What are the best reasonably priced strings out there nowadays? I've heard that Elixir is a good brand, but I've heard a lot of people who hate their strings. Tops I would ever pay for a set of strings(acoustic or electric) would be $15, is this too little?

What brands would you reccomend for both acoustic and electric strings? And what guages would be considered "standard" and "standard-thick"? I need to change the ones on my acoustic, and I'll want to change the ones on my new electric if they're too thin.

There's no such thing as " best strings". Personal opinion. I use Dean markley's 10-46 for standard on electrics..As for acoustics I use dean marley vintage bronze series 11-46.

http://metaltabs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=230988

i like ghs 10 gauge strings, nice and chunky.

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Exactly.

I use ghs .010 - .046 for standard and Eb

And dean markley .012 - .052 for downtuning. ( B or drop A )

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i use 'daddario 10's xxl, or somet, there real nice, and have a better feel than ernie ball 10's

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Ernie Ball is all I've ever bought.Their pretty good I guess.

I love d'addario's. Cheap, durable and nice sound. Elixirs? meh, dunnoh. Their expensive, and don't feel very comfortable IMO

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True, true

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DR 11-50 tele
ernie ball 10-56 7 string
dean markley 11-52 tele
thomastik infeld 11-50 and 12-59 acoustics
ernie ball 13-56 baritone

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For those who use 10's for E or Eb... Do they hold up to heavy trem and alternate picking? I have GHS Boomers 9's on mine now in E, and I notice how sloppy my picking is. You guys who use 10's or 11's in E or Eb, is your picking sloppy? Does a thicker string make for a better picking? What do you guys think of GHS strings? DR strings?

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To me Dean Markleys sound good and they last quite a while.

i rilli like DR strings alot they have a nice feel and sound nice too.
i like em over earnie ball and al the others

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i play 010 in E and that plays a lot faster on sweeping, alternate and trem picking, more stability to call it that way, and DR string are rilli nice IMO

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D'addario stand out for me. I went with rotosound and ernie ball for a while, and they were annoying, and damaged my fretboard. I think it's how compact the D'addario are wound, producing a smoother feel, or maybe i'm just retarded?

D'ad - 10 guage in D

its not the strings, its the user malfunction.

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Black Diamond for electric (black/coated 10 guage)
Elixer for acoustic (w/nanoweb 11 guage)

My preferences

Once you go coated, you don't go back

Using GHS .11's right now (am always almost in Eb). I reccomend DR's though; as they sound great for a long time, and are very comftorable.

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your right, I know it will come with practice, but I've noticed my picking is so much smoother on say, my bro's guitar than mine. If I'm trying to do a 3 or 4 note attack per string over a run, the strings just bounce around, I don't have much control picking over it, like a sloppy out-of-control feel. But on his guitar, I can pick the same run much more smoothly, and I can feel the control of my picking technique. I was just wondering if that's just due to strings Is there any other thing that could affect the picking response. I'm pretty sure he's using 9's or 10's on his as well.

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d'addario is by far my favorite. They are cheap, sound great and wont tarnish nearly as quickly as most other strings. Plus d'addario is a great company, always giving out shit and making contests and actually do something unlike anyone else.

I think as long as I don't use 9's all strings are good with me.

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for a fender strat, fender bullets - less tuning problems and more contact with the trem block, giving more sustain

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I have always been happy with earnie ball and d'addario.

At the moment I'm using Dean Markley 10s in E and Eb - they're OK
and Earnie ball 'not even slinky' 12-56 in B - which I'm enjoying quite alot

I bought some earnie regular slinks a few weeks back and theyre real nice to play. I think ill get them next time as well, they are only like $15 nz, ($10 us?).

And they have a cool packet

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yeah those or Blue Steel, i like.

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D'Addario steel. John Petrucci plays it!!! No more words to say!!!
But I use 10, and John use 8. My music is much heavyer

Dean Markley nickel steel mediums on most electrics.