Article by Peter Ellis
No matter what kind of music you play - rock, folk, acoustic cover music - you'll eventually have to change your guitar strings. When you first change the strings, they'll have a nice "bright" sound. However, as you play, the sound quality decreases a little every day. This is due to oil and dirt being transferred from your fingers to the stings. This means that sections of string with most oil won't resonate as much as the less affected parts of the string. This makes it hard to tune the guitar properly and can spoil the overall tone.
A lot of professionals will change their strings as often as once a week. If, however, you just play at home, you'll be safe changing them less often. It's really down to how discerning a listener you are when it comes to the tone of the instrument.
So, when you change the stings, what type should you use? The answer is that this is really different for everyone. It's influenced by the type of guitar and the sound you're going for. If you're relatively new to playing the instrument, you should try a few different types until you settle on something you like.
The main two types for an electric guitar are:
The most common type are nickel plated strings. These have a steel core, which is useful for its magnetic properties; the pick-ups find it easy to detect the resonance of the steel core in the string. The core is wrapped with more nickel plated steel.
Also common are standard nickel strings. They're almost identical to nickel plated strings, except that the steel core is wrapped in pure nickel instead of nickel plated steel.
And the main types for an acoustic guitar are:
Bronze strings. These have a nice bright sound, but the brightness is lost quickly. This means that they're best if you're a professional who'll be changing them often.
Phosphor bronze stings are very similar to bronze strings (and my personal preference). They have a slightly warmer tone than standard bronze strings, and the brightness lasts a little longer too.