Although choosing the best strings for our own musical style, guitar and personal preference is largely a matter of trial and error (having considered some basic guidelines), a useful starting point is to consider what your own guitar heros use. Many famous guitarists endorse a particular brand, or even have their own Signature Series (such as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour Signature Series of GHS Boomers for example), so a good starting point are the websites of major string brands (see "Guitar String Manufacturers" for a list). read more »

Playing Blues guitar is all about feel and tone... so what are the best strings for the Blues? Not an easy question to answer (along with "what is the best guitar for the Blues?"), but we'll try to give some tips and look at what strings the best blues guitarists use...

Do you need Heavy Strings for Blues?

Conventional wisdom is that you need heavy gauge strings for a great Blues tone. Certainly early Blues players would use heavy strings, read more »

With their hook line "Superior guitar strings for superior guitarists", Santa Rosa California-based Sfarzo Strings are launching two new sets of strings in January 2011. According to Sfarzo, both the EMPYREAN acoustic guitar strings and NICKELANIUM for electric guitar give an outstanding bright sound and more sustain than conventional strings.

The NICKELANIUM Nickel Strings are advertised as Outstanding for Screaming Leads and Chomping rhythms. Excellent for live performance and studio sessions.. In addition to conventional sets of 9, 10 and 11 gauge, the NICKELANIUM strings are available in an additional 7 sets of different string gauge combinations - great for guitarists who like to experiment. read more »

Serious guitarists who gig regularly can get through a lot of packs of strings... and he cost can start to be significant. In recognition of this, Elixir Strings has unveiled the "Pro Pack", a cost effective solution for guitarists that get through a large amount of strings. read more »

Guitar string makers D'Addario have warned that Chinese counterfeit strings are now finding their way onto websites and even legitimate music stores all over the world. Fake D’Addario string sets have been found in the UK, Germany, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Romania and more... and are getting more difficult to distinguish them from the genuine strings.

Early counterfeit versions of D’Addario strings were easy to spot, with poor quality packaging and printing, but modern production techniques mean that modern copies are more difficult to spot. read more »

Halo Custom Guitars, whose electric guitars include the amazing Halo Octavia 8-String (pictured) are now fitting Sfarzo strings to all their guitars.

With their tagline Superior guitar strings for superior guitarists, the Sfarzo String Company of Santa Rosa, California produce a range of strings including read more »

Round-wound American-made GHS Boomers have been firm favorites with electric guitarists for many years, with their distinctive powerful sound. New for 2010, GHS have anounced a coated version of these poular nickel steel strings. read more »