It sounds like a straightforward thing. You take off the old ones and put the new ones on, but it's not that simple. Once you take the old ones off you then have to pick you new set of strings from the various different makes. There’s Ernie Ball strings, Elixir strings, Fender strings, Gibson strings, the list could go on forever. I find that Ernie Ball's are the best for most guitars but if you have a Fender guitar that came with bullet end strings then it is best to stick with them, the same applies for Gibson’s. If you have a Gibson then you may want to stick with Gibson strings to get a really full sound.

Once you have picked the make of strings you like you need to pick a gauge. The gauge of string is very important depending on what you want to do and how you play. If you are a lead guitarist that does allot of big bends then you may like to stick with a low gauge to make it easier to bend, also this will put less strain on your fingers. I would suggest gauge 8 strings for this. If you are a rhythm player then you don’t need the strings as thin. I use a gauge 10; this would be good for most players. As with all things in guitar, you have to just play about with different strings and different gauges to find the best for you.

If you have a Floyd Rose bridge on your guitar you may have to tighten/loosen the screws to get it the right height for a different gauge string as a higher gauge string will pull more than a lower gauge one. If you do not feel confident doing this yourself then take your guitar to your local guitar shop and they should be able to do it for you.

Once you have your new strings on you will need to stretch them to stop them from going out of tune randomly. To do this all you need to do is put your new strings on; tune them in, then give each string individually a little tug. Obviously you don’t want to pull too hard or else you will break your new strings. Just pull them until you don’t think they will go any more. Once you have done this, tune your strings again and from then on they shouldn’t go out of tune by themselves.

When you change your stings it is a great time to clean your guitar, this is because with the strings off you can get to the neck easily. You can get many cleaning on the market and it is up to you which ones you use. You should clean your guitar at least once every two months. When you do it is a good idea to start from the head and make your way down the guitar. Cleaning the head of your guitar is easy; just take a cloth around it being sure to get between each of the machine heads.

Once you have cleaned the head of your guitar work down the fret board with a cloth, preferably with some guitar cleaner on it, making sure that you clean each of the frets individually making sure that there is no dirt either side of the fret once you are done.

Now you have to clean the body of your guitar. Carefully go over the pickups with a dry cloth and go all over the scratch plate in the same way. Clean well around the pickup switch and the tone and volume knobs. Be very careful while cleaning the bridge of your guitar, as you do not want to damage it.

Once you have cleaned all of the scratch plate move onto the uncovered part of your body. For this you should use a cloth with a guitar cleaning liquid/wax on it. This should leave your guitar good as new.

Do you have an annoying buzz? It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Joking aside buzzes can be very annoying if you do not know where they are coming from or how to stop them. There are two types of buzzing: the buzzing that only occurs when you have your amp plugged in and the buzzing that your guitar itself is actually producing. The way to tell which type you are having problems with is to play without an amp. If you still hear the noise it is from your guitar, if it stops it must be to do with the wiring in your guitar or something to do with your amp.

The Buzzing From Your Guitar

First thing you need to do is find out where the noise is coming from. If it is coming from a fret then there may be real problems. First off, if you have a Floyd Rose then it may just be that the bridge has dropped and you need to tighten the screws in it to make it higher. If you do not feel confident doing this yourself take it to your nearest guitar shop. If you do not have a guitar with a Floyd Rose fitted then the problem is probably with the fret itself. The best thing to do is to take your guitar to your nearest guitar shop and see what they say. You may end up having to have your fret filed down a bit.

If the buzzing sound is coming from the nut on your guitar then the problem is much easier to sort out. Get a normal pencil and rub the lead in the groves of the nut. The graphite in the pencil lead should let the strings move better in the nut, thus sorting out the problem. This method also helps keep your guitar in tune because the strings will no longer get caught in the grooves.

The Buzzing From The Electrical Side

This is a much harder problem to sort. If the problem is just feedback then there isn’t much that you can do. If you have always had it then it might just be the way things are, you may not be able to stop it. You could try to quieten it a bit by facing away from your amp while you are playing. If the feedback has only just started occurring then the problem is probably with the earth wire. Take your guitar and amp to your local guitar shop and get them to re-solder the earth wire for your guitar.

If none of the things I have put above have cured your buzzing problem then take your guitar to a professional. Do not try to fix the problem if you do not know what the problem is.