Hey all.

2 questions. First question I have is about string care. Is there any way to prolong the life of your strings? Specifically, I'm talking about the high E, B, and G strings. They always seem to get sorta crusty black-looking for me, even though I've been wiping down the strings with a cloth after I play. Tips?

Second question is about technique. When I'm trying to play through some songs with lots of fretwork, I always notice that my low E and A strings tend to sort of "ring" even though I haven't touched them. So, to sort of remedy that, I've been trying to mute those strings with my palm during those songs. Is this poor technique?

Thanks in advance.

First question, wash your hands before playing the guitar.



Second question, no nothings wrong and your doing it right.

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umm..first question, get new strings. strings are cheap to get, and you should always experiment with different strings. each have different sound and stuff. and strings always start collecting sweat. even if you wash your hands raw, sweat will build up. how do you fix it? either have really dry hands by wearing sand paper gloves all day long...or just get new strings!!!

second question, you man do that cheap ol' sock trick. its nothing official, but this may require you to sacrifice your open (zero) and your first fret. you can either grab a piece of cloth, and put it between your pickups and slide it up all the way to the first fret, until it gets stuck there....or you know those cloth sport wrist bands? they usually have the nike swish, or something weird on em? like the thing alexi is wearing on his right wrist(he has two. one with a skull, and then this....i think) here:

http://www.rockunited.com/live/Bang/Bodom2.jpg

grab one of them, and stretch em over your headstock, and put it on your first fret....

or, if you're too cheap, just grab your shoe lace from your shoe or soemthing, and just wrap it around your first fret.

its a cheap trick that will make you look like either a god to people who cant play guitar, or admire kurt cobain.....or awkward/sloppy/foolish to people who play guitar






or just live with it. its nothing too serious to turn emo over

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About strings, wash hands thoroughly before playing. After playing, get a guitar cloth and grab each string, and run through he entire length of the string, not just the surface, but put your hand on the cloth, grab the string all around, and swipe all the way through. You'll be surprised w/ the gunk you'll probably see on the cloth. Then use somthing like GHS fastfret. I do this routine and my strings last 2 months no problem.

I use Lem Oil, good for cleaning the entire guitar too

I have this rag which I've used to clean all my guitars for years, my strings seem to last for months (4 or more) without becoming shitty!!!

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The strings I use never ever rust, and I generally don't keep em in cases all the time. If your strings are rusting up try different brand ones, I have found certain makes of GHS, D'addario, and especially Dean Markley to last longest for me. I only do string changes when I wanna do vast changes in tuning, otherwise every several months. 4-5 approx, no need for more IMO.

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Don't cheat and use a damper. Learn! The only time I ever used a damper was when I got my bassist to come and mute the strings for me while I was recording a tapping riff for a song. I hadn't had time to learn it and couldn't play it the right way, so I resorted to tapping it.

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Ok heres my 2cents, firstly avoid using Lemon Oil regularly as it can actually damage the fretboard if used too much. I don't know how the hell you guys are getting up to 5 months out of one set of strings! I use something called Swipe which cleans the strings above and below but even with that I like to change every 2-3 weeks not because they crust up but because they lose their zing (tried D'addario, Ernie Ball, Rotosound). I haven't tried Fast Fret but I can't believe that it prolongs it that much. I'd recommend with all the cleaning bits etc to change your strings at least once a month if you are playing on average 1 hour a day, unless of course you dont mind dead sounding strings

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crap dude i use Dean Markley or Boomers and honestly i change mine every 2-3 months. However, i wash my hands every time before touching my guitar.

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i change mine every 40 hours, or 500,000 KM



hhahaha

I change mine every two weeks, I play 3 hours a day so 42 hours actually. lol

You better belive that Fast Fret prolongs it well. I don't know about 5 months, but I can get 2 months out of my strings no prob. It's not just the FF, it's the combination of clean hands, wiping down, then using FF.

I use fastfret occasionally too, just when the strings and frets feel way too dry or sticky and sliding up and down feels squaky and dry not smooth. It can brighten the hell out of really old strings tonewise.

Earnie Balls don't last very long. D'addarios are long lasting and cheap but I find Dean Markleys to last even longer. Given they're $4.50 a pack though, but for tuning in D or C#, I haven't found a better set than their 52-11's or 56-13's respectively.

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here's a point, maybe the string life depends on your climate??

I live in England, so it's not exactly hot or humid much, at all really

Maybe string last less time in warmer places.... I dunno just a random thought that popped into my head!

My strings last aaaages, for some reason they don't corrode or go dull and I don't wipe them that often and I gig and stuff with them aswell... hmmm strange... I only use d'addario XLs aswell!!!

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speaking of noise and technique, does anyone know if Deeds of Flesh uses some kind of string dampening?? erik's technique just sounds inhumanly precise and clean as a whistle.

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It shouldn't matter unless we're talking about a temperature range in the extremes. Not just that, but I always stow away my guitars in it's case or gig bag when I'm not playing.

I leave my guitars out aslong as its in my room. But if you leave a window open, rust begins to start forming on the strings from the moisture outside.

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you know unless you are recording or playing live shows...what is the point of changing strings every couple of weeks? Why not save the money and change them every 2 months...Makes more sense I think...but I do that. For strings though I just wipe off my strings after playing and it seems to work fine for me.

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