Change Your String Gauge For BETTER Tone? - Here's What I Recommend!

Change string gauges based on feel, and playing style, not for tone - save that for your amp :) What is your favourite string gauge? What amp do you dream of owning?

Old -Darrell Braun Guitar. New - Darrell Braun Amplifier.

High E 9 Gauge String: Me: prays before winding it up

I’m 54, so my hearing is bad enough that I can’t, for the life of me, hear the difference between string gauges. I can definitely tell the difference in adjusting the eq on my Katana MKII. Great video!!!! Thanks!!!!

I just want to say thanks, for taking time out of your day to teach some really good pro tips that we intermediate/newbs need

For me string gauge has always been about tension and feel. The other week I was selling my Jackson DK2M, and a guy came over to try the guitar. Before even plugging it in, he got it in his hands, and just said, "oh no it feels too firm". I had 10.5 - 48 strings in standard E tuning, so I tried explaining that, but he just went "no this guitar doesn't feel good", and almost didn't buy it. But, I got an old used set of 9-42s that I hadn't thrown away yet, we swapped the strings, and then he played the guitar for like 20 seconds and said it's perfect, and bought it...

String gauge is all about the feel for bends and runs. An often overlooked aspect is the pick impact and response. Definitely a must to explore what is going to work for you.

I had a MIJ Strat and a cheap Gorilla amp when I was in high school in the mid 90's. I never really liked the sound. The music teacher at my school let my try my guitar through his Peavey Studio Pro and it sounded great. That was my lightbulb moment. My guitar was fine, I just needed a better amp.

Great vid. I’ve been playing 10-52 forever and just recently tried putting some 9s on my PRS SE. Really enjoying the difference in feel of the strings and ease of bending. Def a great idea to try different gauges to find what’s right for you!

I travelled that road last year. I'd used the same strings for many years and after learning what some other artists used I wanted to see if some change would "improve" sound/tone. I tried sveral brands and gauges, which was fun, and I could hear VERY subtle frequency changes but nothing blew me away to the extent of migrating to a new standard. What I did learn was that I was in fact very happy with where I'd already been. Confirming that was a worthy exercise. You hear about what your heros use and begin to think if you're not doing that, you're behind the curve. Nonsense. You MUST find your own comfort zone. You'll be miserable trying to mimic someone else's. I was glad to have that confirmed through this video.

The scale-length and the string gauge are the most underrated topics. Sometimes it’s good to have a little thicker strings for rhythm and normal or little thinner for solos and bending.

You have turned my thinking around on a couple guitar related subjects. This is another one. You open my eyes (ears). Thank you I enjoy your channel a lot. 👍🏻

Darrell I love your informative video's. You are such an upbeat person and very knowledgeable. I take your projects to heart in understanding the different guitars and accessories and how their built and your opinions of various subjects. So easy to follow.

My first guitar had 11-56 already on it. My next guitar had 9-42. I thought I liked the heavier strings until I played the 9's. Now I'm sticking with them. Super Slinky for me. Nice video!

After watching Rhett's and Rick's videos on string gauges, I started checking my guitars with a micrometer and found out I've been playing on 9s on my favorites. It is a feel thing, rather than a sound, that matters, I've realized. Thanks, Darrell.

Best channel. So glad to have discovered it. Massive back catalogue to get through!

Love this channel. Thank you for great content!

Been using the standard ole 10-46 for years. They work for me and I like how they feel under my fingers. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Great content Darrell!

After watching Rick Beato's vid on string gauge, my takeaway was that I didn't need to suffer with 10's or 11's to get good tone. It seemed to me that using lower gauge strings may give you slightly more string differentiation when using gain, but the tone itself didn't change that much. Darrell is just taking that a step further and pointing out what to do if you DO want to change your sound. I would have thought "pickups" first, but he's right...amps, along with their EQ settings, really control your sound. Just listen to any amp modeler to hear the differences. Pickup swaps can bring slight change, especially to dynamics, but bang for the buck tone change happens with the amp (or amp modeler). I've found I can even replicate single coils from my Schecter humbuckers by using the 7 band EQ on my Zoom G5n (which, since I only play at home thru headphones or into a DAW, is essentially functions as my amp).

You give the best value to time spent watching ration on guitar tech YouTube channels ever, I've been following you from years, and i really appreciate the knowledge you shared with us, from building my own guitar with my favorite specs to getting the right guitar for my style to getting the right strings, man you got it all covered for me