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So I got my first acoustic for Christmas... (Need strings, please help!)

Sivart

Location: Ohio

Joined: Aug 31 2009

The thing's downright beautiful and has a nice, crisp sound to it (It's a Seagull). The only problem is... I can't play .12s. At all. My hands are tiny and I can't even barre all the strings, so the quality of my playing of fingerstyle has... well, dropped a fair bit since I switched over from my Les Paul.

Does anyone have an idea of some lighter gauge strings I should try? Are .10s too low?

It might seem like I've never realllly been here before until just recently, but I've actually been around for awhile... but I've been mostly lurking. And posting a tab or two.

Submitted on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 12:10

See youplay

TomorrowsSeeker

Joined: Dec 08 2011

I would like to see you play to help impove your finger job.
And please quote and fill out these questions:

1) How long (Years/Days) have you played Guitar now?
2) Why do you want to learn Guitar?
3) Have you posted your story at Guitar Story: What's yours? in Guitar Talk Forum -_-

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Submitted on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 23:08

You can try silk & steels.

auriplane

Joined: Sep 06 2008

You can try silk & steels. They're the same size, but lower tension ^-^ Some people don't like the way low tension acoustic strings sound, though.

I like these:

Of course, I kind of suck, so take my opinion with a grain of salt :-)

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Auriplane!!

Submitted on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 23:14

BTW, you could just keep

auriplane

Joined: Sep 06 2008

BTW, you could just keep playing until you can play the strings you've got @_@;

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Auriplane!!

Submitted on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 23:15

AW MAN I LOVE SEAGULL GUITARS

Lemoncobbler

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Location: SoCal

Joined: Dec 22 2010

AW MAN I LOVE SEAGULL GUITARS CAN I SEE A PICTURE OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATURE

Submitted on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 23:18

You will get more finger

Giogiogio4

For all the dreamers: Our planet's dream is not over yet...

Joined: Jun 10 2010

You will get more finger strength!

I play on standards while my friends are like 2 gauges lower.

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Latest Recording:Man of the World

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 00:03

ooooo my hands so small and

surreal

Eric: tank,godlike

Location: Arizona

Joined: Jan 04 2009

ooooo my hands so small and tiny and can't play dem big bad strings

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 00:48

Re: ooooo my hands so small and

Giogiogio4

For all the dreamers: Our planet's dream is not over yet...

Joined: Jun 10 2010

no excuses.
my first teacher was barely 5 foot. he had fat short fingers. and played like a god.

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My Art for sale! : Here

Latest Recording:Man of the World

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 03:56

Sivart said The thing's

karathrow

Joined: Oct 26 2010

Sivart said

The thing's downright beautiful and has a nice, crisp sound to it (It's a Seagull). The only problem is... I can't play .12s. At all. My hands are tiny and I can't even barre all the strings, so the quality of my playing of fingerstyle has... well, dropped a fair bit since I switched over from my Les Paul.

Does anyone have an idea of some lighter gauge strings I should try? Are .10s too low?

It might seem like I've never realllly been here before until just recently, but I've actually been around for awhile... but I've been mostly lurking. And posting a tab or two.

You can swap to a lighter gage of string but long term you will regret it. The sound is noticeably crappier.

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 05:42

MAN UP and laugh at those

RexLeRouge

IMPACTO

Joined: Aug 15 2008

MAN UP

and laugh at those wusses who play light gauged strings

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 11:20

I heard surreal loves dem

StrangeJam

Da Manliness

Joined: Aug 23 2009

I heard surreal loves dem Elixirs

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Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 11:37

Re: Sivart saidThe thing's

Bhael

Location: Newcastle, UK

Joined: Feb 18 2010

karathrow said

You can swap to a lighter gage of string but long term you will regret it. The sound is noticeably crappier.

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Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 12:55

Re: MAN UPand laugh at those

Hakoria

Laon King

Location: gmt+1

Joined: Apr 03 2011

RexLeRouge said

MAN UP

and laugh at those wusses who play light gauged strings

Words of wisdom. A lot of people said this, but frenchy said it the best.
Since you said "first acoustic", you played on a classical or electric (or both) before? Acoustic is the way to go to strengthen your fingers and grip, so work out those barred chords, and in half a year they'll be a piece of cake on any guitar (pathetically easy on electric mainly). It being easy will make you play better since you won't be stressing over it at all anymore.

And seagulls are hot.

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 13:26

Hmm this thread made me

SalemJenet

Joined: Sep 22 2011

Hmm this thread made me wonder what gauge I use...
I just buy strings and don't care what brand or gauge are they.

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 15:30

Lower gauges don't sound like

Jacob31593

Location: Tampa, FL

Joined: Jan 04 2009

Lower gauges don't sound like shit, I like to think they are more bloopy while higher gauges are more growly

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 15:34

IMO

wayfaerer

"Embrace your dreams."

Location: The Lifestream

Joined: Apr 03 2011

again, as in damn near everything discussed in the forms here, its a matter of preference; it all depends on what you like to play, and what sound you prefer to be getting out of your strings. i for one play ernie ball custom gauge, however, thats for my electric. medium-heavy all the way for my acoustic--i generally use thicker picks (.78 acoustic/1.00 electric), thus the light gauge strings just aint doin it for me, they break to damn easy with my style of play.

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Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 15:56

i play rhythm guitar with

Jacob31593

Location: Tampa, FL

Joined: Jan 04 2009

i play rhythm guitar with small strings and small picks, SUE ME
i have 9s right now
i used 13s once, my nut was too small though :$

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 16:04

With the acoustic guitar I

fatalfable

Location: New York, New York City

Joined: May 13 2009

With the acoustic guitar I personally believe everyone should work their way up to 12 or 13 gauge strings because it will benefit so many ways and make other areas in guitar so much easier. Buy yourself a set of 11 gauge strings. From the sound of it you don't have much hand strength. So work with 11 gauge strings for about 4-6 months. Then when that seems to be natural for you get yourself a set of 12 gauge and use those for about a year maybe two till that feels like 10-11 gauge strings. At that point its really up to you if you wanna work your way up to 13 but you get the idea.

As for string brands I always use D'addario EJ16 Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-53. I have had 3 back to back attempts with elixer strings both coated and uncoated. 2 sets broke in a week and one Broke in 2 weeks. Always the G string breaks. I change my tunings very often with my acoustic so i need them to be able to handle it and ill never buy elixer again. Either way get some D'addarios. I trust them for my electric and acoustic strings. Classical is a different story :p

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Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 18:25

I can't remember what gauge I

yashakenkyaku

Joined: Nov 24 2009

I can't remember what gauge I started with, but I wound up playing mediums on my acoustic. o.0 I think I went with a lighter gauge on my 12-string (while I had it). The 12-string helped immensely in building my finger-strength ('cause it had higher action ;_; ). You might want to work your way up to them as Fatalfable said. >.>

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 18:26

Well, everyone may not like

auriplane

Joined: Sep 06 2008

Well, everyone may not like the tone from lower tension strings. Though the silk and steels I use *are* 13s :-) So they're not technically thinner, but I think it works out to the same thing.

I recorded some fairly bad improv, just so you can hear what the strings sound like. (My acoustic recordings all used the piezo, but a piezo pickup doesn't actually sound like a guitar, so I wanted to record something with a mic to show what the tone is like. This is one of my first times using the mic though!!)

Anyway, you can hear that the strings are slightly old, but I still think they sound nice. You can make up your own mind! I'm not too good at guitar, but I have enough finger strength to play with normal strings. I just like these!!

http://auriplane.net/terrible.mp3

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Auriplane!!

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 19:55

Re: With the acoustic guitar I

Lemoncobbler

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Location: SoCal

Joined: Dec 22 2010

fatalfable said

2 sets broke in a week and one Broke in 2 weeks. Always the G string breaks. I change my tunings very often with my acoustic so i need them to be able to handle it and ill never buy elixer again.

OH MY GOD WHY
SO MANY BROKEN G STRINGS

Submitted on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 22:14