How to String an Electric Guitar For Dummies 

Me: plays guitar for 12 years Also RU-vid at 3 in the morning: how to change strings for dummies

If you are a beginner and don't know what video to choose, please use this one. I broke my strings using the other videos from what looked like more "professional" channels. This works nice and easy!

I got drunk and put bass stings on instead

Hi if you're reading this, I just restrung my first electric guitar, and I have some lessons for ya: 1. make sure you dont do more than 3 winds around the post, I found out that my high E breaks after 3 :/ 2. MAKE SURE TO STRETCH YOUR STRINGS! 3. make sure it's a bit loose when you enter the string through the post, you dont want it to be very tight, you want to be able to stretch the string upwards, if it's tight and you try to tune it it will split. 4. you can do it, it's not impossible I promise c: Edit: I have a stratocaster, and I used 10 gauge d'addario strings

"restringing an electric guitar is easy, because the hardware of the guitar is designed to make it easy." floyd rose: haha, bitch you thought.

Just changed the strings for the first time, my guitar sounds killer. Thanks for the video, it worked perfectly.

been playing guitar for over 10 years but still gotta consult a tutorial everytime i change my strings (once after many months because i only play guitar when I'm gonna record something). This guy made it so simple (cuz i'm a dummy) that I probably won't forget. thank u :)

I find this difficult to do with cats around.

240p, we meet again.

Does this work with a trombone? Please help

Can't thank you enough for this video. When I asked my guitar-playing friend how to fix my broken strings, he made it sound like it was some big ordeal. This made it doable in less than half an hour (all 6 strings). One thing that 'might' be worth mentioning, some guitars (like mine, apparently) have those holes through which you thread the string in the back of the body, not on the front like in the video. Either way, this was greatly helpful, thank you!

This is so much easier than I thought it would be lmao

"Restringing an electric guitar is pretty easy, because the hardware of the guitar is designed to make it easy" Unless it has a Floyd Rose

I have played for years and I couldn't string a guitar. This has tormented my soul. I watched this video and cracked it. I have played in bands etc and I always got someone to do it for me or paid a guitar tech at a store. Lol. Now I can finally do it myself and I have taught my son who has just started to learn guitar. Brilliant video. Clear and to the point. Thank you. All that wasted money lol. Oh well. I got there eventually.

Thanks a lot! I'm playing live this week with a Les Paul Special. First time playing it and I wasn't exactly sure how to change a busted string on it, but thanks to your tutorial, now I do. Thanks again, Mike

Crazy 14 year old video still teaching me things. I was taught by a buddy in highschool how to string my guitar and have been doing it that way ( the wrong way) since. Lately I have been having a issue with my strings not lasting as long as they should and a guy at my local guitar center told me that it could be the way im stringing my guitar. So I found this video and so far these are the longest lasting strings that I have had. So I needed to spent the time to come back and thank this video. Helped out a ton

I don’t appreciate being called a dummy however, I really appreciate this video..... because I’m a dummy

Thanks for this video! I apparently haven't been leaving enough slack when I restring my guitars, so this has been very informative for me.

Seriously, thank you for the simple instructions without putting a whole bunch of info we didn’t need. Much appreciated!

I've been playing guitar for 3 years now, and finally I learnt how to change strings now... nice video man, thanks!

For those of you whose strings are breaking, just make sure you don't tune it too fast :) Be especially delicate with the last 3 strings.

13 years later, still a great video.

1:26 Thank you so much, that tension slack part is very important if you haven't changed strings before, I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what I was doing wrong as I wasn't getting any windings around the post!. As usual, the internet is filled with allot of people talking shit but never really saying anything that matters, Thanks again.

Thanks for making it so clear. It may sound naff but I love my guitar and I've heard a few stories of people ruining theirs whilst re-stringing, so I was a little flaky about doing this myself. The guitar's now re-strung and sounds as good as ever. Cheers.

I tried this and ended up burning my house down.

Best instructional video. I'm no pro but have had a guitar for a few years. Whenever I need to change strings I come back here to make sure I do it right. I don't play much but my strings last me around a year.

Great video - it’s not that I haven’t changed guitar strings countless times before, but having locking tuners most of my playing career has made things easy. Now that I finally got around to changing the strings on my acoustic with non-locking tuners, I had to turn to the internet for guidance. This was a big help - thank you!

I ruined a set of strings today learning how to do this lol

never stringed a guitar before it helped, thanks

So glad I found this video. Just bought a used guitar that I want to clean without replacing the strings because they're still good, but every other video has mentioned clipping the old strings so they come off easier, but I just needed this video, told me how to unstring and restring without having to cut anything. Thank you sooo much.

good tutorial /well done and well illustrated as well.THANK YOU for posting!

tfw for dummies' restringing guide is better than fender's one

I have always done it the way shown in this video, but I have recently seen people suggesting a better way would be to make a loop to secure the string to itself around the post. It's supposed to keep it more secure, and make it less likely to come out of tune

That's ace! Totally clear & understandable. And easy, as it turns out! Thanks

thank you so much, this was very helpful since i've never done this before and there was no un-needed intro

If you stop at 0:25 you figured out how to be a djent guitarist.

Thank you so much! My friend showed me this. Now I dont have to go to the guitar center every time just to get it restrung!

You make it look so easy. Thank you for a perfect lesson.

Been watching this as reference for years. Love it. Thank you!

Christ, I've watched about every video on changing strings and still can barely string my guitar, i have zero clue why i struggle with it so much.

Published in 2009 and I’m watching in 2019

thank you so much! the technique of wrapping the end of the string around the tuning machine is perfect

Very clear no unrequired clap trap,his guitar, bridge saddle adjustments and guitar action video is also highly recommend for the dummies amongst us.

I don't know if anybody else mentioned it, but a general rule of thumb for how much slack you would need is you would measure to the next tuning peg. that should be enough to make enough revolutions around the head of the peg that you're running the string through to not have too much wrapped around the peg (which looks hideous 🤣) or too little to keep it tightly wound.

dammit i didn't have one of those wire cutters so i just grabbed any scrissors i could find around the house. now all the scissors we have a visible chip in their blades lol. and that tiny first string is still intact. guitar strings are surprisingly tough!

Thank you for this tutorial, super informative and easy to digest, keep up the awesome, I am subscribed 🤙

Thank you you were the best lesson I could find.No one described how to put the string on like you.You had the best video

Don't pull out the old string like he does or you might scratch the finish on your guitar. Do it carefully!

This was SO easy to follow. Very helpful, thank you! 🙌🙌🙌

Thank you so much for this awesome video. crystal clear, and I re-stringed my electric guitar for the first time :)

so super easy!!! I was having problems with one of the strings...and the end bit of this with stretching the string of the tutorial helped me a lot! thanks for this! :-) xx

Really helped.

you know how youtube started putting "recommended for you" videos on the right side? "how to string an electric guitar for dummies" - "recommended for you" I got pwned by youtube

Thanks for the help. Trying to learn how to play myself. Needed to know this. Thanks guy.

thanks for posting this video. i recently broke my high E string and was able to get it nice and tight with about 3 and a half winds around the post after watching how you guide each wrap downwards with your finger. now i can go back to jamming out :)

Instructions not clear enough, I set my community pool on fire. It's just a big hot tub now.

now you have a friend in the diamond company

Thank you brother great video, simply & straight to the point. really appreciate it.

Yo dont know if you will see this but thank you so much I watched many other videos and one from a good brand and I broke a string withing 60 seconds of this video I changed 2 strings thank you so much man this was really helpful

now you have a friend in the diamond business. lol read this in his voice. sounds the exact same

Maybe a good tip for beginners aswel is that you'll have to do it one by one! If you just cut through your strings or loosen all of them up too fast the pressure change will be high and not good for your guitar.

Awesome tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

Had I watched this before trying, I'd have four more strings.

Great video! Keeps it simple yet complete. And doesn't have to rely on one those tuning crank things which I don't have. Other videos I watched were not helpful.

Only issue I have is which way to wind the string, I think you go above the original positioning then every one after that goes under the original positioning and he even says that, but in the video continues winding above. Any help?

What does he mean by "you want each new wind to wind downward toward the head stack rather than upwards"? 2:04

Grear tutorial, very well made, well spoken and understandable, its what i just needed!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was so done with going to my local guitar center and spending 50 dollars to getting it restrung AND having to wait 4-5 days for them to finish I only needed to restring my high E and it’s not the prettiest where the knob is but it gets the sound I want and need so works for me😂 THANK YOU!

I see on some videos that the individual wound the tuning heads in a clockwise manner and some do it counter-clockwise. Does it matter which direction this is done or not?

What you are calling the 'bridge' is not the bridge, it's the 'stop-tailpiece; it's job is to anchor the strings. The 'bridge' supports the the string-saddles, and it's the item closest to the Pickup!

Great vid! Much thanks! Side note(no pun intended): A simple video like this goes a long way, even 14 years later.

You know...this is the best tutorial i could ever find..really good tutorial man..

I don't really like changing my guitar strings

why didn't I just watch the 4 minute video before destroying my only strings

This was a very simple and direct video. Thank you for this🍻

Great, simple, right to the point with a few do's and don'ts

He says it should be wrapped around two to three times, so I kept tightening, and snap! Just broke my replacement string. Not sure if it was something I did wrong, but viewers beware.

Okay, still out of my league

Perfect video this guy waists no time and is very clear with instructions thank you so much

Such a good vid spot on exacly what i needed as i have just snapped my first string so gonna give this a try

Shit..intructions not clear. Ended up outside in a unicorn costume chasing rabits around.

He doesn't explain that you gotta leave a lot of slack when you first start threading it round the peg because I think I just ruined mine by only rapping around once :/

I haven't strung up a guitar in years and used this video to re-learn it. I found I was using way too may wraps. A person commented that a good way to measure how much string is to use the distance to the next tuner. That gave me almost exactly 3 wraps on each string. Thanks for the video. What would we do without these teachers?

thanks man! i was concerned with the length of the video but you actually got straight to the point without unnecessary talk. i like that XD

I broke my strings 🤡

AGH thank god new strings only cost $5

Instructions made pretty simple. Thanks a lot. I'm fairly new to guitar.

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for.

Broke a string. Thanks

Instruction not clear. I broke my G string.

You, sir, are the only guy who has managed to teach me how to put on a string!

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It helped me alot.

"Tuning machine"

Do not turn the "B" string too many times. The string will break and you will have to get more strings. I am speaking from experience

Wow this guys voice is just so amazing

Cool! Thank you very much. I was about to call "Dr. Strings". Also, you gave me a good idea to use a roll of TP for the head to rest. I don't know if that was a roll of TP, but it sure looked like one to me. Thanks again.

Goddamn it but thats a Gibson not a Fender!

i would just like to say in my own opinion: you shouldnt add "dummies" to the name. i know its giving a meaning as in for people who dont understand but its still not right. Nobody is dumb and nobody is smart, stop labeling people as for instence if someone called you stupid you would be a little upset but if someone called you smart you would be proud. Is smart the #1 label you wanna go by? I think not. As I should say again, This is MY OWN opinion.

Best restring tutorial I have seen....thank you!

Nice video! Straight to the point and easy to follow (y)