Robert asks…
What strings should I use for my guitar?
I need to restring my FD02 Yamaha guitar, which is a folk jumbo acoustic. I’m not sure what the original string sizes were, so I was wondering whether I should go with light or extra light strings. I know it’s all up to preference, but I’m pretty much a newbie, so I would like to know your opinions, too. Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate your help.
Abigail0309 answers:
The first thing to know is that you need “acoustic” strings. They’re composed of different alloys than strings made for an electric guitar, and will have the proper tonal qualities. Within the world of acoustic strings, there are some variations in the bronze alloys used and some strings are polymer coated to resist corrosion. (and last longer) There is no right choice. All of the major brands produce good strings: Martin, D’Addario, Dean Markley, Ernie Ball, Elixer, GHS……
The FD02 is in the category of guitars called a “Dreadnought”…not a jumbo. Martin Guitars pioneered the dreadnought and all Martins are shipped with medium gauge strings. Because of it’s large top, a dreadnought needs beefy strings to bring out the best tone and maximum volume. I couldn’t find specific info on which strings Yamaha ships with, but being a dreadnought, it’s going to sound best with medium strings. The drawback is that medium gauge strings have higher tension so are harder to play.
I use light gauge on my Martin D-35. It’s a trade-off between tone and playability. This is probably a good choice for you too. As far as the alloy, every guitar is going to respond differently. Take a look at the tone chart on D’Addario’s website: http://store.daddario.com/category/144846?language_id=1¤cy_id=1 You can get an idea of the different characteristics of each alloy. Then you can choose a string that will enhance your guitar’s sound. If your guitar seems boomy or dull, try a brighter string.
Strings are cheap and one of the easiest ways to alter the tone and playability of your guitar. No bridges get burnt if you make a bad choice…..you just live with them for a few months and then try something different. I’m currently using Martin SP Phosphor Bronze Light gauge (.012 – .054) They’re good strings, I’ll buy them again…but still open to experimentation.
As far as gauge goes, you can probably find acoustic sets that go as low as a .010 high string. These will be easier to play….but you’ll notice a big drop in volume and tone. I think Light Gauge with a high string .011 or .012 is your safest bet.
Carol asks…
What ring size in numbers is a medium?
I want to buy my boyfriend a ring online but it’s coming from the UK so my size options are small, medium, and large. What would a medium or large convert to in numbers? I know his ring size in numbers but I don’t know how to gauge that on a small-large scale, and I can’t just ask him what he thinks would fit because he’s not supposed to know. Anybody have an answer for me?
Abigail0309 answers:
How long is a Piece of String!
There is no way of knowing except by either drawing round the inside of one of his rings and taking it to a jewellery shop to match to their size chart or just taking the ring so they can size it for you.
Laura asks…
What is the tension chart of Elixir acoustic strings?
Abigail0309 answers:
Elixir make light gauge .010, .011 medium gauge and .013 heavy gauge with other in-between tension sizes.
Here is the chart
http://www.elixirstrings.com/stringtension/stringtensionacoustic.html
Susan asks…
Simple way to play the F chord on acoustic guitar?
I can play it on electric but not on acoustic, is there a way to play it without the barre?
Abigail0309 answers:
Musically speaking, an F chord has only 3 notes: F-A-C. Anytime or place that you can combine those 3 notes, you have an F chord. Needless to say, those notes are all over the fretboard. When you play a full barre chord on guitar, you’re covering all 6 strings and repeating some of those notes. An F barred on the first fret looks like this, starting on your bass string: F-C-F-A-C-F. As you can see, the 3 required notes can be combined several different ways right there…if you don’t play all of the strings.
The most common alternate way to finger an F is with a mini-barre on strings 1 & 2. So you don’t strike the two bass strings at all. X-x-3-2-1-1
If you want to emphasize the bass notes, you could form a full E shaped barre on the 1st fret the way you do on electric. Just be sure to press the bass string with your barre finger and don’t strum the two highest strings: 1-3-3-2-x-x
Of course, you could also strum just the three middle strings: x-x-3-2-1-x but you have to be sure not to hit the open first string or it will become an Fmaj7.
Looking up the neck, there are a multitude of other ways to form an F chord. For instance, take an open D chord and slide it up 3 frets higher…only strum the 3 strings you’re fretting.
Here’s a link to a chord chart that shows you some variations AND which fingers to use: http://www.hobby-hour.com/guitar/chords.php?chord=f Use the <> buttons to scroll through the variations. Remember that even if a chord chart covers all 6 strings, you only need F-A & C to form the chord. The rest of the notes are duplicated to make the chord sound more full. Keep in mind that the chord will sound more articulated if the lowest note is an F.
If you get a chance, look up the CAGED guitar system. This will help you visualize other places on the neck to find chords.
An additional thought is to work on your acoustic guitar’s action. If you can play full barres on your electric, the skill should transfer to acoustic. Consider lighter gauge strings and have your action checked. There’s honestly no reason an acoustic has to be harder to play than an electric if it’s set up properly. Best of luck.
Paul asks…
Questions about gauges of guitar strings?
I currently have normal 9 gauge strings. But if I bought 10 or 11 gauge strings what would be the advantages to those? Just to tune lower? help me out.
Abigail0309 answers:
Heavier gauge strings give you a fuller sound. That would be the most common reason to go from a .009 to .010 or .011 gauge string. At standard pitch, heavier strings will have a bit more tension so it’s a trade-off between playability and tone. The extra tension will make them harder to press and bend. On an acoustic guitar, .010 would be considered extra light for a high E string. Acoustics rely on heavier strings to vibrate the top and produce the best tone. That’s the primary reason that electrics are easier to play than acoustics.
Heavier strings are also used for lower tunings. If you try to de-tune a light gauge string too far, it will become so loose that it doesn’t play correctly. Heavier strings allow you to keep the string tension within a playable range if you tune down.
If you change the overall tension too much, you might need to adjust your truss rod and/or intonation. Just going from a .009 to .010 set of strings shouldn’t require any adjustments.
Here’s some info on string tension for different gauge sets: http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f21/string-tension-charts-73846.html and http://alanhorvath.com/stringauges.php
Sandy asks…
Learning Guitar: Need a proper foundation to start from?
Everyone says different things, it’s hard to know where to properly start from.
When you’re serious on starting to learn guitar, where do you start from?
Abigail0309 answers:
Lessons from a good teacher are really the best way to learn to play any instrument properly. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 7 (started lessons then) and have taught lessons for about 30 years. I use a standard method (Mel Bay) where you basically learn the fundamentals in a logical order.
- learn how to properly hold and tune the guitar
- learn the notes on all 6 strings
- learn to read music (standard notation – not tabs yet)
- learn to play notes in multiple positions on the neck
- learn major and minor scales in all 5 positions/patterns
- learn basic chord theory and how the notes in the scale go together to make chords
You will come across plenty of “guitar experts” on here who will tell you to just go find chord charts of your favorite song or learn to read tabs of your favorite songs. Those are fine approaches if you just want to know where to put your fingers on the neck to play a particular song, but if you actually want to learn to play the guitar and build a proper foundation (as you said), that is not the best approach.
EDIT: If you’re looking for a great beginner acoustic guitar check out a Yamaha FG700S for $199. It’s a great solid top acoustic and is nice and easy to play. When you change strings, stick with light gauge strings and your fingers will get used to playing in a few weeks. Don’t overdo it at first, just play for 15 minutes or so at a time until you’ve built up your fingers.
William asks…
Do you think that the Urantia Book is the truth?
Is there truth in it or is there no proof?
What faiths follow this book?
Abigail0309 answers:
1 Do you think that the Urantia Book is the truth?
In a nearly infinite multiverse over a nearly infinite amount of time not only is almost anything possible but most likely happens over and over and over. Read up on super string/gravity M-theory for a more detailed explanation.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-theory_(simplified_explanation)
2 Is there truth in it or is there no proof?
In a holographic universe, even time and space could no longer be viewed as fundamentals. Because concepts such as location break down in a universe in which nothing is truly separate from anything else, time and three-dimensional space, like the images of the fish on the TV monitors, would also have to be viewed as projections of this deeper order. At its deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram in which the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. This suggests that given the proper tools it might even be possible to someday reach into the superholographic level of reality and pluck out scenes from the long-forgotten past. What else the superhologram contains is an open-ended question. Allowing, for the sake of argument, that the superhologram is the matrix that has given birth to everything in our universe, at the very least it contains every subatomic particle that has been or will be — every configuration of matter and energy that is possible, from snowflakes to quasars, from blue whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a sort of cosmic storehouse of “All That Is.”
What faiths follow this book?
There is no way to gauge how many adherents there may be as there is no central organization to census. Informal study groups “tend to sprout, ripen, then vanish or splinter” and have not been counted reliably. Readers sometimes join study groups after reading on their own for years or decades, others join them soon after developing an interest in the book, while “for most, worship remains as individual as the act of reading.”[ Disagreements over the legal ownership of the book, its interpretation, and the reception of new revelations have led to some splintering, though these disagreements appear to have been settled to the satisfaction of most adherents.[30 The movement generally incorporates a nonsectarian view, contending that individuals with different religious backgrounds can receive the book’s teachings as an enrichment rather than as a contradiction of their faiths. The small movement inspired by The Urantia Book has not developed clergy or institutions such as churches, reading rooms, or temples. As of 2006, the Urantia Foundation had one office in Chicago and five people on staff. Sarah Lewis notes that, “The Urantia Revelation is not securing legitimacy through historically known and accepted means to any great degree, nor is it even using common language that would increase the likelihood of understanding and therefore acceptance. It introduces new concepts and a new language, and this does not make acceptance any easier.” She assesses that the movement is uncontroversial compared to other ones, “lacking the zealous proselytizing found within many other groups”, and that it is therefore likely to remain small and unaffected by opposing views. Urantia Foundation advocated a “slow growth” policy in the past and had not significantly marketed the book. Sales by Urantia Foundation went from ,000 in 1990 to 4,00 in 199, and steadily increased to nearly 38,000 in 000, an “upturn that seems to represent a genuine trend rather than just some spike on a sales chart”, however by 006 the foundation reported worldwide annual sales of 13,380 copies Approximately half of the books distributed by Urantia Foundation are in languages other than English, particularly Spanish and Russian. Since the book was determined to be in the public domain in 001, other organizations, such as The Urantia Book Fellowship under the publishing name Uversa Press, have also published the book. Copies of The Urantia Book are on the Internet in various formats and it has been adapted to more recent platforms such as the Kindle and the iPhone / iPod Touch App Store. Several audio books of the text are also on the Internet. The International Urantia Association had twenty-six reader associations worldwide as of 00, and the Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly the Urantia Brotherhood, founded in 1955 with Urantia Foundation as the original social fraternal organization of believers) claimed roughly twelve hundred official members, with the highest concentrations in the West of the United States and the Sun Belt, especially California, Colorado, Florida, and Texas It appears an increasing number of people are forming study groups, participating in Internet discussion groups, and hosting or visiting websites about it. Reader conferences take place around the world.
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