Take a look at your guitar strings. Are they in good shape? Are they silver and shiny? Are six strings there? If it's been several months since you put new strings on your guitar, or if you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time for a string change.
Guitar strings on the guitar are just like knees on a baby’s jeans: they wear out easy, and should become a regular part of your guitar care routine. Even the oils in your fingers deteriorate the string.
Some people fret over the techniques of replacing their own guitar strings. String changes can be stress-free; it takes little practice, should take only a few minutes per string, and will provide a bright, clear sound from your guitar. Anyone who knows how to play the guitar should know how to perform their own string changes on a basic electric guitar. Many music stores offer restringing for a fee, which can add up quickly if you have a number of guitars to maintain. And the need for a string change can happen at any time, not just when it is convenient to run to a store to have them do it for you.
To begin, collect all of the tools you will need. These include a wire cutter or pair of pliers capable of cutting wire, a thick bath towel to protect your instrument’s finish while on your working surface, and a new set of strings. You will need a tuner for when you have your strings on, so you can tune them. To remove fingerprints and oils from the fret board and off of the finished areas, you will want to use a good guitar polish and a soft cloth. Furniture polish is too heavy, and is inappropriate for your guitar.
Now that you have collected all the necessities, find yourself a flat place to work, such as a table, workbench, or even your floor. This is where your bath towel will be useful. Many guitars are expensive and have handsome finishes on them. You will be moving your guitar around a lot during your string change, so protect that beautiful finish!
There are many techniques for removing the old strings. What works best for me is to loosen the string from the tuning peg and pull it out of the hole. Another option is to loosen the string a few turns with the tuning key and then cut the strings in the middle. Then you can detach the halves individually. Once you have unwound the string, carefully grasp it in your fingers and pull it out from the tuning peg. Be careful with where you hold the string, as the ends are sharp and getting poked by a dirty, rusty string can make your string changing experience quite unpleasant!
Once you have the old string-end off the tuning peg, hold that string up away from the guitar. Now the string should move easily. Take the wire cutters or pliers and cut the curled end off the old string; this makes it easier to unthread out of the bridge. If the ball on the opposite end of the string is held in place by a stop-bar style tailpiece on the top of the guitar, carefully hold the ball end of the string between your thumb and index finger of your free hand. While holding the string with both hands (one on each end of the string), thread the string back through the tailpiece. If your guitar threads the strings through the body from underneath, you will have to gently prop the guitar on its side for this step. You can also hold the guitar upright, if you find it easier, but be careful during this step not to let the string slide along the guitar’s finish itself, as it will easily scratch it.
Now that you have the old string off, open your package of new strings and select the corresponding string gauge for the old string you have just removed. Again, use caution when grasping strings as the ends, particularly the smaller gauge strings, are very sharp and can easily puncture a fingertip. Unwind the string if it is coiled in the package, and now simply reverse the process you used when removing the old string. Thread the open end (the end without the ball) through the tailpiece or up through the bottom of the guitar body, and gently pull it up towards the headstock of the guitar. You may want to hold the ball end of the string with your opposite hand to prevent it from dragging along the body of the guitar and scratching the finish.
Once you have the string pulled through, thread the open end of the string through the hole in the tuning peg. Pull the string so that the ball end of the string is tight against the tailpiece. Place a few fingers between the fret board and the string, making sure there’s a little extra string to wind, and begin to turn the tuner knob away from you, as you tighten the string as if you were actually stretching the string with each turn of the peg. You want to, ideally, end up with at least four tightly wrapped coils around the tuning peg. You may not finish with four coils the first time you change your strings, but you should make sure that there are no overlapping coils around the peg (a sign of too much extra string).
Once you have your new string correctly mounted and resting in the proper groove in the nut and the bridge saddle, use a tuner to slowly raise the pitch of the note until it matches the tuner. When you are sure that your new string is seated and tuned correctly, it is time to cut off the excess string with the pliers or wire cutters. Leave no more than roughly one eighth of an inch of excess string after trimming. The sharp end of metal wire presents a multitude of risks to people standing close to you, and to any bare hands that may be reaching for it.
If you are only changing one string, you are finished. If you are planning a six-string change, simply repeat the process for each string until you have a guitar full of bright, shiny, singing new strings. While it may seem less efficient, it is a good idea to change your strings individually, particularly if you don't have a fixed bridge guitar. This is because the bridge is intended to be in a state of tension from the strings all the time and if you take off all the strings, the guitar won't like it and you can even hurt your instrument.
Hopefully now you understand that changing your own strings is not as time consuming or difficult as you may have thought it to be. When you have a few string changes under your guitar strap, you will create a technique of your own.