Your strings will get old or break, you will need to change them yourself. Typically, when you start to see rust or dirt on your strings, and when they just sound lifeless and dull it’s time to change them. It’s up to you how often you change them, usually around 30-40 hours of playing time.

It’s important that you understand how to do it properly. Not to mention playing with newer strings sounds amazing. I like them after their just broken in, it sounds so crisp and clean.

Acoustic 

You’ll need some snips to cut the ends off. Something to pull the bridge pins, a tuner and a string winder. Bonus points if you have a powered winder.

For the acoustic, I do all strings at the same time. I usually start with the low E String. Loosen the string a bit until you have enough tension release to unwind it. You will have to use a tool to pop the bridge pin out. Most string winders have this built into it somehow. Set your bridge pins aside, throw the old strings in the trash. I like to wind my tuning pegs so the holes are all facing the same direction.

Open your new pack of strings. Unwind each string carefully, you don’t want to lose an eye and most of all you do not want a kink in the string.

Put circle side through the hole and replace the bridge pin, pushing it down until it feels tight. Make sure the notch on the bridge pin is facing toward the bridge. Now take the other end of the string, put it through the hole in the tuning peg, leave a bit of slack so you can wrap the string clockwise around the TOP of the string going through the hole. Grab the string and keep some tension on it, then start winding it, making sure it sits in the proper groove in your nut. All of wraps now should go below the string in the hole. You should have one wrap around the top, and the rest go underneath the string. Should only be about 3-4 wraps underneath for bass strings, you want a few more for the treble strings.

Make sure you keep the bridge pin secure as you tighten the string. Give it a few good stretches while pushing down on the bridge pin before trying to tune it. Strings will stretch quite a bit when they are new, keep this in mind. Cut the excess string off with your snips.

Repeat the above procedure for the other five strings.

Electric 

Electric is very similar to an acoustic, however you will not have bridge pins. You may have to push the strings through the body of the guitar or through the bridge, depending on your guitar. If you have string locks or locking tuners, make sure to loosen them before trying to remove your old strings. That’s about it, same technique for winding as above.

Nylon String 

Nylon string guitars are a bit different from a standard electric or acoustic guitar. You must tie the string at the bridge. Remove the strings as you did above. Since we are feeding the strings through the bridge, we need something to protect the guitar. I use the string packaging to keep from scratching the guitar. Feed the string through from the sound hole towards the back of the guitar. Push through about two inches, wrap the short end around the long end and form a loop. Loop it again and then while holding the short end, tug on the long end to cinch it up. Try and keep the short end tight against the bridge. For the treble strings you may have to do 3 or 4 loops on each string.

Push the long end through the hole in the tuning peg. Wrap it around the post, put the short end around the long end once and then hold it. You should have some slack, to ensure that you get a few wraps around the tuning post. Make sure the string is in the proper nut slot and now you can start tightening the string. Move on to the other strings. Once all the strings are on, you can begin to stretch them. Nylon strings will stretch quite a bit more than steel strings. This step will take longer. Wait to trim the excess strings off until you are 100% sure they are done stretching, usually around 20 minutes or so. Once you are sure, you can now clip the excess strings off and tune it up.