Heavy metal string gauge

brendansmith

What gauge to people who play 80s metal or pantera stuff use?

Ive been using 10s, thinking about going down to nines.
Definitely not going with 12s again.

discobeaker

I like 11's. They have that really fat low end from the bass strings but i would say its up to whatever you happy with. Personally i find 9's are too weak sounding. Maybe better suited for a tele or something but thats just my 2 cents

Iron Hide

nines are ok, but the best by far are Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy bottom strings... Hetfield uses them i think, been using em myself for about a year.. I wouldnt play much Pantera tbh more Machine Head and Megadeth and they sound great for those two..

discobeaker

dont forget alot of metal bands tune down a step so with the likes of 9's they would just be flopping all over the place and could sound kinda weak for big chugging riffs

discobeaker

also check out dimebag's customs strings

http://www.music123.com/DR-Strings-Dimebag-Darrell-Hi-Voltage-Heavy-Electric-Guitar-Strings-105269-i1123249.Music123

they seem to be 11's

brendansmith

Yeah i guess your right but i just used standard tuning and I have no intention of going lower than 10s.

Its just my finger tips have started to get abit raw lately. Ive been playing for years so go figure.

brendansmith

discobeaker wrote: »

also check out dimebag's customs strings

http://www.music123.com/DR-Strings-Dimebag-Darrell-Hi-Voltage-Heavy-Electric-Guitar-Strings-105269-i1123249.Music123

they seem to be 11's

Hmmmm interesting!

discobeaker

I know what you mean about your finger tips but they will harden up. I used to dip them in methylated spirits to harden them up.... dunno how safe that is but hey,its rock n roll!!!

Hope that web address about dimes string was some help anyway

Paolo_M

A few of the string companies supply sets of 9s with thicker than "normal" low strings.
I think there's a D'Addario set that does 9 through 54 instead of the usuall 49.
Something like that might suit you well.

Dord

Did you take a break from playing recently?

I find that if I take an extended break from playing then the skin on my fingers recover and becomes soft again. It's necessary to keep playing to maintain the callouses but try not to cram too much playing in a short period without building up to it. I've done that and ended up with raw fingers. Thankfully I'm able for it now.

Paolo_M

Dord wrote: »

Did you take a break from playing recently?

I find that if I take an extended break from playing then the skin on my fingers recover and becomes soft again. It's necessary to keep playing to maintain the callouses but try not to cram too much playing in a short period without building up to it. I've done that and ended up with raw fingers. Thankfully I'm able for it now.

Ya big girl!!

Dord

:rolleyes:

rcaz

I had a highlighter pen which had completely square corners on one end (unlike most highlighter with gay rounded edges), when I was in school I would hold it with my left hand squeezing the sharp bits into my fingertips. It helped a whole lot!

I play 12s on my guitar. If you're looking to get a more heavy metal tone, would there not be a million other things to play with before you start looking at changing your string guage? Surely the effect on your sound will be minimal.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Depends on tuning, playing style and guitar. If you are a shredder and you play in standard tuning on a flat-ish fretboard you could get away with 10's. On a more rounded strat neck you might want to consider 9's to soften up the slightly higher action. If you play mainly chunky riffs with a bit of lead you could go 11 maybe.

I'm currently experimenting with recording some tracks, and the guitar I'm using is tuned down 3 semitones (C#), so I'm using 12's. It's just right for the kind of thing I'm currently playing, i.e. slow, heavy riffs with a bit of widdly thrown in.

A7X

Paolo_M wrote: »

Ya big girl!!

Dord wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Ha ha. What a great post. Reminded me of the Brady bunch

demanufactured

brendansmith wrote: »

Hmmmm interesting!

Dimebag used 9-46 , ernie ball do them , they are called Hybrid slinkys , I use em.

brendansmith

Dord wrote: »

Did you take a break from playing recently?

I find that if I take an extended break from playing then the skin on my fingers recover and becomes soft again. It's necessary to keep playing to maintain the callouses but try not to cram too much playing in a short period without building up to it. I've done that and ended up with raw fingers. Thankfully I'm able for it now.

Ill play for about an hour everyday and sometimes when im really getting getting into it ill play for afew hours and this is wen i get raw.

El Pr0n wrote: »

I play 12s on my guitar. If you're looking to get a more heavy metal tone, would there not be a million other things to play with before you start looking at changing your string guage? Surely the effect on your sound will be minimal.

Nah its not the tone im looking to change, happy out with it.

demanufactured wrote: »

Dimebag used 9-46 , ernie ball do them , they are called Hybrid slinkys , I use em.

Thats the answer i was looking for. Whats this 11s dimebags customs string stuff about that was posted earlier?

demanufactured

Dunno brendan but i know for a fact he used 9-46.

I use em in E flat and C sharp tuning.

Gary ITR

discobeaker wrote: »

also check out dimebag's customs strings

http://www.music123.com/DR-Strings-Dimebag-Darrell-Hi-Voltage-Heavy-Electric-Guitar-Strings-105269-i1123249.Music123

they seem to be 11's

brendansmith wrote: »

Thats the answer i was looking for. Whats this 11s dimebags customs string stuff about that was posted earlier?

His estate must be cashing in on his name. So much gear has his name on it now. I have a Dimebucker in my jackson, I could have it plugged in with dimebag leads through a multitude of dimebag effects, using dimebag strings.. it's all a bit much. I wouldn't say he used half the crap his name is on

Malice

El Pr0n wrote: »

I play 12s on my guitar. If you're looking to get a more heavy metal tone, would there not be a million other things to play with before you start looking at changing your string guage? Surely the effect on your sound will be minimal.

True there's probably a lot of other things he can change but for palm muting I find thicker strings help to provide a much thicker chuggy sound.

brendansmith

Onkle wrote: »

His estate must be cashing in on his name. So much gear has his name on it now. I have a Dimebucker in my jackson, I could have it plugged in with dimebag leads through a multitude of dimebag effects, using dimebag strings.. it's all a bit much. I wouldn't say he used half the crap his name is on

Yeah, bless him, he was a right whore. Whats the dimebucker like?

MetalDawg

I use D'addario 11's with a wound 3rd, for all tunings from standard to drop C and styles. I've big hands though, I dunno if that matters. I got the shop to set up my SG and the actions lovely on it.