
Would it sound unusual if I say I love the feel of a brand new set of strings on my guitar? It is like having a new sheet on your bed. If you are a beginner or hobbyist guitar player, you might wonder “how often do professional guitarists change strings?”
In my experience, I had to change the strings every four days on Thursday. Back then Fridays and Saturdays were big nights for our band, lotta club goers and I did not want my strings to break in the middle of the set on those big days. So Thursday was like a night to stretch out those strings before the weekends. Again, a bit unusual but that worked for me.
For years, I used to play in the club every night for three sets, forty-five minutes each set. And I always had three sets of guitar strings in my gig bag. It became my routine to change strings every four days and going to a music store to buy strings and other goodies every two weeks.
Nowadays when I have a new recording date, I change the guitar strings a day prior to the recording session. But when I have a side gig like a wedding, I’ll change the strings a couple of hours before leaving the house. At church, I change my guitar strings every two months or more. These are all with my electric guitar, as it is my main instrument at work.
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