# faster playing with bigger or smaller gauge strings?



## Drache713 (Nov 25, 2005)

I know that USUALLY the consesus is the thicker the pick the faster you can play (if you guys disagree with this statement feel free to explain why), but do you guys find that you can play faster with bigger gauge strings (10's for example) or with smaller gauge strings (9's for example)?


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## Roland777 (Nov 25, 2005)

Personally, I play faster with thicker strings, simply because they provide enough resistance not to flop around - I'm a rather heavy picker.


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## LordOVchaoS (Nov 25, 2005)

I can pick faster on heavier strings but my left fingers move quicker on lighter ones. I've found 58-11's to be the happy medium.


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## Chris (Nov 25, 2005)

I haven't played thin strings in ages, but IMHO thicker strings definitely help me play faster licks cleaner than light strings.


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## Naren (Nov 25, 2005)

I play the exact same speed on any gauge of strings whether they're 8's or 15's. I generally prefer 10's and 11's myself (usually 12's on my one guitar). As for picks, I've never really thought about it.


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## metalfiend666 (Nov 25, 2005)

Thicker strings aid clarity for fast picking, especially on the lower strings, but thinner strings are better for fast runs & bending.

I go with a compromise on my 7's of Ernie Ball 10-56 Slinky's. Nice fairly thick b & e strings, but high strings light enough to bend easily and get nice fast licks with minimal effort. And I'm too lazy to mess about buying a 6 string set and single strings, otherwise I'd play 9-42's with a 56 on the low b.


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## Roland777 (Nov 25, 2005)

Oh right. Good time to say that I use D'Addario .010-.056's. What's the main argument for Ernie Ball-strings, out of curiosity?


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## Naren (Nov 25, 2005)

Roland777 said:


> Oh right. Good time to say that I use D'Addario .010-.056's. What's the main argument for Ernie Ball-strings, out of curiosity?



D'Addarios are my favorite string company, but I've never found a string company around here that sells them for seven-strings. I always buy D'Addarios for my sixes. I buy Ernie Balls for my sevens, because they sound dang good and they're the only company in any guitar store I go to that makes sevenstring strings (of course, most guitar shops don't carry 7-string strings at all). I use Ernie Ball .10-.56 just like metalfiend666


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## Drew (Nov 25, 2005)

Roland777 said:


> What's the main argument for Ernie Ball-strings, out of curiosity?



They're cheap and they don't suck.  

It goes both ways - lighter strings are easier (and thus faster) on your fretting hand, at least initially, while heavier strings are harder to push around, which is a twofold benefit - they "flop" less when you hit them, and because they're so much more resistant to moving, if you pick too deeply you get hung up on the string more, which means they essentially force you to develop a more efficient, more accurate pick attack, or die trying. 

As for your fretting hand, after a month or two you'll barely notice the difference between 9's and 11's - they already feel fine to me.


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## NewArmyGuitar (Nov 25, 2005)

Ernie Ball strings stay in tune forever and you can get 7 string packs off of juststrings.com cheap.


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## dpm (Nov 25, 2005)

EB's stretch in real quick, but I find them a tad dull sounding for my tastes. It's just a matter of personal preference really.
I simply find thin strings uncomfortable, and the pitch doesn't stabilize quick enough for me, particularly on the bass side.


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## Emiliano (Nov 25, 2005)

i use 9 52 on my 1527
i installed 10 56 on a 7620 and it was a real joy to play

the reason i kept 9 52 on is that ibanez sevenstring
with their bridge open new possibility to playing
( i was used to my old strat )
so whammy, dive bomb, really long bend
are easier to lern on lighter string

but i plan to pass on to heavier string when my skills
get better (i hope)

p.s.
how does it fell the bridge with 11 strings?
is it real hard to do whammy parts?
( think about the attitude song whammy stunts )


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## Chris D (Nov 26, 2005)

I use light top heavy bottom style sets ( 10-70 ) tuned to A.
The best of both worlds... easy fretting & bends on the skinnies, solid picking , stability etc on the low stuff.
I've gone through loads of brands but ended up preferring GHS boomers cos they're well zingy!!


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## Vegetta (Nov 27, 2005)

I use blue steel custom lights 9-56 

Moving up to a full "10" set prolly would not make much difference to my playing tho 

Malmsteen uses 8's + scalloped neck (would take a very light left hand)


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## Shikaru (Nov 27, 2005)

I used to use 9's with a 56, but the shop was out of them, so I now use 9's with a 58. I thought it might be too large compared to the other low strings, but i much prefer it for riffing  I don't really notice a difference in tension now i'm used to it.


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## Drew (Nov 28, 2005)

Emiliano said:


> i use 9 52 on my 1527
> i installed 10 56 on a 7620 and it was a real joy to play
> 
> the reason i kept 9 52 on is that ibanez sevenstring
> ...



It makes very little difference, IMO. My UV's trem's a bit stiffer with 11's than 9's, and you have to hit it a bit harder to get it to flutter, but that's not without benefit, IMO - it doesn't accidentally flutter whenever you pick heavily. Besides, I don't flutter the trem all that much anyway. 

It'll take your fingers about two weeks of solid playing to get used to heavier strings, but after that you'll be fine. Aside from that... if you're not used to a floating trem, then you might as well just learn how to use your Edge with 10's right away, rather than learning with 9's before you relearn with 10's.


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## Leon (Nov 28, 2005)

i think it's easier to play fast on lighter gauges, but then, i have a light picking style compared to many.

i run 9's on my 6string (RG570), and i love it. i've been thinking about trying out a straight-up 9-56 pack for my RG7621. ever since i bought the RG7621, i've had thicker gauges to compensate for the 7th string, and i know lots of folks on here like that, but others don't, so i want to try that as well.

so i think my next set of strings for my 7 will be 9-56 EB's.


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## Nik (Nov 28, 2005)

Vegetta said:


> I use blue steel custom lights 9-56
> 
> Moving up to a full "10" set prolly would not make much difference to my playing tho
> 
> Malmsteen uses 8's + scalloped neck (would take a very light left hand)



And don't forget that he downtunes a half-step, too...

I find that heavier gauge strings increase my picking accuracy and speed. Somehow heavier strings are snappier and toss my pick back-and forth.


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## Emiliano (Nov 29, 2005)

> originally posted by *Drew*
> you might as well just learn how to use your Edge with 10's right away, rather than learning with 9's before you relearn with 10's.



i think you're right drew, thanks for your answer
i feel that larger strings will give me a better tone

i'll try to upgrade from the next string change

what gauge you would use as a low B in a 10 string set??

keep picking


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## 7slinger (Nov 29, 2005)

I've played 11's so long now that I hate trying out guitars at stores because they almost always are strung with 10's...they feel so sloppy to me...I'm sure with a little time I would be used to them again, but I prefer the 11's, I like the added resistance.


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## Drew (Nov 29, 2005)

Emiliano said:


> i think you're right drew, thanks for your answer
> i feel that larger strings will give me a better tone
> 
> i'll try to upgrade from the next string change
> ...



"Different," not "better." Really, it's more in the dynamics than the tone - heavier strings are naturally more compressed, which makes them seem a little darker, but not as "snappy." I used to play 10-52's on my strat, but never really caught the "satch" vibe until I threw a set of 9's on it. With the dark, compressed Mesa Rocket-44 I was playing at the time the extra brightness on the initial attack was actually quite nice. I play 11's now because I've developed a pretty heavy pick attack anyway, my Nomad's slightly brighter so it still works, and I feel like I phrase better when I have to fight a little. 

But, if you like the sound of 10's on your guitar and through your amp, then do it. 

I wouldn't go any lower than .58 with a set of 10's. .56 is as light as I'd recommend for 9's and .58 feels perfect for me with 9's, to put it into perspective, so a 10-46 with a 58 or 60 would work pretty well. Although, I play 11's with a 68, so my judgement on low B strings might be a little suspect.


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## David (Dec 1, 2005)

I use D'Addario 9-54's and 10-56's.


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## Chris (Dec 1, 2005)

I'm running 11-72 right now and dig the hell out of it.


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## giannifive (Dec 1, 2005)

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that heavier gauge strings generally yield a smaller physical vibration amplitude, meaning you can in principle achieve a lower action height without fret buzz than with lighter gauge strings.

Anyway, I have 9-42+54 on my 25.5" scale length RG7, and 10-something on my 25.1" scale length SCA220. At first the 10s felt way too stiff for me, probably because I've been playing 9s my whole life. After a week or so I got used to them, though. I've used both Ernie Ball and D'Addario and I have to say that the D'Addarios seem to last forever for me.


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## Leon (Dec 1, 2005)

that's true. being more massive, you need more energy to move the string the same distance, or amplitude. also, the extra tension pulls harder as the string hits max amplitude to pull it back.

there's also much to be said about pick attack. if you have a heavy hand, you'll want heavier strings to compensate, whereas if you have a softer pick attack, lighter strings may work better.


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## Drew (Dec 2, 2005)

Unless you like the sound of an overexaggerated pick attack with comparably less sustain (i.e - it returns to normal ibration faster), or run a super-compressed rig. 

John, that's actually a very good point. However, I actually had to jack my action up a little bit so I could get behind the strings a bit more to bend, as they resisted a little more. 

I'm with Chris, though - 11's just feel badass.


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## David (Dec 2, 2005)

giannifive said:


> Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that heavier gauge strings generally yield a smaller physical vibration amplitude, meaning you can in principle achieve a lower action height without fret buzz than with lighter gauge strings.
> 
> Anyway, I have 9-42+54 on my 25.5" scale length RG7, and 10-something on my 25.1" scale length SCA220. At first the 10s felt way too stiff for me, probably because I've been playing 9s my whole life. After a week or so I got used to them, though. I've used both Ernie Ball and D'Addario and I have to say that the D'Addarios seem to last forever for me.



Yeah, I like the 9's because of that. I have it uber-low on my rg and you barely have to press down. How do you guys play with 11's??? Maybe my fingers suck, or your using them for riffs, but I can't move my fingers for shit on them. I also like the tone that the lighter strings give out more.


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## Drew (Dec 2, 2005)

You get used to them pretty quickly - the first week was just abusive on my fingers, less so for fretting than bending, but after that my fingers toughened up and now I'm back up to 1 1/2-2-step bends without too much agony. 

It's been great for my acoustic playing, I can rip it up on that thing now and even play legato rather clearly without much heartache (and it's strung up with Elixer phosphor bronze mediums, .12's)


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## Cancer (Dec 2, 2005)

One of things I've noticed is that flatwounds are great for speed as well, especially if you tend to solo using all of the strings, or if you like to sweep. The lessened friction from not rubbing against a serrated edge helps, although they tend to be darker then the roundwounds.


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## David (Dec 2, 2005)

Drew said:


> You get used to them pretty quickly - the first week was just abusive on my fingers, less so for fretting than bending, but after that my fingers toughened up and now I'm back up to 1 1/2-2-step bends without too much agony.
> 
> It's been great for my acoustic playing, I can rip it up on that thing now and even play legato rather clearly without much heartache (and it's strung up with Elixer phosphor bronze mediums, .12's)



daaamn. I'll just go buy a pair, try them out on one of my axes for a while and see if I get used to it. I play perfectly clean right now though, so why mess with perfection, but then also why not try everything.


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## Nick1 (Dec 3, 2005)

I use on for standard tuning 
8-11-14-24-32-42 or for tuning down a half step to 1 step 9-11-14-24-34-46 

I used to use heavy strings but I just dont like them anymore. Plus Im recovering from my surgery and my left hand is pretty weak so 8s feel like 10s! Even on my Yngwie Strat tuned down 1/2 step with 8s on the top and 9s on the bottom! But even before my surgery I used 8s. I tried 7s before too! Those were a little too thin for me.


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## Emiliano (Dec 5, 2005)

> Originally posted by *Drew*
> the first week was just abusive on my fingers, less so for fretting than bending, but after that my fingers toughened up and now I'm back up to 1 1/2-2-step bends without too much agony.



that was my first concerne, but i'm gonna try 11-52 on my strat
and i feel that 10-58 will be perfect for my seven.......

i really like the tone of 10's and the ibanez relly need a bit more iron
to move some more air imho  

i tryed 12-68 on my older six string ( downtuned to C )
and i loved the feelings of strings
the tone was a bit too much full, i lost a bit of attack
but she was just destroing my amp!!!!!!!


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## Elysian (Dec 14, 2005)

7slinger said:


> I've played 11's so long now that I hate trying out guitars at stores because they almost always are strung with 10's...they feel so sloppy to me...I'm sure with a little time I would be used to them again, but I prefer the 11's, I like the added resistance.


all guitars i've played at guitar stores feel like 9-46's... i use 10-60's, so they feel like rubber bands...

and i couldn't find any 7 string sets from ghs, couldn't even find them on their site, so i emailed the national sales manager about them, and he sent me a free sample of 10-60's and a catalog \m/ when my new universe gets here i'll string that up with those, normally i use the zakk wylde 10-60's with a 58 for the low E on my 7...


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## Drew (Dec 14, 2005)

They've got GHS Boomers at www.juststrings.com in 9-58's (perfect balance for a 9-42, IMO) and I beliebe 10-60's. Boomers are probably my favorite non-elixer strings, they absolutely rock. 

Edit - wait a second, you use a .58 for an E and a .60 for a B on the same guitar???


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## noodles (Dec 14, 2005)

Drew said:


> They've got GHS Boomers at www.juststrings.com in 9-58's (perfect balance for a 9-42, IMO) and I beliebe 10-60's. Boomers are probably my favorite non-elixer strings, they absolutely rock.



 I use the 10-60 set myself, down one half step. They're tough as hell, they just don't break often. I got turned onto their strings by someone else who uses Kahler bridges, and always seem to keep coming back to them.


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## that guy (Dec 26, 2005)

umm my opinion is kinda biased on this but ernie ball 15-75 on a six string ^_^ but then on the 7 i use 11-60 it all depends on how you like the feel ....

im wanting to step up cuz i think my string are too light ...


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## Battle-axe (Dec 26, 2005)

Those boomers sure r nice.....i'm currently using a set of dean markley 13-56s with a 70 for the 7th string...tuned down 1 whole step...the tone sure is nice n thick ...though i'll be going back to lighter strings...probably 10-60...prefer those for shredding n stuff.


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## that guy (Dec 27, 2005)

i think i know im gonna start doing and recomend it 

zakk wylde low tune ghs boomers but buy an extra 44cuz it jumps from 36 to 52to 70 just my opinion..

origionally they are 11-14-18-36-52-70 

with the added string 11-14-18-36-44-52-70


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## foreverflyinghigh (Dec 27, 2005)

Heavier strings allow for cleaner sounding legato playing and tapping licks as excess string noise is nonexistent as the strings dont flap about on their own........
i do not have a 7-string as yet but on my guitar i use 11-56 strings as i tune a haf step down


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## Drew (Dec 28, 2005)

wuss.  

(11-68 in standard )


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## thedownside (Jan 10, 2006)

that guy said:


> i think i know im gonna start doing and recomend it
> 
> zakk wylde low tune ghs boomers but buy an extra 44cuz it jumps from 36 to 52to 70 just my opinion..
> 
> ...



i tried that, but didnt like it that much, but what i've found that works allot better (both my 7's are this way not, as well as my other guitarist's 7's) throw a .26 wound between the 18 and 36 so you end up with this

11-14-18-26-36-52-70

i'm also gonna try the same set, but just adding a 9 for the high e

09-11-14-18-36-52-70

but i have a very heavy pick attack, and i dig deep in (i used to have to tape my fingers, i was tearing the cuticle apart and bruising it, now i wear a cut up glove on that hand). if i can get lighten my pick attack, i'd love to move to something lighter gauged all around


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## 7stringninja (Jan 12, 2006)

Diadarrio .009"s is what I use on my 7-string. I use standard-7 tuning.


I think the key to clarity and speed may rely more on the guitar being appropriately setup for the string gauge that you are using.

Remember, if you are experimenting with gauges, and switch gauges often, you should take the time to setup your axe appropriately.


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## Chris D (Jan 12, 2006)

Yeah, if you're changing string gauge/tuning drastically take your time with the trussrod, it takes a few days for the neck to completely settle.
Plus you won't get your action properly sorted until the neck bow/relief is set.

BTW, I agree with thedownside, a 26 in the middle of the ZWboomers gives a better spread of gauges, but I guess it's down to preferance.


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