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Its been how long since you changed your strings? If you cannot remember when you changed them then its probably time for some new ones. The funky green color they turned is probably a good hint that a change is due. Also, little strands of unknown black goo hanging down from the strings means its time to put on some new ones. This tutorial describes how the abitious guitarist can correctly change her own strings. But, you can also treat yourself like a rock star and take it to the local music store and have their repair person do it for you, for a few dollars. Also, if you have nylon strings the procedure is different and more difficult and you should strongly consider paying a professional to change them.

Changing your strings is not hard. Getting them on so they do not slip out of tune is. If you have any reservations about changing your strings yourself after reading this then do not change them yourself—the local luthier will be happy to charge you to do it and will do an excellent job.

Tools you will need:

• Diagonal cutters or other device capable of cutting metal strings
• String winder — optional
• An old T-shirt
• Guitar tuner

You also need a good place to work. If you can lay the guitar on a table that will put it at the right height. I used to change my strings on an ironing board but it was unstable so I had to be very careful.

First remove the old strings. Each guitar is built a little different: acoustic guitars usually have bridge pins but sometimes have a tail piece. Some guitars with tail pieces have bridges that are free floating, some electric guitars have tremolos, etc… But for all of them I recommend releasing the tension on the strings before cutting them, if you intend to cut them to get them off the instrument. Just make sure you turn the tuning key the right direction–otherwise you’ll increase the tension. The optional string winder comes in handy for this part.

The only difficult part about changing your strings is how to attach the new ones to the string posts on the headstock. Here are some crude but helpful illustrations I made of one technique that has worked well for metal guitar strings.

Go thru the post

Pass the string through the string post but do not pull it tight. Notice the direction the string is being threaded. Leave slack in the string—how much is enough you will figure out over time. The slack is taken up in the very last step. The goal is after the last step to have about 3 windings around the post for wound strings and 5 for unwound strings.

Loop string underneath itself

Remember I said do not pull the string tight. You need to take the end you pulled through the string post and make a loop and go under the string on the other side of the post. Take a good look at the picture.

Lock string in place

The end you just looped under the string needs to be wrapped around close to the string post. Its not a knot, its just simple friction that will hold the string in place. This step helps keep your strings from slipping and going flat, even if you bend them wildly when you solo.

Start winding

Ok now its time to take up the slack. But its not that simple. You want the windings to go on evenly—you do not want a birds nest. Done correctly each winding usually goes underneath the previous one. This is where the string winder comes in handy. By the time you do your 3rd string change I bet you have bought a string winder You do not have to tune to pitch yet.

Snip off the loose ends

Do not leave those dangling string ends hanging off your guitar. In fact, after each string is attached you should trim off the excess. Do not be afraid to get close to the post when trimming.

Stretch the strings

Tune up the each string to pitch with your tuner but you don’t have to be real accurate, yet. You need to stretch the string—without breaking it. Stretching the string will occur whether you do it now or not. If you do not stretch it now it will stretch itself every time you play a note which means no matter how often you tune your guitar, you will be out of tune.

Basically grab the string and pull it a bit, up and down its entire length. You will probably have to traverse the entire string twice, maybe three times. Once you get the hang of it you can do this pretty fast. The first picture is my string stretching technique. Two hands will get the job done faster. The second picture is how I actually do it—the old T-shirt protects the guitarist delicate fingers from being harmed by the metal strings. After you’ve stretch each string you can use the tuner to tune them up.

Tune up

Now begins the fine art of tuning. This is best done with an electronic tuner if you are a beginner because the electronics do the listening for you. If you want there is an online tuner that will play the correct pitches for each string.