When Should I Change My Guitar Strings & Why?

How often should I change my guitar strings? This is definitely a popular question, especially for people who are just starting out with the guitar. You’ll hear lots of different answers to this question. Some people will say every 2-3 weeks, others might say every 2-3 months, then again there are people who might say they only change strings when they actually break one. 

The truth is it really depends on a bunch of external factors such as how much the guitar is played, what type of strings you’re using, how easily your strings start to corrode, and so on. That’s why perhaps the question of 'how often' is not really the most helpful question we could be asking. The more helpful question is probably ‘why’ should I change my guitar strings in the first place? We will actually find this gives us a better idea about the ‘when’. Generally, there are 3 main benefits of new guitar strings: 

1) Tone
By far the most obvious difference has to do with ‘tone’. You’ll notice new strings sound a lot brighter and more vibrant than old ones. This is because old strings develop general wear & tear against the guitar frets, they also become corroded by being in constant contact with your skin. These factors affect how the strings resonate and sustain which will obviously affect how they sound. 

2) Tuning
Secondly, it’s these same inconsistencies that begin to build up and develop as we play that cause old strings to have more difficulty with intonation and staying in tune. If the way our stings vibrate changes as they deteriorate, it makes sense that their consistency, when it comes to tuning, will also change.  

3) Reliability 
And lastly, again, for the very same reasons as mentioned above, old strings are more susceptible to breaking. Obviously, the more wear and tear we introduce to a guitar string the less robust that string will be.

New strings will help us get more out of our tone, they are more likely to perform better in terms of tuning (assuming they have been fully stretched in) and they are less inclined to break. So what does that tell us about when we should be looking to change our strings? Well, a few obvious examples come to mind:

• When we are doing any kind of recording we want to ensure that our guitar is sounding the best it can. New strings are the easiest and cheapest way to give greater tonal brilliance and sustain to our performances.       

• Every time our guitar gets ‘set up’ we should always be looking to make sure this is done with new strings for accurate tuning and intonation adjustments.
• When we have an important performance, generally we would want to minimise the chance of strings breaking by putting on a fresh set.

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​These are just some general suggestions. For someone who is playing out very regularly or doing a lot of sessions in the studio, they might be looking to change their strings as often as multiple times a week. On the flip side, someone who doesn’t play professionally or is only very casual with their guitar playing would only need to think about changing guitar strings far less regularly. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of personal preference. In either case, knowing ‘why‘ we would think about changing strings will help us make an informed decision about ‘when’ to change them. Lastly, common sense applies here. Things like playing with clean hands and wiping our strings down after playing with a clean cloth, will always help us get more life and tone out of our guitar strings.   ​

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