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Proud to be the first man to bend 3 steps. I owe it all to you, my loyal viewers. I wouldn't have made it to this monumental milestone without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
can confirm. i started on a classical acoustic cause its what i had and i got a 7 string at the beginning of december. oh my gosh it was so much fun trying it out for the first time. i went back to my acoustic yesterday to see something and the difference is insane
I was using this gauge way back in the 70’s. You can finger tap notes without even picking them, bends are cool. I liked it but it does take getting used to. So easy to play, or should I say Effortlessly…….and harmonics are awesome…I think everybody should own at least one guitar dedicated to 7 or 8 gauge strings.
What do you think about hybrid 9s? I'm a beginner and I find it hard to bend and bar my current strings. Frustrating when I can find the right notes easily by ear because of my piano background but I can't do the bends.
@@usuallyclueless4477 take your guitar to a local luthier, have him/her set it up and make adjustments to string height above fretboard, at nut and bridge to the gauge strings you like, say-9’s..that should help make bar cords and bending easier. But building finger strength is important and will happen before you realize it. If you want super easy use 8-gauge strings but you will have to get used to making a cord sound every time your fingers touch the fretboard to make a note….may I suggest getting a inexpensive 2nd guitar and have 8-gauge set up on it. There’s nothing like experiencing something new….have fun..
@@jerryodom7358 Thank you, but I can't afford a second guitar right now, which is why my plan is to try out Strat-style guitar (25.5" scale length) with 9s in a store and then buy the strings if I like it, and do the setup myself by looking at tutorials by professionals. I think I might be able to do measurements and adjustments just fine as I'm an engineer, but no promises.
@@usuallyclueless4477 Fender ships their Stratocasters from the factory with 9s. I do have to agree with Jerry and suggest you just keeps practicing with 9s. Your comment is currently a month old and a bet you've made a fair amount of progress in that time.
@@Cautionary_Tale_Harris On the contrary, I've been really busy with college and haven't been able to practice. I'll get more time for it next week so I'm looking forward to changing strings and practicing then.
I go back and forth between bass and lead. I always have to play the lead first, then I am fine on bass. But if I start on bass, my lead work is terrible.
I bought a guitar 6 months ago to try learning. Turns out it had knackered .13s on it. When I got a set of lighter new strings it seemed like a level up because I'd already gotten used to having difficult chords and getting my fingers chewed up
Dont waste time googling about strings or pedals, just play arpeggios and blues scale for an hour everyday 3 years straight Thats a recipe for playing like dude in the video, googling strings and guitars does nothing to your skill
@@denisblack9897 always worrying about gear won't make you better but if you're playing with dirty or old strings, it's not nice. I agree about pedals though, they aren't too important as long as your amp can make a decent sound
@@mememan5466I bought a Boss Katana Mk2 50W in 2020, and it's the best budget amp I've ever seen. It has amazing tunes and it works great as an audio interface for PC.
I've been using eights for a number of years on my electric and acoustics. I'm old enough to be listed on the fossil record and have arthritis. The lighter strings allow me to continue playing longer without to much pain. Not being able to play guitar anymore would be a sad sad day for me. Love your channel!
@@facucs ohhh I don't know then, I thought you were talking about fingertips hardening thing. I just wanted to inform you if you're a newbie. Cause you know a lot of beginners left the guitar for that reason(it called callus I guess)
@@facucs I've been getting cramps in the area below my middle/ring/pinky fingers on the palm side of my hand. Made an appointment to see a hand doctor but haven't gone yet. I'm obviously no doctor, but my symptoms don't really match any common hand issues I've been able to find via my own research so it's a little disconcerting.
It's crazy how much hotter and mid-rangier the thicker gauge strings are. As a bassist, I've always tried to use slightly thicker strings for feel purposes, so I've never really experimented much with thinner strings. But the sound difference here really caught me off guard.
Yeah… I keep 11’s on my guitars, sometimes 10’s and for bass I use super long scale flat wound 50’s. The 45’s just feel and tune badly…. Doesn’t feel tight at all like it’s de tuning. Also on 45’s if I don’t coil/string it exactly right (I have pegs where you pre cut the string and put the tip straight down into the peg) if I drop tune a full step then the string just rattles and is loose.
If you haven’t tried flats I highly recommend it. I did it on my Hamer bass because I like more warm/booming bass and the Hamer was a night to bright and poppy for my tastes. I put the flats on hoping it would tone that down and the timbre is perfect for me. That Hamer will forever have flats now. The schecter I use rounds. The flats are much easier to slide on and they just feel great. I can play for 4-5 hours non stop without ripping my calluses off.
@@christopherkucia1071 man, funny you say that. I've been playing bass since '05, and I recently only started to love flats in maybe the last two years, or so. I tried a couple different types to look for that Jamerson type sound, but I surprisingly ended up landing on the Rotosound RS88LD tapewounds. Mannnnnn, if you haven't given tapewounds a shot, definitely try them. I tend to use them on single/split coil basses as I wonder if the extra gain from a humbucker sorta makes it too "blocky" sounding, but they sound phenomenal on my p-bass. Maybe give them a shot if you've never tried tapes.
@@josephcote7702 I vaguely remember playing tapes once or twice maybe on my fathers friends bass or something… I actually just ordered roto sound flats yesterday lol! I’ll definitely check out some tape wounds soon. Maybe I’ll replace the saddle screws on my schecter and get some.
The thing that's noticeably different from gauge to gauge is the sustain. Thicker strings are ...thicker, and therefore have a longer release in general and when muting etc.(this can cause problems on some pickups if you go really heavy). The way the player interacts with the instrument also changes significantly, you unconsciously attack harder on thicker gauges and softer on thinner ones. In this video, the pickup selector changes around from the single neck to the humbucker bridge, but the .7s are always on the neck pickup and the .13s are on a capo, which likely over-emphasizes the change in tone.
I have been using 0.008 gage for years, the problem is that if I play somebody else's guitar with regular strings, it becomes very difficult...but oh boy, it is so easy to bend them and they don't break! I have not changed mine in three years.
According to Mr. Gibbons, he switched from heavy gauge to lites after doing a show with B.B. King. During a conversation about string gauge and being surprised by the thin strings on Mr. King's guitar, King asks, "Why you workin' so hard?"
I used to play 7s in college. They made the guitar feel “sproingy” and effortless. I loved them for casual playing because it made the guitar feel so fun to pick up and just play for 10-15 minutes a go.
I love how he just dives into the meat of the video. Most other channels introduce themselves for 5 minutes, then would explain the history of guitar strings starting in the year 1111, then spend a minute on a Raid Shadow Legends, then finally put the strings on.
as a bass player: my first octave slide has left a huge mark on me (literally). the only reason it didn't slice my finger open was because it was a thick string
@@theow771 same with me but I cut my finger tuning and it bled out. It was fine the first time but the second time I got light-headed and started bleeding everywhere.
Yes, but you'll find that your finger strength will adjust to the lower gauge strings and they will seem normal again. I'm sure they sound amazing - I switched down to 9's after playing 11's for years and I had a similar epiphany. There has to be a point where loss of sustain happens however. But I'll definitely give it a try.
Same, I play on a borrowed bass from my friend's brother's dad from 1983 and holy crap the strings are old and one of the neck pickups doesn't work but I love it. But those old strings man they are rough, the only reason I haven't replaced them is I don't own the bass and will have to give it back when I get my own, also laziness.
@@Zawmbbeh (assuming Colorado is higher than sea) shouldn't it be very easy for you to breath because you should have more red blood cells at high alt for lower oxygen environments
@Ciggy Mate? Nuh uh! ...Thanks man. What ever would I do without folks like you stating the obvious. I picked up on that by his reply to my first comment, for one. Hell, my first comment was kind of a joke too, "duh!" Anyone who knows what an artificial pinch harmonic is would know that the note's pitch is higher than one could realistically bend the note. Jokes aren't as funny when you have to explain that they are jokes, hence why I went along with it and moved on. So now I have to bounce your own question back at you... Ciggy Mate? Why...
I feel like this doesn't get said enough or maybe that MusicIsWin doesn't even agree, but you absolutely effing shred. Technical and super nuanced with your press and note choices and dynamics. 👍
I went to 8s on my tele and when I mentioned it to a employee at guitar center he looked at me like I was going to destroy the guitar. He tried so hard to convince me that 11s were the way. He was clearly a bit of a metalhead and I understand needing more tension but I've been transitioning into jazz and the light touch really helps. Moral of the story is everybody has their own preference.
ehhh... even for metal riffing you really don't need that kind of tension on the high strings. A lesson i've been learning slowly but surely. Been dialing in my string gauges individually with string joy. I seem to keep heading in a smaller direction on the high strings and a thicker direction on the lows.
@@upliftmofoify Generally the case for acoustic archtops. The jazzmaster tremolo also tends to do better with heavier strings, but ironically the jazzmaster isn't too common for jazz. I don't know too many jazz electric guitarists, but it seems to be as much of a preference as any genre of electric guitarist.
Back in early seventies when I played my first gigs .07 strings were common among progressive style guitarists. I had Gibson Melody Maker and Fender Jazz Master with those and God it was really too easy to bend notes. Strumming was a nightmare.
sillyak wow you take the internet very seriously. If this is how you approach it, you’d better start saving strings too lol Who am I kidding, you’re probably 9yo.
keep in mind that only the high e string was a 0.13 set string, the other strings were from lighter sets. so SRV didnt really play with a WHOLE set of 13s
There’s a lot of misinformation about this. SRV did use *some* 12 gauge strings for a while, he moved around. But he tuned down to Eb, which is basically like moving down a gauge since lower tension. His tech publicly said at the end he was basically using 11s, which at Eb is more like using 10s in standard tuning. The moral of the story is that you don’t have to kill your hands to try to sound like SRV. You just have to get good. I use 10s on a strat but have 11s on my Jaguar.. and the jag is easier to play than the strat because it’s shorter scale length (less tension)
For some paranoia fuel: I've noticed many, many times, my microphone activating while playing GTAV over the last week. I've only ever played single-player story mode, so I don't know why it would be kicking on. Computer confirms, "microphone in use by GTAV." Fun times :P
Well, Billy Gibbons rolls his treble and presence all the way down and boosts the bass which is unusual with Marshalls but that's how you compensate. There's less bass so it over-emphasizes top end. But you could also argue they are more clear and chords ring out crisper. I think the real problem is adjusting your technique. You simply have to play softer and lighter.
I have never actually tried different gauge strings, let alone the lightest in strength. I feel the need to expand and try something new, and strings are definitely a great feeling when they are new!
The first time I lightened up my string gauge I kept going around to everyone I live with -- non-guitar players, the lot of them -- and saying, "push on these strings! Feel how easy they are!"
As a bass player I literally changed the string gauge every time I changed them. Like the first few years of playing I went from the thickest standard strings to the lightest. Testing out different materials aswell and so on. Experimenting with strings is super fun
So you're saying add another variable to a live performance? You practice and get the feel of 13's, then throw that away and lower the string tension? Nonsense, you'll overbend all night...that's if the 7's can hold up live.
Cutting all your strings off your guitar is riiculous. I was in a fire ,causing several skin graft surgeries. I used the fattest strings possible, cuz Metal, and all. Anyway,a year after my surgeries I had to have have my son open my coke cans for me,so even strumming a c chord was painful,physically and emotionally,until I happened upon an old GW Clapton interview,and hearing him talk about.007 strings changed my life. Literally.
I went down to 8s several years ago and don't regret it one bit. Everything is just more dynamic with lighter strings. Might have gone lower, but the little shop near me didn't carry 7s.
@@arcticlark705 actually, not long before the accident he actually had to switch to lower gauges because his hands weren't able to keep up with the 13s he was on. IIRC he was down to some flavor of 10's.
I always used .07 gauge and never had a problem putting them in my guitar. I always used this gauge because of what you're experiencing here: crazy bends without breaking the strings and harmless to your fingers. They're very comfortable.
Thank you so much I've been thinking of trying the super lights ,you have convinced me it's well worth it to have them on at least 1 or 2 guitars lol ❤❤ looks like fun
Being a banjo player, it's absolutely hilarious when I hear guitar players complain about their fingers hurting. With that being said, those strings sound good XD
Interesting. I play banjo too. (I suck at it, but still play.) I haven't really noticed a big difference. The main thing I struggled to get used to is how thin the neck is down near the nut. 😂
@@JakeStrange66 are you playing an open back or resonator? Generally you'll be running a lighter gauge string on a resonator, when switching to open back and playing clawhammer, you can unlock true pain XD They use a heavier gauge string, and the B and D strings are borderline sharp to the touch. I got back into playing a little guitar for jam sessions about 2 years ago and thought to myself "jeez maybe I could've avoided my finger tips becoming cinder blocks by just picking up a guitar"
I switched to .10s years ago and never looked back. Perfect sweet spot for me. I want to feel some resistance in my bends but not too much at the same time. I was tempted to go for thicker low strings but then some bendings become stupidly hard. I like to do a full step bend on the low E from first fret F to G with my index for example, which is still possible with thicker strings, but i don't want to work THAT hard.
@@camiloendara5319 There's heavier. You can get baritone sets that are 14s or 15s and tune them to up to E. Doing that would serve little practical purpose... but it'd make a fun video.
The surprise is the ease in which he bends 2 whole steps. Knowing that I, personally, can really only bend to a minor third if I really work for it, I can see myself going 2 whole steps or higher with ease if I played 7 gauge. For reference, I play 10s.
Performed over 50 years and started having left hand cramps, got very depressed. Did some study and added supplements (potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium) to my diet and went from 10s to 8s. My guitar tech did not want to put the 8s on my Strat, but he did. I haven't looked back. I didn't even know they made 7s but since 8s are working, I will stick with them for now.
I've found a good mix with the Ernie Ball "skinny top heavy bottom" set that has the 3 low end strings at a higher gauge & the 3 high end strings at a lighter gauge so I get both chunk & bendy. Best of both worlds.
I had those on my guitars, but then I discovered that D’addario has the same set and now I have the same gauges but from D’addario They just sound better imo
You gotta try the skinny top beefy bottoms, they're amazing. Obviously you gotta play with the truss rod but the low E sounds like you're playing a telephone wire bro. (For reference they are 10-54
As a kid who started off playing acoustic guitar at an early age, i genuinely thought all guitar strings were just absolutely thick, CHUNKy strings of metal for a long time. Waiting to get an electric and maybe i wont be in pain for longer
One of the problems with 07's is that when you fret notes or chords, you're used to a heavier Guage and you wind up playing slightly out of tune, that is until you become accustomed to them. Note timbre and sustain are also affected by string diameter as well.
I've just tried 09s after playing years with 10s, it's driving me nuts.. at first I wasn't sure what's going on and thought I'm outta tune but then realized muscle memory is the blame
I don't think the tone/sustain argument holds up to testing. Beato did an episode on this and in a blind test the players tended to prefer the sound of the lighter gauges - much to their own surprise. However, you're quite right about tuning. Just fretting hard can cause a note (and especially a chord) to go sharp. Light strings demand a light and precise touch.
yes, slightly out of tune is being generous, this guy is playing out of tune the entire time, all of His bends are flat and lifeless. His ear is terrible, he isn't hitting any of his bended notes in key and his technique is very very sloppy!!!!!
I just switched from 10s to 9s and have been having that problem with open chords mainly. Bending them out of tune when I play them how I always did. You just have to relax more to compensate and the whole reason I switched strings was to make other chord shapes easier, so I haven’t been doing open chords or power chords as much anyway. If I was playing a song that features those heavily, I’d use a different guitar for it
Didn't SRV have to apply glue to his fingers to keep them from being torn up ? I guess copying the style of a guy who was 6'5" and weighed 250 lbs called for extreme measures LOL !
@@davidreineke1758 no he didn't superglue it back on. You basically use superglue to make an artificial callus. It's quite easy. I learned how accidentally when I tried to wipe some glue up. The next time I played, I instantly knew what I could do with that. Artificial calluses.
JC I understand what you are saying and I’ve done that inadvertently after using superglue. But he actually did use it as a “repair “. Here’s a quote from Quora, you can Google it yourself! “It has been documented, in an early biography, that Stevie did actually tear a callous off of one of his fingers during a club gig one night. The club manager found him in his office, during the break, and Stevie was super gluing the callous back onto his finger! Not surprising …”
You're doing locking tuners wrong... You're supposed to slightly unscrew the cap at the back of the tuner to release the 'little bit blocking the hole', and then rescrew it once the string is through. That little bit then locks the string in place...
Different doesn't mean wrong. "Hey Eddy Van Halen you are doing guitar wrong, you are not supposed to tap the notes with your fingers, use a plectrum. "
Yeah he's a good guitarist but he's kind of not knowledgeable on how they work lol Like the video he did on breaking a string while playing. He didn't know how BB kings guitar was stringed.
@@JavaoftheLava I had to explain how to string locking tuners to the 65 year old at my local shop. He said ever since they started becoming popular he would pull the string taught, all the way to in-tune then lock and cut lol. The man is a brilliant musician and tech, he just took "locking" as in they're supposed to lock the string in- tune
as a guy who bought a shitty strat in Mexico and then didn’t have enough money to replace the .07 strings for two years (yes, really), I just am used to them. I’ve adapted them to my style. It’s been four years since I got that Strat, and though I have other guitars now, she’s my go to. Still with .07 strings.
i think the reason for your hands feeling faster is because as us guitarist move are hand to scale up and down on notes, we tend to slide on the string a little and the bigger our strings are, the more friction they make, thats why 0.7 feels to light, and also because it shiny new
A part of my soul dies every time I see somebody just cut all the strings off at the same time Edit: I've avoided continuing to participate in the ongoing thinly veiled name calling that has snowballed under this comment but I'm sick of my inbox filling with ego based drivel ... I suggest you read my latest comment currently near the bottom and just consider the possibility that I may have credentials and experience far beyond what you've considered. One last time: it's 100% possible and mostly happens with antique guitars I personally have ruined a guitar this way and that is why my soul dies when I see it because I have to think of what I did. I have the equivalent of a college education in building guitars.
@@vlnvlaclogbaerhpno it can be.. Neck warping is the biggest worry and it can be adjuated out with the truss rod most of the time but why would you even want to chance that at all when you could just replace the strings one at a time and it completely avoid any chance of warping anything LOL
Time 0:24 answer it depends all on branding, size, and price of the string. For an example behringer strings are beginner strings Time 1:30 put the very top of the guitar on the floor, put the hole of the tuning meginism facing the floor
Benn playing 8 gauge for years. Prolonged my playing. Some of us have arthritis and other pain in our hands and a lower gauge (which has no impact on tone at all) gives us more life. So they are fun for the average player but a must for some of us.
No doubt! I deal with carpal tunnel and have already had surgery for it once. Seems like I'll need to get it done in both hands again since my fingers are starting to go numb again. Why do I mention this? Because while I can still play 10s for now, 9s are much easier on days when my fingers/wrists are a little sore.
I've gone to .09 on most of my guitars, .095 on a couple, still have 10's on one. I find my vibrato is different on lighter strings, which is why I still have one with the 10's. I have medium bronze on my old Martin 0-18, and with arthritis in my hands, I might go lighter there too, but I still like the tone on that guitar and heavier strings do let me strum harder. BTW, I've been using an old folk remedy that seems to help my hands - golden raisins soaked in gin. Look it up!
I think that the decrease in tension makes up for that. You don’t have to put as much force on the string so that might counter the lack of area to the string.
What JTD said, the string tension is so low that it doesn't take any force to fret or bend. I have tried the .007s, that were used in this video, but I find .008s are where I'm most comfortable
Surprisingly no. They feel just like normal strings (obviously thinner) and the sound is pretty pleasant. I had them on my strat for half a year and they were great. The only disadvantage I can think of with 7s is that you don’t exercise your finger strength enough. When I replaced them with 11s I took me about 3 weeks to work up my finger strength. Now I’m addicted to 11s but I’ll definitely try 7s again.
Golduck Rogers G tuning? 😳 I’m too scared to tune that high. I bet they would break on a half step bend lmao, but if they didn’t then they would probably slice your fingers.
I remember trying 7s when they first issued out Billy’s pack… it just reinforces the fact that tone is in the fingers and the magic is how you play. That said, a good wide band EQ is super helpful and can help by adding a bit more hair to the sound that thinner strings have. Rock on!
First time finding this channel and I gotta say watching you genuinely enjoy playing that much was a real treat. I’m just getting started with guitar and I’ve hit the point where it’s not quite as rewarding as it was the first couple months as my growth has slowed down. Thanks for the inspiration!
That happens man. When your skill growth slows Let your riff pattern creations begin. Create new rhythms ect. When my Skill Growth slowed i allowed my creativeness explore and experimentation always opens up the mext level of skill required. Hope that is rellivant and helps ya abit dude.
I've played 8s for YEARS... you train yourself to go easily with both hands. I think it's made my playing more sensitive and precise... and saved my arthritic hands from an early retirement.
