How to Restring a Guitar: Step-by-Step for Beginners

Changing strings is the most useful bit of guitar care you can learn. Fresh strings sound brighter, stay in tune better and feel smoother under your fingers. The first time takes about half an hour; after a few tries it takes fifteen minutes. The steps below are for a steel-string acoustic guitar, the kind in the diagram above. The sections after them explain what changes on an electric guitar and on a classical guitar with nylon strings. If any part names are new to you, our labeled guide to the parts of a guitar shows where everything is.

What you need

• A new set of strings. Use strings made for your type of guitar: steel acoustic strings for an acoustic, electric strings for an electric, nylon strings for a classical. Browse our guitar strings, or go straight to acoustic guitar strings or electric guitar strings.
• A string winder. A small crank that fits over the tuning peg's button and turns it many times faster than your fingers. Most have a notch in the end for lifting bridge pins. See our string winders.
• A string cutter. Wire cutters or the cutter built into some winders. You use it to trim the extra string at the tuner post.
• A tuner. A clip-on tuner on the headstock is the easiest way to get each new string to the right note. See our guitar tuners.
• Eye protection. Ordinary safety glasses. A string can snap while you tighten it, and cut string ends can fly.
• A soft cloth (optional) to wipe the fretboard and body while the strings are loose, and something soft to rest the neck on.

One string at a time, or all at once?

Either way works on a healthy acoustic guitar. Changing one string at a time is the easiest way for a beginner: the other five strings show you exactly how the new one should run, and the neck stays under its usual tension. Taking all six off at once lets you clean the whole fretboard and the top under the strings. A few minutes without strings does a solid guitar no harm. If you take them all off, keep the old pins in order, and put the new strings on starting with the thickest.

How to restring a steel-string acoustic guitar

1. Put on your eye protection and get comfortable. Sit with the guitar on your lap, or lay it on a table on a soft cloth, with the neck supported.
2. Loosen the old string. Turn its tuning peg until the string goes slack. Do not cut a string that is still tight: it can whip back toward your face and hands. Once it is loose, you can cut it in the middle to make it easier to remove.
3. Unwind the string from the tuner post and pull its end out of the string hole. Old string ends are sharp, so coil the string up as you go.
4. Pull the bridge pin. Use the notch on your string winder to lift the pin straight up. If it sticks, push the loose string a little way into the hole from above to free the ball end, then lift again. Do not pry against the wood with pliers or a screwdriver.
5. Take out the old string and set the pin aside, in the same order as its neighbors.
6. Check the new string. Match it to the string you removed. Most string sets mark each string by its thickness or color on the packet; the thickest goes on top, nearest your face, when you hold the guitar. Our guide to guitar string names shows which is which.
7. Put the ball end into the bridge hole, about an inch deep.
8. Push the bridge pin back in with its groove facing the saddle (toward the neck). The groove is the path for the string.
9. Seat the ball end. Keep a thumb pressed on top of the pin and pull the string up gently with your other hand. You will feel the ball end slide up and catch against the underside of the bridge. The pin should sit down flush and stay put.
10. Lay the string over the saddle and into its slot at the nut, then on to its tuner post.
11. Turn the post so the string hole points along the string, and thread the string through it.
12. Leave some slack. Pull the string through, then back it up so there are about 2 to 3 inches of slack between the post and the nut. That slack becomes the wraps on the post. A simple measure: pull the string tight past the post, then back it up by about the distance to the next tuner.
13. Bend the string sharply where it comes out of the post, so it holds while you start winding.
14. Wind the right way. The string should leave the post on the side facing the middle of the headstock. On a guitar with three pegs on each side, looking at the face of the headstock, that means turning the posts on the left side counterclockwise and the posts on the right side clockwise. Tightening should make the note go up.
15. Guide the wraps downward. Hold the string lightly with a finger so each new wrap sits below the one before it. Two to three neat wraps is right for the thick wound strings; the thin plain strings can take three or four, because they are slippery. Wraps going down the post press the string firmly into the nut.
16. Tune the string up to its note with your tuner. Keep your face away from the headstock while you tighten. Check you are turning the right peg: tightening the wrong string is the most common way to break one.
17. Stretch the string. Hook a finger under it near the middle and pull it gently away from the fretboard, moving up and down its length. It will go flat. Retune and stretch again two or three times, until it holds its note.
18. Trim the extra. Cut the end about a quarter inch from the post, still wearing your eye protection, and point the cut end away from you.
19. Repeat for the other five strings, then tune all six once more. Standard tuning, thickest to thinnest, is E, A, D, G, B, E.

New strings keep stretching for a day or two. Expect to retune a few times in the first sessions; that is normal and settles down quickly.

How it is different on an electric guitar

The winding at the headstock is the same as on an acoustic: string through the post, a little slack, wraps going downward, the string leaving the post on the inside. Many electrics have all six tuners in a row along one side. Then every post turns the same way, and the string still leaves each post on the side facing the fretboard. The big difference is the bridge end: an electric has no bridge pins. How the string goes in depends on the bridge.

• Through-body bridge. The strings go in from the back of the guitar. Thread each string through its hole on the back, push it all the way through the body and the bridge, and pull until the ball end stops in its metal cup (ferrule) on the back. This is common on T-style guitars.
• Stop-tail bridge. A separate bar (the tailpiece) holds the ball ends behind the bridge. Thread the string through the tailpiece from the side away from the neck, pull it through, and lay it over its saddle on the bridge.
• Tremolo bridge. On the usual S-style tremolo, the strings go in from the back of the body through holes in the back plate, into a metal block under the bridge, and up over the saddles. Change one string at a time: a tremolo is balanced between the pull of the strings and springs inside the body, and taking every string off lets it tip forward. Expect a few more rounds of tuning, because changing one string pulls slightly on the others.
• Locking tremolos clamp the strings at the nut and the bridge and use a different method. Follow the maker's instructions or ask a guitar tech the first time.

Use electric guitar strings on an electric. The pickups are magnets, and they need strings made of nickel-plated steel or similar to pick up the sound well. For the names of all the parts on an electric, see the parts of an electric guitar.

How it is different on a classical guitar

A classical guitar uses nylon strings and has a tie-on bridge instead of pins. There are no ball ends to seat: you tie each string to the bridge.

1. Pass the string through its bridge hole, entering on the side nearest the sound hole, and pull a few inches out the back.
2. Bring the short end back over the top of the bridge and pass it under the string where it enters the hole.
3. Wrap the short end around itself. Once is enough for the three thick strings; the three thin, smooth treble strings hold better with two or three wraps.
4. Pull the long end toward the headstock so the knot tightens and sits on the back edge of the bridge.
5. At the headstock, thread the string through the hole in the roller, bring it back around and under itself so it locks, then wind it onto the roller neatly and tune up.

Nylon stretches much more than steel. A new classical set can take a day or two of retuning before it holds well. Stretch each string gently as you go, just as on an acoustic. Never put steel strings on a classical guitar: it is built for the lower pull of nylon, and steel strings can damage the bridge and neck.

How often to change guitar strings

There is no fixed date. A good rule of thumb: if you play a few times a week, change your strings every two to three months. If you play every day, or play shows, every few weeks. Children's guitars that are played less can go longer. Change them sooner when you notice any of these signs:

• The sound has gone dull and the ring fades fast.
• The guitar will not stay in tune, or notes higher up the neck sound out of tune even when the open strings are right.
• The strings look dark or rusty, or feel rough or gritty under your fingers.
• A string broke. Many players change the whole set at once, so all six sound alike.

Washing your hands before you play and wiping the strings with a dry cloth afterward makes every set last longer.

Common mistakes

• Winding the wrong way. The string should leave the post on the inside, toward the middle of the headstock. Wound the other way, it can rub on the next post and pulls badly across the nut.
• Too few or too many wraps. Too few and the string can slip; a pile of wraps that overlap and climb up the post keeps going out of tune. Two to three neat downward wraps for wound strings is the target.
• A ball end that is not seated. If the ball end catches on the tip of the bridge pin instead of the underside of the bridge, the pin pops up as you tune. Loosen, push the pin down, and pull the string up again until you feel it catch.
• Cutting too soon. Trim the extra only after the string is up to pitch. Cut before, and you may find there is not enough left for proper wraps.
• Tightening the wrong peg. Follow the string with your eyes from the nut to its post before you turn anything.
• Skipping the stretch. Unstretched strings go flat for days. A minute of gentle stretching saves a lot of retuning.
• Putting strings in the wrong slots. The thickest string goes in the top slot, nearest your face as you hold the guitar. Lay out the new set in order before you start.

Safety

• Wear eye protection while you cut strings and while you tighten new ones. A string under tension can snap, and a cut end can fly.
• Keep your face away from the headstock while you tune up, and tune slowly as you near the note.
• Loosen before you cut. Never cut a string at full tension.
• Mind the sharp ends. Coil old strings and put them in a bag or wrap them before throwing them away, so nobody gets poked. Keep loose strings and cutters away from small children.

Guitars to practice on

Each guitar below shows one of the setups in this guide. Prices and stock update automatically.

For a fresh set, see our guitar strings, including steel acoustic sets and nylon classical sets. Shopping for a first guitar? Browse steel-string acoustics, electric guitars and classical guitars, and for a young player, our guide to choosing the right size guitar for a child.

Frequently asked questions

How do you change guitar strings for the first time?

Change one string at a time. Loosen the old string, remove it, put the new one in at the bridge, thread it through its tuner post with a little slack, wind two or three wraps downward, then tune, stretch and retune. Using the other strings as a guide makes it hard to go wrong.

Should I take all the strings off at once?

You can. A few minutes without strings does a healthy acoustic guitar no harm, and it is the best time to clean the fretboard. On a guitar with a tremolo bridge, change one string at a time so the bridge stays balanced.

How many times should the string wrap around the tuning post?

Two to three wraps for the thick wound strings, three or four for the thin plain strings. The wraps should sit neatly one below the other, going down the post.

Which way do you wind guitar strings?

So the string leaves the post on the side facing the middle of the headstock. On a guitar with three tuners each side, looking at the face of the headstock, turn the left-side posts counterclockwise and the right-side posts clockwise. Tightening raises the note.

Why do my new strings keep going out of tune?

New strings stretch. Pull each one gently away from the fretboard along its length, retune, and repeat two or three times. They will still settle for a day or two, after which they hold their tuning well.

How long does it take to restring a guitar?

About 20 to 30 minutes the first time, including tuning and stretching. With practice it takes around 15 minutes.