Thicker strings force you to play/write less complicated music!

  • Thread starter Thread starter redrol
  • Start date Start date

Using thicker strings causes you to play/write less complicated music.

  • Yes

    Votes: 45 100.0%

  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I never thought about it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    45
redrol
redrol
Active member
I've noticed over the years that every time I switch to thicker strings I start playing way way less technically. I suppose its just hard to pull off tricks and whatnot easily because of the force you need to apply. The result is that I play less complicated music but perhaps this isn't a bad thing. Obviously complicated does not equal good.

On the other hand, my tone with thick strings is really much better. Just more meat to the tone all around. Clean stuff sounds more like SRV for sure.. which I like. Of course not everyone can be SRV (not anyone) and play with strings the size of a barbwire fence.

What are your thoughts on string size? [edit] now with poll
 
I play much better with thicker strings. It doesn't change how I write anything though.
 
I never thought about it cos I've never realy played with a low gauge. I started using Skinny Tops Heavy Bottoms and now I use D'Addario .011's. I might try a set of .009's to find out.

Maybe you could use a set of hybrids like the Skinny Tops. Then you will have the thinness and widdleyness for the top three (Squeal Sticks) and the thickness and tone for the bottome three (the Chunk Monks).
 
i used 10-54 in standard before, now i use 9-48 in standard, and 11-54 in B standard. i play the same now as i did when i used the big strings, but i wanted to force myself to stop being so heavy-handed, and the big strings were taunting me to do that LOL can i still do everything on bigger gauges? yes. the only things that change are the tension, and the fact i have to change my picking attack slightly and its harder to bend. does my tone suffer because im using skinnier strings now? i dont think so. its slightly different (less girth), but it sounds just fine and the average person isnt gonna tell a difference. i like my tone as much now as i did then (it has a little more snap to it now, and still has plenty of girth), but i can concentrate on playing lightly and using less force, and that helps with my speed and accuracy, and my gauges are big enough to where i can dig in if i want to and not worry about breaking strings LOL actually i havent broken a string in...years i think, since ive started working on how hard i pick and fret.

it all comes down to what you are most comfortable with in the end, really.
 
i had to vote "no" cuz i'm an ex-bass player...string thickness doesn't really effect me much.
i think maybe at first, it might make you write simpler but once you get used to it...it won't matter.
 
What guages are you playing these days, I'm up to 11's on my strat and it's not slowing me down at all. 11's used to kill me for stuff like SRV and hendrix. I think it's making me a better player.  




       
j666":811d1 said:
i had to vote "no" cuz i'm an ex-bass player...string thickness doesn't really effect me much.
i think maybe at first, it might make you write simpler but once you get used to it...it won't matter.
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Could you elaborate on this, it's not making much sense to me. I don't recall seeing too many bassist pulling off wicked solos and double stop bends and shit so I can't see how that would have anything to do with guitar playing. Also, when SRV was using 13's he said he was not able to floor it the way he did with 10's and 11's and I'm thinking if it slowed him down it's probably going to slow you and me down too, right? I'm assuming that maybe you don't really play anything complicated to begin with, in which case going to any guage string isn't going to make a difference.

Or maybe you are the terminator.
 
ptah":f8842 said:
What guages are you playing these days, I'm up to 11's on my strat and it's not slowing me down at all. 11's used to kill me for stuff like SRV and hendrix. I think it's making me a better player.






Could you elaborate on this, it's not making much sense to me. I don't recall seeing too many bassist pulling off wicked solos and double stop bends and shit so I can't see how that would have anything to do with guitar playing. Also, when SRV was using 13's he said he was not able to floor it the way he did with 10's and 11's and I'm thinking if it slowed him down it's probably going to slow you and me down too, right? I'm assuming that maybe you don't really play anything complicated to begin with, in which case going to any guage string isn't going to make a difference.

Or maybe you are the terminator.
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i'm not the terminator. i don't play leads. however, it's just a hand strength issue. your hands can and eventually will get stronger. have you played a bass before? pick one up...it's pretty tough, but after a while, it's not that big a deal. you get used to it.
obviously, there will be an adjustment period everytime you change gauges...that's a given. but to say you "can't" play as complicated shit on heavier gauge strings is kind of a defeatist way of looking at it.

also, listen to some billy sheehan (david lee roth, steve vai, talas, niacin), stu hamm (solo, gambale, satch), victor wooten (bela fleck), sean malone (cynic, gordian knot), les claypool (primus, sausage) and steve digiorgio (sadus, death, quo vadis, vintersorg)...these guys pull all kinds of crazy solos & "lead guitar-esque" licks. also, listen to "anesthesia" by cliff burton (metallica)...then try to play it...on a bass. :D
 
soc_monki":ced15 said:
i used 10-54 in standard before, now i use 9-48 in standard, and 11-54 in B standard. i play the same now as i did when i used the big strings, but i wanted to force myself to stop being so heavy-handed, and the big strings were taunting me to do that LOL can i still do everything on bigger gauges? yes. the only things that change are the tension, and the fact i have to change my picking attack slightly and its harder to bend. does my tone suffer because im using skinnier strings now? i dont think so. its slightly different (less girth), but it sounds just fine and the average person isnt gonna tell a difference. i like my tone as much now as i did then (it has a little more snap to it now, and still has plenty of girth), but i can concentrate on playing lightly and using less force, and that helps with my speed and accuracy, and my gauges are big enough to where i can dig in if i want to and not worry about breaking strings LOL actually i havent broken a string in...years i think, since ive started working on how hard i pick and fret.

it all comes down to what you are most comfortable with in the end, really.
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You hit the nail on the head. IMO, this whole "thicker strings = TONE" is bullshit. The only thing it does is make the guitar harder to play. The difference is so small that it's not worth the effort of killing your hands. I used 10-52s for 4 years and only recently switched to 9s, and I'm glad I did. My playing is more fluid and my vibrato is better. I can control the strings a lot easier than I could before too.
 
I use 010`s on my ESP (24,75 scale) and Stratocaster, and 009-046 on my Ibanez. What suits the guitar, and what I`m most likely to play when I pick up one or the other. I have no need for using thicker strings, because I don`t want to work harder than I have to to shred. I like the 046 on the Ibby, because I play metal, and it is nice to have a string that can take a little more abuse when riffing :D
 
I've been playing with 11's for as long as I can remember, with brief 10's intermissions. I had been tuning down a half step with the 11's up until about a month ago, now in standard, I actually like the feel and the tension better...I don't know how much the gauge affects the tone, but, I don't think heavier strings have ever made me play differently...

8's and 9's I can't do...I'm to heavy handed for them...too wiggly.
 
I have not noticed a serious difference in tone between different string sizes. People try to tell me that the difference in FEEL amounts to a difference in tone, but that's really pushing it if you ask me.

However, I am a bit heavy handed, and cannot stand strings flopping around, causing fret buzz, and having a loose response to palm mutes, so I do like higher gauge strings on the low E, A, and D for E standard and drop D. I want them pretty damn stiff.

On the higher strings, it doesn't bother me that they're "harder to play," but they do sound kind of strange if you try to do lots of fast tapping. You don't get that sort of blur of notes. It's like they're all sort of staccato, because they aren't flopping around as much. Those strings being sort of floppy (at least in comparison to higher gauge strings) doesn't bother me so much, because it's much easier to keep them from buzzing, as they don't move nearly as much when they're just ringing out, and I'm not totally thrashing away at them.
 
LOL, seems like I play with the lightest strings out of everyone. 9-42s in Standard tuning i.e. industry standard. :oops: I had to re-learn how to play with a real light touch once I started slamming my action and using lighter strings, but I really think it was for the better (for me). I was never a real heavy handed player though.
 
         
Code001":fba95 said:


You hit the nail on the head. IMO, this whole "thicker strings = TONE" is bullshit. The only thing it does is make the guitar harder to play. The difference is so small that it's not worth the effort of killing your hands. I used 10-52s for 4 years and only recently switched to 9s, and I'm glad I did. My playing is more fluid and my vibrato is better. I can control the strings a lot easier than I could before too.
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yup...Vai has said he uses 9-42 strings when his hands are out of shape (im just wondering WHEN are they out of shape??? LMAO!!!!) and his tone is GODLIKE IMO. Malmsteen uses 8-48 (ive heard he has gone up to 9's on the high strings though) and his tone is amazing as well. then you have people who have huge strings (SRV) and their tone is great too. you can get amazing tone with any size string IMO, it all depends on setup and how you EQ your rig.

i used heavy strings because of the fact that when i was younger i broke 9's. then 10's. so i used DR 10-54's and loved them because i couldnt break them! LOL then i realized, after making my CE22's frets pit really bad, that having a heavy handed attack isnt good for your guitar and it really slows you down. once i started relaxing i got faster and more fluid, and when i reduced string gauges it kinda forced me to be light handed, and has helped tremendously with tension in my hands, as well as making me a better player. i still love the tone of bigger strings, they do have a slightly girthier tone, but IMO its not a big enough difference to really matter.
 
soc_monki":9e3b7 said:


yup...Vai has said he uses 9-42 strings when his hands are out of shape (im just wondering WHEN are they out of shape??? LMAO!!!!) and his tone is GODLIKE IMO. Malmsteen uses 8-48 (ive heard he has gone up to 9's on the high strings though) and his tone is amazing as well. then you have people who have huge strings (SRV) and their tone is great too. you can get amazing tone with any size string IMO, it all depends on setup and how you EQ your rig.

i used heavy strings because of the fact that when i was younger i broke 9's. then 10's. so i used DR 10-54's and loved them because i couldnt break them! LOL then i realized, after making my CE22's frets pit really bad, that having a heavy handed attack isnt good for your guitar and it really slows you down. once i started relaxing i got faster and more fluid, and when i reduced string gauges it kinda forced me to be light handed, and has helped tremendously with tension in my hands, as well as making me a better player. i still love the tone of bigger strings, they do have a slightly girthier tone, but IMO its not a big enough difference to really matter.
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You just described my first 2 years bro! I used to use heavier strings because I kept breaking them, so I'd use 10s and sometimes 11s. Hell, I even tried 13s once. When I kept reading up on guitarists like Malmsteen, Vai, Gilbert, etc. etc. who use lighter strings and get god-like tones, I decided to switch as well and didn't look back.
 
         
Code001":251a6 said:


You just described my first 2 years bro! I used to use heavier strings because I kept breaking them, so I'd use 10s and sometimes 11s. Hell, I even tried 13s once. When I kept reading up on guitarists like Malmsteen, Vai, Gilbert, etc. etc. who use lighter strings and get god-like tones, I decided to switch as well and didn't look back.
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well, i used those thick strings for about 10 years LOL and then one day i decided to change things up and see what happened. i went to 9-46 strings, and got some 1.14mm Tortex H3 jazz style picks. i always used the .88mm Green regular tortex picks. well, needless to say, i found something that was much more comfortable for me and my style. all i had to do was up the gauge on the 46 to a 48 and i was set pretty much. now im really happy with my gear :D
 
I used those .88mm tortex picks as well for my first 2 years. Then I switched to 1.5mm picks and now I'm using these Jazz IIIs.
 
I've been using 10-46's since I can remember. Same with Greet Tortex .88mm picks. I tried the Top heavy ernie ball strings, and didn't care for them too much. I use Dean Markley 10's now.
 
i use 9-46 and dunlop jazzIII picks. i used to use really lite picks (yellow tortex) but i felt they were slowing me down and keeping me from being smooth...i switched and it worked wonders!
 
         
Code001":ffe93 said:
I used those .88mm tortex picks as well for my first 2 years. Then I switched to 1.5mm picks and now I'm using these Jazz IIIs.
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man, i picked up a Jazz III the other day, and although it feels nice, its just WAY too slippery when my fingers sweat. the purple Tortex jazz is slippery at first, but grips better when my finger is slightly wet with sweat. so im sticking with them LOL cant say i didnt try though...im always up for experimenting but those plastic picks just dont do it for me :)
 
Im suprised the amount of people that said no. I guess its all about not being a big pussy eh. :whip:
 
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