String Gauge ? Options

[John In Socal]

Hi muris, what string gauge do you typically play with and why do you prefer that gauge ?

thanks,
-- john

[Muris Varajic]

Hi muris, what string gauge do you typically play with and why do you prefer that gauge ?

thanks,
-- john

Hi John.

As long as I can remember I've been using 009-042.
Dunno why in details,I just find it as the best solution for many things,
sustain,comfort,tension etc.
Maybe I'll change my approach as the time goes by but this is what I use at the moment.

[John In Socal]

thanks. I started on 9's but soon after switched to 10's as for some reason as a beginner it seemed easier to play with 10's doing string bends. I think as a beginner I was pressing down too hard and 9's seemed to stick to my fingers. Although doing bends on 10's took more strength it just seemed easier. But now after playing with 10's for about a year and a half I am thinking about going back to 9's. I have my first guitar strung with 9's on it and it's easier to do very fast repeating bending licks with it and also much easier to do bends with the index finger. Doing a full step bend with 10's using the index finger is still a bit uncomfortable for me, but with 9's seems like cake. People often say tone is better with thicker strings but your tone sounds fantastic to me. Also it seems my tone simply gets better with more experience and string gauge is probably the least of my worries as far as tone goes.

My first guitar was one of those best buy starcaster china guitars that cost like $99 and I soon upgraded to a MIM strat. But now when I play that cheap guitar it sounds a heck of a lot better than it did when I was first starting out. So apparently it was not so much the guitar that sucked back at the beginning but my playing.

-- john

[Muris Varajic]

Most of the tone usually comes from the player indeed
tho we can't say that 008 and 012 are the same thing.
009 is sort of standard for over decades to match many
music genres,playing styles etc.
Still we can use 008 for some Jazz,there's no law to stop us