What Kind Of Strings Should I Use?

People are always asking me this question. First thing figure out if the strings you need are for an acoustic or an electric. There is a pretty big difference. Electric guitar strings are made out of metal wound wire, where as acoustics usually use Bronze or Phosphor Bronze Wound strings. For the people that have been playing a while you know the difference between how it feels to play an acoustic vs. an electric. In general there is much more tension in the strings on an acoustic. This makes it much harder to play. I always try to get beginning students to start out on acoustic when possible. If you start on one, its like musical character building. Its incredibly difficult to go from playing electric first. Most students that only play electric are at a loss when they first pick up an acoustic, where as vice versa most students hit the ground running. This now brings us to what brand to use? My advice is to experiment until you find a brand that truly suits your sound. The two things to really consider are the life of the strings and the gauge. You want your strings to maintain their brilliance for at least a month. In terms of this, the only trash talk i will offer goes the way of all Ernie Ball strings. They sound good for about a week, and then they're toasted. I reccomend D' Addario strings. They are extremely consistent and last a REALLY long time. By the way, i am not sponsored by D'Addario in any way shape or form, i just like 'em. Okay Gauge, this means the thickness of your strings. Strings are generally denoted by the thickness of the high e string. For instance , "I use .10's" says joe rocker. This means that the high e string is a .10 millimeter gauge string. The thicker the string, the fatter and thicker the sound. Blues guys, like SRV used .13's. Thats super thick. Very hard to play strings that thick. But listen to his sound, its undeniably fat and huge. The vintage Fender amps he had didn't hurt either. A good place to start is with .10's. That's personally what i use. I find .09's to be to tinny and prone to breaking. But dont settle, find what works for you and go from there.
Good Luck Rawkers!
-Danielelectric