Some electric guitar strings are made out of other metals, such as cobalt, titanium, and copper, but those are hard to find, expensive, and used by far fewer players. Acoustic Guitar String Types Have a cleaning solution and a cloth or a rag ready to clean your strings. There are some people who prefer to use a paper towel, a dry dish towel, a clean cloth diaper, or a microfiber cloth.

Attention!While you can use nylon strings on acoustic guitars, do notuse metal strings on classical guitars. Classical guitars are more lightly braced than acoustic guitars and the increased tension of steel strings could very likely rip them apart. Guitar String Sizes Also clean your strings before your sessions, if you feel the need to. If you happen to let your instrument to sit exposed to the open air or it’s been a long time since you’ve played your instrument, you may want to consider wiping down your strings before you use it. This correlation between the string gauge and tension is worth bearing in mind when considering how gauges affect the guitar’s tone and the instrument’s playability.You can trust Guitar Player. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. Lighter strings are great for string bending, easy playability, and bright tone. Metal shredders and beginner players look no further!

You may not notice it, but fingers have lots of dirt. Even if you wash your hand prior to playing, you are prone to sweat. Heavy gauge strings, on the other hand, are favored by electric guitarists and those who play in heavier styles. As you might expect, medium-tension strings sit somewhere between the two. For the uninitiated, these are as good a place to start as any. But with some brands offering mixed-tension sets, plus extra-hard and extra-light sets, there’s plenty of opportunity to experiment. Any cloth or paper product will work for your purposes, but you do want to make sure that it’s a clean, dry, and soft cloth. When using a cleaning solution, make sure that you spray or apply the cleaning solution onto the rag and not directly onto your guitar or onto the strings of your guitar. The final type of acoustic guitar strings are called compound strings or silk and steel strings. These are metal-wound nylon or silk strings. The softer core of nylon or silk results in lower string tension and a gentle sound with less high-end punch.

By not cleaning your strings after every time you play them, you’re going to cause extra stress to your strings, which I turn is going to shorten the life span of your strings.