Country icon Johnny Cash is noted for his flat-picking rhythm guitar and his heartfelt songwriting, as well as his careworn voice. The man in black nearly always performed with an acoustic guitar, but what strings did Johnny Cash use? Johnny Cash played many guitars throughout his long career, and he played using many different types …
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There have been quite a few iconic blues musicians in the last 50 years or so, but few of them have the cultural reach of Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan’s massive, meaty tone came, in part from his use of equally massive, meaty strings. So what strings did Stevie Ray Vaughan use? After experimenting …
What Strings Did Stevie Ray Vaughan Use? (String Guide) Read More »
If you’ve ever picked up your guitar and been surprised — and maybe a little bit disgusted — at how the strings felt under your fingers, you know that dirty strings aren’t just a cosmetic problem: they can actually slow down your playing. But if you recently cleaned your guitar and the strings are already …
Old, corroded guitar strings are hard to play and sound awful, in part because the rust changes how the strings feel and how they vibrate. But if you find that strings wear out really fast, you might be wondering: Why do my guitar strings rust so fast? Guitar strings tarnish more quickly when exposed to …
Guitarists know that strings can make the last little bit of difference when trying to get just the right sound. If you’re a fan of modern singer-songwriters, for example, and want to capture that sound, you might wonder: What guitar strings does Ed Sheeran use? Ed Sheeran uses Elixir Nanoweb 80/20 Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings, …
Since the dawn of Beatlemania in the early 1960s, through his final album, released posthumously in 2002, George Harrison was an icon of guitar, and his work has influenced generations of players. It’s pretty easy to see some of his collection of guitars, but what about strings? What guitar strings did George Harrison use? Among …
Have you ever noticed that over time your guitar strings might begin to smell bad? While this is undoubtedly annoying, you need not feel like something is wrong with your strings or guitar. I have heard numerous smells described, such as a garlic-like odor, a rich metallic smell, or even something resembling cat urine. Smelly …
Why Do My Guitar Strings Smell Bad? (And How To Solve This) Read More »
From the very beginning of civilization, stringed instruments like the lyre have been part of our culture, and people still play them today. If you picked up lyre, though, what would you use to string it? Can you use guitar strings on a lyre? While you’re going to be better off with a matched set …
That pesky G string. Why does it always seem to be the G string that drifts out of tune before any of the others? Are you just imagining this, or is something actually happening with this particular string? It turns out it is not just your imagination; there is something to this. Of course, the …
When you’re first learning to play guitar, it’s easy to get confused by all of the conventional wisdom out there, especially when it comes to re-stringing and tuning the guitar. Take locking tuners: You’re supposed to wrap you string around some tuner posts, but do you wrap your strings with a locking tuner? You should …
