this.
• The Animals was the first British band to have a n°1 hit in the States besides The Beatles since 1962. When they pushed The Beatles from their n°1 spot, The Animals got a telegram from them: 'Congratulations from the Beatles (a group)'.
• The song has been played many times by people like Nina Simone, Tangerine Dream, U2, Green Day, John Williams, Muse, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and even Pink Floyd.

'Happy Birthday'

The guitar chord chart for 'Happy Birthday'

The guitar chords and lyrics for 'Happy Birthday':

C                 G         
Happy birthday to you
                 C
Happy birthday to you
                      G  F
Happy birthday to dear name
F     C        G  C
Happy birthday to you