Best Electric Guitar Strings

Players who are serious about their guitar tone are always looking for the best electric guitar strings. Some strings sound thin and tinny, and some are too flat and don't project enough sound. In addition to sound, other factors make some guitar strings better than others. One important factor is the life of the strings. The better the guitar strings, the longer they last and the less often you have to go through the hassle of changing them. Another factor is playability. Some types of electric strings feel silky smooth on your fingers while others have a harsher feel. Some of the feel discussion comes down to personal preferences, but in the end most guitar players tend to agree on which are the absolute best electric guitar strings. This article will introduce you to some of the highest quality strings on the market and tell you a bit about each model to give you an idea of what the strings are like.

Sometimes in life, the things that cost the most money are better than cheaper varieties of the same product. Sometimes this isn't the case at all, but generally speaking, this adage certainly applies to guitar strings. The bottom shelf strings that only cost a few dollars are usually (but not always) the strings that break quickly, feel rough in your hands and lose their tone shortly after you string up your guitar. Some of the strings that will be covered in this article are two or three times more expensive than other strings you can buy, but you are here because you want the best, so the best is what you will get.

The newest innovation in guitar strings is the coated string. These strings cost a bit more than regular, run of the mill guitar strings, but they promise better tone, a longer life and smoother play. They continue to grow in popularity, so it seems that guitarists feel that they deliver on this promise. Following are some brands of coated strings.

• Elixir Strings – Elixir is the company responsible for bringing coated strings to the market. In 1995, they decided to take a design that hadn't seen any significant changes in decades and improve upon it. They were trying to come up with a way to reduce the amount of residue that guitar players leave behind when they play guitar. This residue includes oils, dirt, sweat and dead skin, and it is responsible for the corrosion of the metals on your strings causing them to lose their tone and feel and eventually break. The engineers at Elixir introduced something called polytetrafluoroethylene as a coating on their strings. After a lot of research and quality assurance testing, the company settled on a formula that did the trick. These strings last three to five times longer than traditional strings, and they sound fantastic.

• Ernie Ball – In 2008, legendary string company Ernie Ball got into the coated string game. Their technique differs slightly from Elixir's in that the Ernie Ball Strings are coated with a thin layer of enamel. This provides a slightly different sound and feel than other coated strings that many guitar players really enjoy.

• DR Strings – The folks at DR Strings have taken the coated string philosophy and had some fun with it. The extra life strings offered by DR Strings are available in a variety of gauges and colors. That's right. You can get a set of hot pink guitar strings here. Also available are red, green, black, blue, yellow and white.

Before there were coated strings, nickel strings were the best game in town. Some players still prefer the sound and feel of these strings.

D'Addario Pure Nickel Round Wound – These strings harken back to the 1950s when pure nickel strings were the norm. These strings have a bit of old time rock and roll wound into every set.

Dean Markley Jimi Hendrix – When a set of strings has a picture of Jimi Hendrix on the cover, you probably can't go wrong. These strings are pure 1960s, vintage through and through, and have that undeniable nickel sound.

Steel strings have fallen out of favor a bit recently as guitarists rediscover nickel and experiment with coated strings, but they were the standard for years and still make up a large part of the string market.

D'Addario ProSteels Round Wound – These strings provide that extra punch and sustain that some guitarists love in steel strings. The stainless steel alloys are there to help resist corrosion and increase string life a bit.

Ernie Ball – Ernie Ball makes several models of stainless steel strings to choose from including the Slinky and the Super Slinky. The variations are all subtle, so you'll have to try them out to see which model works best for you.

There are many options for which strings to put on your guitar, but most guitar players find a string they like and settle in on it. This is a good idea since constantly putting different strings on your guitar can negatively affect its performance. Experiment a little bit, but when you find something you like, it's a good idea to stick with it.

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