Changing Guitar Strings

Mar 15

A lesser known fact: I'm a guitar player. Maybe it's not that lesser known. I've been playing guitar seriously since 2003. I was in a bunch of bands through school and then one band was on the brink of "making it" until we had a few disagreements on direction, stolen gear, and whatever else caused us to part ways. Honestly, in the entire time I've played guitar… I've probably only changed my guitar strings… 15-20 times. Now that might sounds like a lot to those that don't know, but man… in 20 years and having 3+ guitars for the majority of that time… that is WAY too infrequent.

There are a few different ways to change strings, but generally, there is a pretty important through point in how you make sure they stay tight on the headstock. It's a little too arduous to explain here. So, I'm not even going to bother. I will say: Something a lot of the guitar players I've been around that don't change strings often or know the "secrets" of the process are really scared of constant detuning. The secret is simple… Pull the absolute SNOT out of the string as you're building the tension when you're tightening it to the appropriate tension. You can hear it stretch out a detune down each time you do it. After it stops detuning… you're pretty much good. It sounds simple, but it's something a lot of people seem to skip.

As I've gotten older and started to enjoy tinkering and being handy; I have found a lot of joy in changing guitar strings and cleaning the guitar. I really enjoy taking care of the things that take care of me. It's something really special. In a way, it helps me connect with said thing more deeply and in a way I wouldn't have otherwise.

My favorite guitar I've ever owned is the Les Paul I use in the video. I'm not really on a specific brand or anything, but I have always gravitated towards Gibson. I don't know why, but I love the Les Paul specifically. Even more specifically, I love the '56 gold top Les Paul. In hindsight, I really don't like the pickups on it. They're P-90's. Which means they're single coil, noisy, and loud. It kind of has become part of my "sound" if you will with guitar and I definitely gravitate to that guitar of mine too. It's interesting. Maybe it's because I've played it the most of all of my guitars. Maybe it's because I like its sound the most. The world may never know….