Is Rick Beato Wrong About String Gauges?
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2024
- In todays video I take a dive into why people may prefer using heavier strings which runs counter to the argument put forth by many guitarists here on youtube, in particular Rick Beato. Links to everything I do can be found below!
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It's just what you're used to. Tony Iommi, Billy Gibbons, Jimmy Page etc use pretty light strings and they don't overbend etc.
Fair enough!
I really appreciate your perspective. I watched the Beato video about string gauge and it was presented as a fairly one sided argument and appreciate this perspective. It really depends for me on what genre of music I'm playing.
Fair enough on the genre to genre side. I know many of my colleagues have different setups and gauges for different gigs but personally I've found that I like to have all of my guitars strung with the same gauge and if the gig calls for lots of big rock bends I know my fingers will just get an extra workout on 12's or 13's!
@@mattfranceschini I was messing around with a little chicken pick'n' last weekend which is why an easier on the hands string gauge came to mind.
The aging audience factor may have influenced also Beato'scperspective.
Certainly can be true! Although one of the elderstatesmen I used to play with when I lived in Vancouver (do yourself a favour and look up Oliver Gannon) still plays an L5 with 13's at the age of 90. As a youngin I have no idea what will happen over time, but as you say it certainly could be a factor!
With you on that to the extent that I do not go with the 'one size fits all' "proclamation" that seemed to be coming from Rick Beato & Rhett Shull (was Tim Pierse part of that too?). I can understand that having the same gauge across different guitars can feel 'at home' but IMHO some guitars benefit from different gauges to 'perform' in the way I reckon they should for me, so I have several gauges in play. Each to his own, not life or death 😅
Good points - it's about 'feel' for you. I don't subscribe to any sort of 'you gotta switch to .009s or 008s or whatever' proclamations from anyone, frankly. I have 009s on one Strat and 010s on another, 10 - 46 on a couple of LPs and 10 - 52 on my Duesenberg, flat 010s on my Casino and flat 011s on my Broadway etc . . . I take a bit of time to find which set works best for me on each guitar for the sound I'm after . . . it's not rocket surgery! 😅
Love it! I commend you on your willingness to switch between string gauges on different guitars. For me I love having the same gauge on all of my guitars as I feel it lets me switch from strat to archtop to acoustic with them all feeling relatively similar set up wise!
I enjoy experimenting with drop tunings, I get way way more buzz when I used 10s instead of my 12s and had to swap back to my 12s (plus I like the feel of 12s more)
Especially when in down tuned territory, thick strings will shine!
I had changed to 9s and never took a second look at heavier strings but you did a great job of explaining legitimate benefits to higher gauges. Now that I’ve been playing jazz, I’m interested in seeing what heavier strings may feel like.
Glad you thought my ramblings had some merit! If you do decide to try some thicker strings, let me know what you think!
I've tried them. They're horrible. I've tried 11's ..just nasty. 10's are tolerable. I prefer 9.5. If you play Jazz you'll like the rounder sounds they give. Same with thick picks. Fine if you want a mellower sound. If you want sparkle and chime don't use heavy strings.
You should have really committed to the experiment and tried 9s. You have to adjust your playing with both your left and right hand. You don't have to dig in when you play with lighter gauges.
I already know that I would hate playing on 9's! Every time I pick up a guitar in a music store I'm reminded of my dislike for them. I know that playing on lighter strings is an adjustment for both hands, the point of this video was merely to offer insight to the benefits of playing thicker strings as I find these days most online discourse seems to be pointing towards the benefits of thinner strings.
Neither thick or thin are objectively better, just depends on the player and what they like in a set up and again, I have yet to see a youtuber highlight the benefits that having thicker strings can offer!
Interesting take. I’m moving up from .008 to .0095 myself. What brand of strings do you like to use?
Personally I use Daddario XL’s on all of my guitars. I’ve tried all kinds of coated strings and other brands and to me the daddarios last the longest and are super widely available which is also a plus. Currently I have the 12-52 set on all of my electrics!
I’m a very aggressive player due to playing metal more than half my life, guitar and bass, both extended range, so I typically go with thicker strings. Again, because I’m rough, especially on bass, and because of string tension. And I run my action as low as possible. Ik exactly how you feel. High action with high tension thicker strings gets tiresome on the hands and slows you down. Plus the clank, love that with new strings.
Fair enough! I'm fairly aggressive myself when I'm really going for it and like you say, there's nothing like the chime and thunk of some new and thick strings!
Garcia played with extremely high action and thick strings in attempt to get better tone out of his electric. I’m not sure about his acoustics.
Interesting one that I didn't know!
I use 10 gauge because all of my guitars have long scale lengths and won't even tune to standard with 12s. I used to use 8s on my strat but I realized it had a hard time staying in tune because of the low tension.
As far as my action, I like it very very low no matter the string gauges I have on my guitar. I don't really care about fret buzz because I find that the only time I run into it is when I pick too hard, which is a bad habit that I'm willing to give up anyway. I definitely understand your line of reasoning, though, I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this topic.
Thanks for sharing your two cents! Picking too hard is something thats easy to fall into, and I do understand the appeal of thinner strings but wanted to make this video as the advantages of thicker strings are rarely discussed. Thanks for watching!
@@mattfranceschini I completely agree I feel like the Rick Beato video tests the tone of the strings rather than the feel and that kind of influenced their opinions on the string gauges.
There's not more tension with higher gauge, more tension per unit of length would resort in a different tuning. I think that you mean that higer gauges are less resilient so everytime you hit the or fret a note they stretch and later come back to the original form
There is certainly more pressure in terms of pounds of pressure on the neck etc. This is even shown on the back of some brands of guitar strings with the difference of gauges being broken down by pounds. Furthermore, I think your last sentence is backwards, thicker strings are more resilient than thinner strings resulting in the strings stretching less when picked. This is why guitarists who tune down tend to play thicker strings, they want to maintain some form of rigidity.
The biggest issue, and correct me if I am wrong, but don't you need to re-cut the nut or get a new one installed if you go up to 12s or 13s from 9s or 10s? It's understandable that you can get lower action, less fret buzz, more mass to anchor your fingers on for stability, and better tone, but I'd guess that most people don't want to go through the hassle of re-cutting the nut in case they don't like it and decide to go back to 9s or 10s and then need to get a new nut installed.
Certainly a fair point! I’ve never had to recut a nut for 12’s or 13’s but this varies by the style of the nut and how deep the slots are. For example if the slots themselves are fairly shallow, you won’t need to recut as the extra tension from the strings should hold them in place. If the nut is taller with deeper slots, this is certainly something to consider!
First Anthony Fantano and now this guy, just a bunch on Italians arguin with each other lmao (I say this in good fun lol keep the discussions going!)
Haha! We Italians are known for being opinionated... I guess we're proving the stereotype!
Gauge 12 for me and i'm a rock guitarist better tone and feel with 12 gauge and like you said i can straighten the truss rod to compensate so i get low even action Also nice to have something to attack being thicker! Each to their own definitely better for me So everything you said for me Matt rings true
You're a kindred spirit! Glad I'm not the only one playing my rock gigs on thick strings!
Got that right bro! Beato was one sided on his take and makes me wonder if some string company paid the mula for him to do that and before you know it, all his cult-like followers jumped on the bandwagon! Play what feels good on your hands is what I say! You have a subscriber!
Thanks for the sub!
Hi Matt, I have 9's on my Strat and find that when bending the high E string, it chokes out in certain areas, mainly around the 9th and 16th frets. Could putting a higher gauge set on correct this? I was advised after I had it set up that as it had been set to 9's, its best to not change the string gauge. Do you agree with this advice or is there something to consider before just putting on a new gauge set?
Hey! It sounds like what you have is either a neck relief issue or a high fret/frets. If it's a neck relief issue this can be fixed by adjusting your truss rod. There are several videos on youtube covering this topic, and despite a common rumour spread, you cannot break your guitar neck by adjusting the truss rod too far. In general, guitar necks tend to have a little bit of relief to them, this means that the neck is bent slightly (by the tension of strings) in a concave pattern. Sometimes if a neck is too straight or has too much tension on it from the truss rod (where it bend in a convex pattern into the strings) you can get problems like what you describe. An allen key and 30 minutes of research on youtube and you should be good to investigate and hopefully fix this!
If the problem is a high fret/high frets this is something that may require a trip to a luthier (guitar repair person) as this can require specialized tools to identify and fix. Sometimes due to humidity or simple play wear the frets can become unlevel making the strings sometimes get choked out. If you feel up for a challenge you could buy some of the tools necessarily for cheaper than a trip to the repairperson and try to sort this yourself, however you could fail to fix the problem and have to take it in to someone anyways. Up to you!
Typically any time you change string gauges thicker or thinner you will have to make some small adjustments to the setup (again, nothing you wouldn't be able to do yourself) due to the strings putting either more tension (thicker strings) or less tension (thinner strings) on the neck. That said, going up to tens would cause the neck to have more relief and may just fix your problem. But then again, it is not a certain fix.
Hope that helps!
@@mattfranceschini wow, thanks so much for all the great advice on this, really appreciate it! Think I'll try putting 10's on (as probably the simplest thing to do first) and see how it goes from there. Thanks again, great channel, keep up the brilliant work!
@@Donky-flip no problem, thanks for watching and glad you’re enjoying them!
It does take some time to adjust your playing to a different gauge that you're not used to. We are creatures of habit, and any change like this at first feels wrong and undesirable. It took me months to adjust how hard I press, coming from an acoustic with 12s to an electric with 10s (the guitar came with 9s but that was way too slinky for me at first.) But after a year on 10s I was ready to go down to the 9s which I recently did, and I found them not bad at first and now even prefer to play them over the 10s, as it takes less effort for me. I also like variety, switching guitars as I play one gauge a lot, it feels like a welcome change going to something different to take a break from the same old feel of one instrument.
I try to run different setups on each of my guitars for that reason, helps with the gas as I can go from playing one guitar exclusively for a month+ then change and it really does feel completely different. Rn I'm running 11 flatwounds on one then 2 9s but after this vid I think I'll change out one of them for a thicker 11 or 12 gauge
Certainly true! This video was mostly inspired by the fact that currently all the talk I see online is talking about the benefits of thinner strings neglecting some of the advantages that can come with thicker strings. I certainly don't think this is a one size fits all and all approaches are valid. I just wanted to chime in on some of the advantages I noticed when trying out the others!
Funnily enough, I love playing the same gauge of strings across all of my guitars because I feel like it allows me to switch between them more seamlessly. For example, playing my Martin doesnt feel all that different than playing my archtop or strat and this flexibility helps me feel comfortable in any situation!
Curious to hear what you think if you do decide to swap on some heavier strings!
Yngwie Malmsteen enters the chat
Hahaha. "How can less be more? More is more!"
am seriously thinking about trying heavier gauge strings on my tele... flats or roundwounds? BTW Thank You for your vids
Glad you enjoy the videos! To flatwound or not is a tricky question. If you've never tried them before I say go for it! I used exclusively flats for about two years and loved them but when I switched back to round wounds it felt like my guitar came to life and I haven't gone back since. Certainly worth trying to see if you like the sound and feel though!
@@mattfranceschini Thank You for the reply
For me is feel in bendiga...my finges old..
Fair enough!
Thicc flatwound gang wya
Haha!