What are the best guitar strings?

What are guitar string gauges and tensions?

This is one of the most important aspects that must be clear when purchasing a guitar, the sound and comfort of the musician who will play depends on them.

Depending on their manufacture, tension or gauge, their sound may vary, and we can find them in nylon or steel.

Strings for acoustic guitar and electroacoustic guitar.

The strings for this type of guitar are available in nylon and steel, both types are measured by tension or gauge.

Nylon strings: the recommended strings for people who are new to the guitar are these, their material is a great ally for the fingers of students and musicians. When you start playing the guitar, your fingers, not being used to it, tend to hurt or feel discomfort while adjusting to the strings, which is why it is ideal to start with nylon strings, as they are the friendliest to the touch on your fingers.

• Ideal for: not only are nylon strings for beginners, their material is ideal for some musical genres, given the characteristics of the sound.

• Rhythms with nylon strings: genres such as boleros, aisles, Colombian music and classical music, among many others, are musical rhythms that become familiar with the sound and characteristics of this type of strings.

• Tension in nylon strings: tension is characterized in three groups, normal or low, medium tension and high tension.

1. Low tension: these are strings with a lower volume and bass sounds, given their tension allows them to be adaptable to any type of guitar, from studio type to professional ones.
2. Medium tension: These are standard for people who are just beginning to familiarize themselves with the instrument.
3. High tension: they are ideal for medium and high range guitars, given their tension they are not recommended for student range, the tension they provide can lift the bridge of the guitar. Being ideal for high and medium range, the musicians who use them are those who have skill and want a specific rhythm, of course it is not a norm, the selection of the high tension is for taste and/or for the sound that desires the musician among many characteristics that the musician can find in this tension. (It is very common for Spanish guitars to have these strings to play flamenco).

Steel strings: steel strings are preferred by professionals and non-professionals, their construction material is not recommended for guitarists who have a first approach to the instrument, since when the instrument is played with this type of strings it can hurt the fingers. since the fingers are not yet adjusted to that type of string.

• Ideal for: although it is not a written law, many musical genres are performed using steel strings, for example: rock, pop and the different variants of pop.
• Gauge in steel strings: while in nylon strings their thickness in tension is categorized, in steel strings it is known as gauge, being a reference to know the thickness we want to use.

1. The caliber is found on the market from .10, the thinnest, to .13. This number refers to the first string, from there a number is given to the others.

• Coating: many steel strings have a coating, either copper or phosphor bronze, depending on the type of coating it can change: the sound, the brightness and having more or less body.

Steel strings and their gauge, and nylon strings and their tension, there is no law that establishes who or for what genres they should be used, it all depends on the musician and how he feels about them.

Electric guitar strings

They are made of steel material and just like electroacoustic guitar strings come by gauge, the strings can come in smooth or corrugated.

• Coating: the ropes come in a corrugated coating or known as Round Wound, or we can also find them as smooth Flat Wound ropes
• Caliber: the numbers for caliber range from .08 to .13, their thickness depends on the comfort of the musician, in addition to the tone they are looking for in the guitar, for example: .08 tend to be brighter, while . 13 are more midrange, with bass frequencies.

It is important to know that the gauges, tensions and types of strings are relative in their use, there is nothing written that tells us which string should be used for that type of player (professional or student) or that rhythm.