How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

[guitfiddle]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

11's? You're clearly not bending enough, young fella.

It's all in the finger strength, brother...using 11s in standard, I can bend the 15th fret "d" on the b string up to an f# without straining.

It's all about using what works for you...until it gets too floppy, and then you move on up. if it never gets floppy, you're there.

[ibanezrocks]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

It's all about using what works for you...until it gets too floppy, and then you move on up. if it never gets floppy, you're there.

Just like with girls. Right?

[guitfiddle]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

^^^Well, if they live long enough, it's gonna get floppy.

[Diego]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

11's? You're clearly not bending enough, young fella.

My Strat's scalloped from the 12th fret and up.

[daemon barbeque]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Yeah I meant do you tune the High-A down to Ab or something.

Tuning down a full step will definitely help with the tension.

Are you gonna go HARDCORE & get a 9-string, or even the Halo XSI?

http://www.haloguitars.com/tenstringguitar.html

Halos blow
Waylon try to build a new facility in Texas ,and try to clear the bad rep.
I wish him luck!

Anyways ,actually I wanted to jump on a 9 instead of 8.
The problem is ,everytime I play low F# or F.or even G ,it feels not right.
And the 27Hz is nowwhere comfortable for me.
So i stay at A as the lowest and go with 8 string.
The high G will be giving me more sustain and new arpeggios without lacking definition and sweetness. The neck is scalloped ,so the bendings will b so nice nad sweet....Yummieeee

[wanmei1]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

There is a mass of info available on the net.
One article states:
"in the 1950's there were no 10 gauge strings let alone 9 or 8's the lightest was 11 gauge."
So if your serious about that vintage PAF sound ...you know what strings to use.

Srings effect SOUND
Besides affecting the action, a change in tension may also affect the sound (sustain and tone). Some players may choose to increase the string gauge on their instrument to experiment with volume and sustain. A common complaint when using very light or extra light gauge strings is a loss of volume, sustain and a thin or twangy sound.

Strings effect playing COMFORT
OK, not that you could have missed it but...bigger gauge=more tension, and more tension can cause discomfort for some players as it places more pressure on your fingertips while fretting. It also makes it even more painful for those playing instruments with very high action.
For those who are just beginning to play this can equate to some serious discouragement, especially when the box you are learning on has the action of a dobro. Yow! Been there, done that right? For this reason I may recommend some beginners opt for a Light or Extra Light gauge until their fingers have developed calluses. Once you've learned to play you can start pondering just how to obtain the best possible sound from your instrument.
And let's not forget string benders. Not all of us can take an .011 gauge E string and bend it 2 notes sharp. Playing style can also dictate gauge...while some players opt for lighter gauge strings to aid their string bending skills, still others may find their mighty digits over bend strings that are too small (a common problem on short scale instruments strung with .008's)...those light tension strings will actually bend with so little effort that the player tends to play sharp as the strings offer little resistance when playing normal chords.
http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/stringchoice.htm

[wanmei1]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

11's? You're clearly not bending enough, young fella.

What makes you think that this poster or indeed a lot of other people can't do lots of big bends using medium gauge 11 strings ?
Like yourself I play a lot of blues (mostly blues) and have no trouble at all with large bends using 11 gauge.
I'm not a particularly big or strong guy with average size hands, just under 6 foot and 14 stone.
I use one finger for bends but if anyone finds that to be heavy going you can always use a couple of fingers to "help" bend the note.
I just don't know why you think you can't do deep bends with 11 gauge.
If I use anything as light as 9's, I just push em right off the fretboard,.......Extreme bends anyone ??????
I don't notice using any effort until 12 gauge but I can play all night with em.
Have you ever tried a set of 11's ?
Why not give them a go for a couple of months, you will then be accustomed to bending on 11's and chances are you'll think nothing of it.
11 gauge is not considered heavy by most string manufacturers they are usually listed as medium.
12's and above are most commonly listed as heavy gauge.
Try a set for a few months on a shorter scale guitar such as a 335 and hear how that brings the guitar to life in every way.
Note however, that as a result of using medium gauge strings your evaluation and opinion of various pickups and magnets may well change dramatically as a result.

[B2D]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

11's? You're clearly not bending enough, young fella.

LMFAO.

I don't know Diego's playing preferences, but some styles don't make use of bending a whole lot. Jazz, for instance.

Plus I've noticed some guitars tend to react better tonally to certain gauges. I used to have a Strat that sounded better with 9-42's than any other gauge. Conversely, I once set up a vintage strat with 12's and it was as resonant and playable as you'd ever find for a guitar.

[Diego]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Actually, I use a lot of bending. I play lots of stuff; Whitesnake, King's X, basically lots of Classic Rock and some modern stuff. I can bend and do lots of vibrato on 11s just fine,it's just harder to shred or do complex chording fast enough on it, but I can handle it.

[pinto79]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

I use 9-46 on my Eb tuned guitars, 10s on my Tele, and straight 9s on E tuned guitars. This is what I love about digital modelers, string gauge doesn't REALLY play a huge role, so I can just use what's most comfortable.

[rivera213]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

That explains how he manages to plug a PRS into a Boogie and still sound like arse.

*runs for cover*

Ha ha.

Actually, you can get great tone with 8s! Brian May is a winner on this. Santana just doesn't!

Shawn Lane also.

[rivera213]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

If I use anything as light as 9's, I just push em right off the fretboard,.......Extreme bends anyone ??????

That's probably because you don't have too much control. J/k.

Shawn Lane used .008's yet could bend 2 steps to pitch without going off the edge.

I use .008's & can bend 1.5 steps to pitch w/vibrato and not go off the edge.

A certain Yngwie Malmsteen who has awesome touch, bending & vibrato can bend to 1.5 steps pitch perfect with wide vibrato as wel so I don't think it's fact that thin strings will go off of the edge.

For distorted guitar, there isn't much of an advantage to having thick treble strings over thin when in standard tuning imo. There is a tonal difference for sure, but that's more for the bass strings (the .022, .030, .038 bass strings are weak sounding). Action height matters more in my experience.

.008's may be a bit too thin for most people, but I think .013's for standard tuning are too thick for most people.

Jazzers I believe use .012's in standard tuning. If you play on a clean tone for the most part and have good control & strength then .012's would probably be the best option. I certainly wouldn't use .008's for jazz, they'd sound weak but on a double locking trem w/25.5" scale, they aren't too floppy for me.

[rivera213]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Halos blow
Waylon try to build a new facility in Texas ,and try to clear the bad rep.
I wish him luck!

Oh. How do they blow? (Crap construction etc?)

I haven't played 1, I just saw a 10-String guitar and thought of you. Ha ha.

Anyways ,actually I wanted to jump on a 9 instead of 8.
The problem is ,everytime I play low F# or F.or even G ,it feels not right.
And the 27Hz is nowwhere comfortable for me.
So i stay at A as the lowest and go with 8 string.
The high G will be giving me more sustain and new arpeggios without lacking definition and sweetness. The neck is scalloped ,so the bendings will b so nice nad sweet....Yummieeee

Low A is still pretty low. Ha ha.

Another problem are pickups. It's probably very difficult to build a pickup which has enough high end so the low-F# doesn't sound like crap, but not too much that the High-A will sound like cats being strangled. Lol.

Post some clips of the 8 if you can.

[daemon barbeque]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Oh. How do they blow? (Crap construction etc?)

I haven't played 1, I just saw a 10-String guitar and thought of you. Ha ha.




Low A is still pretty low. Ha ha.

Another problem are pickups. It's probably very difficult to build a pickup which has enough high end so the low-F# doesn't sound like crap, but not too much that the High-A will sound like cats being strangled. Lol.

Post some clips of the 8 if you can.

Well they forgot to drill wholes for the strings on a string-thru guitar!!!
They had many quality problems ,since the guitars where made somewhere in Asia ,the inconsistencies where huge!
Again ,Waylon is a cool guy and he tries to solve those problems.I hope His name and Halo will be a trademark in the future.

I use Q-Tuners on my 7 and 8(it's still in production)
The Q tuner has a range of 27hz to 12khz(resonant peak).So it's enough room for everything heheh.
The most articulate ,flawless and unforgiving sound.
You can't imagine the harmonics I get on the 24. fret Low Bb!!!
Many people don't like them because they are too tight ,too straight ,too flat and too unforgiving.

Check q-tuner.com
and check www.soundclick.com/ear. (my soundclick)
You may find a song(smaragd) and 2 other clips for the PU.
Cheers!

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Well, I used to bend a fair amount on 11s, still do on a Hamer (Gibson scale). I haven't been playing as much lately, so it's back to 10s on the Strat.


I played friend's Strat yesterday, it had 9s. A bit light, but really fun to bend 'em!