Only Four Strings To Mess Up

I just read a comment on a site about music. The content of the post was about how much the author hates the stereotypical “Christian guy with a guitar at a party”. It was an okay post, but the real gem was a comment in the ensuing discussion. It hit home and made me, a lifelong bass player, laugh out loud. I *so* relate.

I started playing bass in high school so I could play with the youth group worship band.

It’s the only instrument that you can suck at and still be allowed to play with real musicians.

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Here’s how to replace a guitar string so it won’t slip and also won’t have a huge ball of extra string wrapped around the tuning peg.

I play guitar with a pretty heavy hand, so I’ve replaced an awful lot of strings. Over time, I’ve found a method that consistently works for me. I hate having 20 winds of string around the tuning pegs, but having only a few winds means that they can slip when you are getting the string up to tension. So, without further ado, How To Replace a Guitar String, as demonstrated on my Ovation 6 and 12-Strings.

First, an important basic: The tuners on the top of the headstock turn counterclockwise to tighten the string, and the tuners on the bottom wind it up clockwise. The strings all run together between the two rows of tuners. This is important. If you wind the strings the wrong way, they will have to bend around the other tuners to get where they are going, and you’ll break them easily, and have tuning problems.

(Click any image to go to a larger version)

So, lets string the guitar. First, cut off the old strings. Use wire cutters and cut them just above the bridge. Sliding the whole string out through the hole in the bridge wears things down, takes longer, and sounds terrible. If your guitar uses white plastic pins to keep the strings in the bridge, cutting the strings lets you reach into the sound hole to help remove the pins. Unwind the strings from the tuning pegs, coil them and discard them. Do that now, because if you forget you’ll poke yourself with them later.

I always start with the bass strings. Insert the string through the bridge. Pull it through gently until the ball end sits neatly. I always line up the ball ends so it looks pretty, but I’m retentive that way.

Turn the hole in the tuning peg until you can place the string straight through it. Insert the end of the string through the tuning peg and tug it straight, but not tight. Check that the ball end is still sitting properly in the bridge and that the string is sitting in the correct slot in the nut.

Trick number one: Tug the string straight, place your finger on the string at the nut, then slide your finger back to the first fret. This should pull the string back enough to give you some slack over the body.

This is just the right amount of slack to wind around the tuning peg a couple of times. Experiment, the bass strings need one fret, the higher strings sometimes need one and a half, it’s entirely up to your preferences once you see how this works. It’s important that you hold the string at the first fret during the next couple of steps to keep the string going where it’s supposed to.

Next, turn the tuning knob so that the tuning peg makes about a quarter turn, like this:

This quarter turn helps make sure you see which way to do the next step. It doesn’t work right if you wind the string the wrong way around the post.

Trick number two: The lock. It might make more sense for you to just do it and see what’s happening than it will when you read it. Bear with me, it’s quite a simple concept when you see it.

Loop the string backwards around the tuning peg and under the string. This is the OPPOSITE direction that the string winds up to be tightened. (That’s why the quarter turn helps, you can easily see which way the string winds).

Tug the string end fairly tight and bend it upwards under the string going down the fretboard. This bent-upwards piece will be held tightly in place by the string once it gets wound a little tighter, which prevents the string from slipping. Even if you only have a half turn of string around the tuning peg, it grabs itself and won’t pull out.

Still holding the string slightly taut against the fretboard, turn the tuning knob to tighten the string.

Keep tightening until it is near the correct pitch. It should look something like this:

Using your handy wire cutters, trim off the extra string as close as you can to the tuning peg. It’s okay if your wire cutters don’t have grinder marks on them like mine do.

And voila! You can see in this picture how the string grabs and holds itself.

That’s all there is to it. Lather rinse and repeat 5 more times (or 11 more times if you have a 12 string, or 3 more times if you have a bass) and you’re done!

Let me know in the comments if you’d like anything clarified.

Although our children have never had formal music lessons, we have tried hard to immerse them in quality music and an array of instruments. Though I do not play piano, I have tried to teach piano lessons, and overall I’m pleased with the results. We also do a group guitar lesson where MrPages teaches us all (although some of us are slower to absorb this information, than others!) And yet I always worry that we are not doing enough. (Isn’t that the cry of every home school mom?)

Yesterday my children performed for me a “song” they wrote and put together. I was flabbergasted and very proud; it was awesome. MrPages recorded it, cleaned it up, and now we present the LittlePages in their debut single: My Banana

Sing to him! Make music to him! Tell about all his miraculous deeds! Psalms 105:2

We are a music-loving family, and the LittlePages are always clamouring to put on MediaMonkey so we can enjoy some music.

Although MrPages and I come from secular backgrounds, we have, as we have grown in our faith, moved almost entirely away from secular music. We do, however, shun a large portion of Christian contemporary music as evidence of art giving way to commercialism. (That, alas, is another post…)

I thought I might share a few of the LittlePages most popular choices of our, perhaps, lesser known worship music choices.

FretNot Gospel are a group of talented musicians who “play old-time American roots-gospel, the traditional church music from the hard days of the Emancipation on through to the Depression.” They “play anywhere for anyone the Lord Jesus Christ has called” them too! They have a great page of samples located here. If you click on the albums, you can listen to samples of almost all their work.

Seeds Family Worship CD’s are an awesome way to hide some scripture in your heart. These “children’s” CD’s are professionally done, and enjoyable for parents and children alike. MrPages, who music tastes tend to a little more heavier than my own, enjoys these CD’s immensely. (If you use Firefox, you may need to open this site in IE. Checkout this plugin to help.)

Lastly, the LittlePages love to listen to the Jost Family. This probably has something to do with hopes of creating our own little travelling-home- school-ministry-music-group, but it’s still good music with a great message. (You may need to load this in IE too!)

So go ahead:

Sing praises to the Lord, who rules in Zion! Tell the nations what he has done! Psalms 9:11

I thought I’d share a few places I’ve visited the last week or so.

This made me smile.

Advisory: YouTube is not a particularly safe place for children or adults. If you click through to the site, do so with caution, and please consider protecting your little ones and yourself with K9 Web Protection. It’s free and it works.

We’ve always had thoughts of starting a family band. The Family von Page. The thought of sitting down in the evening and playing and singing with our kids has been a dream our entire time as parents

We have a goal that our kids will play instruments. We don’t want them to be virtuosos. We have stated as our goal that we’d like them to be able to pick up a hymn book (melody line and a few harmony lines) and sight read it. Whether that’s on piano or guitar or whatever doesn’t really matter. We’d like them to be able to open a book of Christmas carols and sing at a party. We wish for them to be fluent enough in music to be able to enjoy it without being frustrated by it.

I’ve been in bands most of my life. I played bass in some bar rock bands through university, and I’ve been leading and playing in worship bands on the acoustic guitar for years now, so I lose sight sometimes just how tough it is to start on a new instrument.

I just picked up a cheap Applecreek mountain dulcimer. I have a some idea how to play it, but not much. So now, as I plunk my way through “Mary Had A Little Lamb” all over again, I can finally empathize with the frustration my kids feel at their lessons, and also with the joy that fills them to bursting when they finally get to “…white as snooooooow.” without any mistakes.

If you will excuse me, I’m off to go work on “Three Blind Mice.”

–MrPages