How do you change guitar strings? Step by step

How often to change strings

There's no fixed schedule: it depends on how much you play, how much you sweat, and the climate. On the coast or in warmer regions, humidity and salt air corrode steel strings faster than in Bogotá.

Signs it's time for a change

• They sound dull, without brightness or sustain, especially the low strings.
• They won't stay in tune, or sound out of tune at the 12th fret even when the open strings are in tune.
• They look dark, show rust spots, or feel rough when you slide your fingers along them.
• On nylon-string sets, the winding on the bass strings looks worn or separated at the frets you use most.

String gauges and types

For steel strings, gauge is named for the thickness of the first and sixth strings, in thousandths of an inch. Thinner strings are easier to fret; thicker ones give more volume and fullness but demand more from your fingers.

A large change in gauge changes the tension on the neck and may require adjustments to the truss rod, string height, or nut slots. Check with your teacher or luthier first.

What you need and how to prepare

• A new set of the correct type for your guitar.
• Wire cutters or large nail clippers for the excess string.
• A string winder: optional, but it saves time, and many include a bridge-pin puller for acoustic guitars.
• A tuner; you can use the online guitar tuner.
• A cloth, plus any supplies you need to clean the fretboard.

All at once or one at a time?

Changing one at a time maintains tension on the neck and lets you see how the old string was fitted. It's easiest for beginners and essential on electric guitars with floating bridges. Removing all the strings lets you clean the fretboard thoroughly, and is fine on a fixed-bridge guitar as long as you don't leave it unstrung for days. We explain cleaning in how to clean and care for an acoustic guitar.

One safety rule: always loosen the string before cutting it. A steel string cut under tension springs back forcefully and can injure your face or eyes.

Step by step: acoustic and electric guitars (steel strings)

1. Turn the tuning peg until the string is loose, then unwind it from the post.
2. Remove it from the bridge. On acoustics with bridge pins, use a pin puller rather than pliers to avoid scratching the bridge. On electrics, the string comes out through the bridge or the back of the body.
3. Thread the new string through. On an acoustic, insert the ball end (the end with the ring) into the hole, fit the pin with its groove facing the string, and pull the string up slightly as you push the pin down. This seats the ball against the wood inside rather than leaving it perched on the pin's tip.
4. Bring the string to its tuning peg, thread it through the post's hole, and pull it straight. Then allow about 5 to 7 centimeters of slack for the thick strings, a little more for the thin ones.
5. Bend the end and turn the tuning peg so the wraps spiral down the post. The string should run straight from the nut without rubbing against other posts; on three-a-side headstocks, it runs along the inside, between the two rows of tuning pegs.
6. Tune close to the target note, check that the string is in its slots at the nut and bridge, and trim the excess, leaving half a centimeter.

Two or three wraps on the wound strings and four to six on the plain strings are enough. With too few, the string slips; with too many, the wraps overlap and the tuning shifts.

If your electric guitar has a floating bridge

Change one string at a time and retune all of them several times, because tightening one tilts the bridge and lowers the pitch of the others. If it's a Floyd Rose-style system with screws that lock the strings at the nut, ask your teacher or a luthier to show you the process the first time.

Step by step: classical guitar (nylon)

1. Loosen and remove the old string. Untie the bridge knot rather than cutting it against the wood.
2. Thread the new string through the bridge hole, from the sound-hole side toward the back, leaving about 6 to 8 centimeters of excess.
3. Bring that end back over the bridge, pass it under the string itself to form a loop, and tuck it under itself once or twice more, close to the back edge of the bridge. On the plain treble strings (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), which are smooth and slippery, make three passes or tie a small knot at the tip.
4. Pull the long section of string so the knot tightens against the bridge edge, without the tip touching the top.
5. At the headstock, thread the string through the roller hole, loop it around itself once to lock it, and wind so the string comes over the top of the roller and the wraps hold down the locked end.
6. Tune, check that the string is in its slot, and trim the excess, leaving one centimeter.

A classical guitar's top is thin: keep the knot's end from striking the wood as you tighten, and never let a loose string snap against the top.

How to stretch and tune new strings

New strings stretch during the first few hours, so they keep going out of tune. You can speed up the process:

1. Tune every string to its note, always approaching from below: if you overshoot, loosen it a little and tune up again. This keeps the tuning mechanism engaged.
2. Hold each string near its midpoint with your thumb and index finger, and gently lift it a few centimeters away from the fretboard, working along its length. Don't jerk it or pull near the bridge.
3. Retune: you'll notice the pitch has dropped.
4. Repeat two or three times, until the pitch barely shifts.

Steel strings settle in one or two sessions. With nylon, expect several days of frequent retuning; the treble strings stretch the most. If standard tuning is still tricky for you, we explain it string by string in how to tune a guitar.

Common mistakes

• Misjudging the slack: too little lets the string slip; too much fills the post with wraps.
• Winding the wrong way: the string crosses over and that tuning peg turns in the opposite direction to the others.
• Not checking that the string is seated in its nut slot.
• Pulling hard on a new string to “stretch it quickly”: it can break or shift the bridge.

Your acoustic guitar or electric guitar teacher can guide you through your first change during a lesson; after two or three changes, you'll do it in about fifteen minutes.

Frequently asked questions