How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

[FAC]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

On my strat its 9-46's because of the longer 25.5" scale and the fact its not a guitar I play aggressively.

On my LP's its 10-52's though because I like that chuckier low end not to mention the shorter scale makes a bit of a difference.

This is what I do, too.

[stratman073]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

My #1 is a custom built Strat, birdseye maple neck, ash body, sperzel locking tuners, bone nut, L.R. Baggs pizeo bridge, Seymour Duncan jb jr in the bridge, and a neck pup out of an early G&L ASAT in the neck position.

The action is set at what i'd call 'medium'. I'm a pretty aggressive player, and being a predominantly cover bar band guitarist, the music I play ranges from twangy country to current rock radio tunes.

I really beat the heck out of that guitar night after night, and it stays rock solid in tune, delivers sustain for days, and has tone to the bone strung up with D'Addario XL 11's.

Lots of guitars I see in music shops seem to be strung with 9's.. I suspect that's so they have that 'fast playing' feel.. the lighter the string gauge, the easier it is to set super low action, and the lower the action the 'faster' guitars seem to play.

I'm so used to the 11's and the medium action, that when I try and play a guitar with 9's it feels like it's got rubber bands for strings.

But you know, its something you'd have to probably work your way up to.. I started playing on an acoustic guitar when I was a kid, that had monster like 13's on it trying to play along with the songs I heard on the radio long before I got my first electric guitar.. i'm just comfortable with the big strings and the medium action.

I can definately see how a player who started out on an electric set up with 8's or 9's would find trying to play with 11's to be like trying to play with steel cables.

Scientifically speaking, a guitars sound is made when a piece of steel string vibrates in the pickups magnetic field, and this generates electricity. The greater the vibration, the more electricity generated. By this rational, seems like the big fat string with the widest vibration pattern would make the chunkiest tone.

But with that said.. i've heard plenty of players get great tone out of 9's.

So I dunno.

[Sanford]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

I was playing some of JerryJG's guitars to test my amp and he commented that something might be wrong with the neck on one of his guitars because I kept having to tune it. Turns out he put 9's on it and I usually play with 11's and a kung fu grip. I was torquing the strings out of intonation/tune with my banging.

How do people play with 9's? Beats the hell outta me. I don't use them.

[Nagarajah725]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

I definitely love the 9-46 especially for the feel of pinch harmonics.

[Zerberus]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Hmm, here everyone is talking about 9s and 10s and now the heavy hitters that play 12s, 13s and 14s start to chime in

I dislike anything under 11s. I feel like the instrument is strung with florists wire, find the tone thin, and they have too much rebound to pick fast. With 9s I also end up having strings break left and right on bends, though this is partially a technique issue.

I started on 11s, tried 9s and 10s, and went straight to 12s. Been happy for nearly 20 years now, and every time I setup or try an instrument with 9s I become really annoyed at the plinky sound and lack of resistance.

FTR, I use 12-52 in standard and 13-60 in d, and the seven string baritone is strung with 14-70 and tuned down a fourth.

[sosomething]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

been using 11-50 tuned to Eb for a long, long time.

Anything else doesn't stand up to my cro-magnon fistpicker right hand.

[CaughtLikeFire]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Anything else doesn't stand up to my cro-magnon fistpicker right hand.

right on

as a drummer, I'm used to taking a pretty physical approach to playing musical instruments.

I use 11-48s on 25.5 scale guitars, standard or sometimes Eb

On short scale guitars, a heavier set of 12s is a must.

[sosomething]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

right on

as a drummer, I'm used to taking a pretty physical approach to playing musical instruments.

I use 11-48s on 25.5 scale guitars, standard or sometimes Eb

On short scale guitars, a heavier set of 12s is a must.

I've just gotten used to the resistance. 10s on a Telecaster feel like noodles to me and all my bends are way sharp, even the 2-step ones.

[B2D]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

I'm currently using a .010-.046 set on my Les Paul in Eb and a .011-.048 set on my Music Man Silo Special, which is in Drop C#.

I can move around on the 11-48 set just fine but I think I'll go to an .010-.052 set because soloing makes my hand cramp up a little bit quicker than I'd like and I still want more chunk in the lows.

[Bludave]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

I use 11's on electrics. 13's on acoustics. Can't imagine playing with 9's.

[Jerky Chid]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

9s + 58 on a 7 string baritone

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Been using mostly 10's but my Strat came stock with 9's and I'm having a blast using them... Don't think I'll go up soon.

[guitarded]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Brian May used 8's at one time, I think I read somewhere. And The Red Special is 24" scale. It's a personal thing... I don't think there is any right or wrong about it. Most people probably would play most comfortable with 9's on a Fender scale and 10's on a Gibson. I use 10's across the board.. because it is cheaper to but strings in 12 packs so it makes more sense as I own 8 electric guitars right now.

[Time Stood Still]

Re: How do people play with 9 gauge strings?

Great thread.

I've been using Daddario EJ21's 12-52 on my 24.75 scale guitars. I tune D standard so it's like playing 11's at standard. I love to tone and tension, I can bend and the tuning stability is there. I took some getting use to at first but it was a lesson in technique and discipline. Overall I'm glad I stuck with them.

String brands also played a huge part in my decision. There's a big difference in individual string gauges once you start getting into 11 and 12 gauge "factory-sealed" packs and in my opinion, the coating on the strings and the string composite has obvious differences with regards to tone and feel.

I use 11's when I'm in standard or Eb.