5 Best Electric Guitar Strings for Beginners

Beginner guitar strings should be smaller, lighter and physically easy to play. The only real way to get strings like this is to buy sets that use a smaller gauge, preferably labeled as light or extra light. Since acoustic guitar strings are often wound with a phosphor bronze material, they're naturally bigger and more difficult to play than electric guitar strings. In contract, electric strings are wound with nickel, which is a little bit lighter and softer than the bronze acoustic strings.

This makes electric guitar - which isn't often thought of as a beginner instrument - an easier instrument to play from a string perspective.

Targeting electric guitar strings specifically for beginners should focus on these features:

• Nickel wound steel core string construction
• Lighter string gauge
• Flatwound strings
• Coated strings

All of the strings electric string we'll recommend for beginners will have one or more of these features. We'll avoid heavier, thicker gauges while including mostly lighter sets with a low E string at .042 or lower. If you want to browse some more string options for acoustic, electric, or bass, checkout our best guitar strings roundup article.

Coated strings are generally faster and easier to play than non-coated strings, because it essentially levels out the nickel winding. Elixir actually makes several different types of coating, where the POLYWEB version produces a warmer tone and is - in our estimation - easier on the fingers and hands. Their "super light" set goes from 09 to 42, making it their lightest electric string set that we know of.

Coated strings will provide a noticeably smoother playing experience and a better overall tone. The only issue with the coated Elixir string is that they're expensive, partly because they also last a lot longer than the traditional non-coated string.

As a beginner electric player, you might not want to buy them in bulk and instead try a set to see if you like them and want to stick with them.

They're our favorite string to recommend in most situations.

The Classic Rock N Roll version of Ernie Ball's Extra Slinky strings are light and easy to bend, perfect for beginners who are trying to break in their fretboard. At .038 on the low E string it's one of Ernie Ball's thinnest available gauges, though still produces a warm vintage tone that pairs really well with a tube amp.

A lot of jazz and blues artists like these string sets for their warmth and ease of play, though they can work in just about any musical style. The winding on the larger strings is pure nickel around a high carbon steel core and a fairly common recipe for electric strings.

The main attraction these strings put forward for beginners is the extremely slim gauge, coming in slightly smaller than even the Ernie Ball set we looked at earlier. Ranging from 07 to 38 they're the smallest set on this list. Here's a quick look at the gauge of each string, light to heavy:

007, .009, .011, .020, .030, .038.

While Dunlop strings aren't nearly as popular as Ernie Balls, this Billy Gibbons set does come in as the smallest gauge we recommend. 

It'll make learning chords and short melodies much less of a physical issue, allowing you to focus on memorization and fretboard-related head knowledge.

Like the first two sets, these strings are nickel wound, though give off a slightly "hotter" more twangy resonance, especially when played through a clean tube amp.

The Super Slinky is from Ernie Ball's "main" electric string line and is a little heavier than the Rock N Roll string set we recommend earlier. At 09 to 42 they're essentially an un-coated version of the Elixir set, and a much cheaper alternative. We'd recommend these if you're a beginner who wants a thicker, more chord-friendly tone and you plan to dabble less in lead guitar. Even 42 is still a fairly small string set, which means they'll still be easy to play.

D'Addario's take on a super light electric string set boasts a uniquely magnetic type of steel, which is supposed to produce a brighter, more aggressive sound. We do find the Pro Steels to be a more intense and bright-sounding string, similar to the Dunlop Billy Gibbons set. At the same time, this is a common characteristic of lighter gauges, so it's hard for us to tell if that's due to the claim of a unique type of steel or just the natural resonance of the strings.

There's definitely a richness and brilliance to their clean tone, so we're content to recommend them as a good alternative for beginners who want a string focused on lead guitar and melody. 

While these sets are slightly more expensive, they do advertise being "corrosion resistant" though are not coated. 

The best electric guitar strings for beginners should fit several pre-established criteria, namely the following:

• Lighter gauge that's easy to play
• High level of tone quality
• Warmer tone for chord strumming

If you have these three things, you've solved a large portion of the equation. But in addition to these factors, we also rely heavily on our first-hand experience with each string set we recommend. So yes: We actually play guitar and use these strings. 

We're not writing about something we just looked up and read a review or two on.

These are actual recommendations of items we've had in our hands.

• POLYWEB Coating: Type of treatment used on Elixir acoustic strings
• Nickel Winding Steel Core: Most guitar strings start with a high-carbon steel core
• String Gauge: The size of the string, usually given for each one in a pack
• Bright EQ: Strings will respond better to the mid and treble end of the EQ spectrum
• Low EQ: Strings will respond better to the bass end of the EQ spectrum

• Balanced Tone: Electric guitar strings should sound good, both on low and high EQs. Generally speaking, this means they'll be amicable for both strumming and single-note picking patterns.
• Coating or Age-Prevention: Some of the electric guitar strings on today's market come with a coating or treatment, which helps to preserve the life of the string and improve the string's tone.
• Construction & Materials: Thicker guitar strings are wound which means you have a core (usually steel) with another layer of material wrapped around that core. The type of winding material - nickel, steel, bronze, phosphor, etc. - will have a say in the quality and durability of the strings, particularly the thicker gauges.
• Length of Life: How long is a string able to last while maintaining its tone and resonance? Strings that lose freshness not only corrode visibly, but will lose their tonal vitality as well.

There are a handful of commonly asked questions which we'll cover in this section. If you have additional questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.

There's no denying the fact that coated strings, whether you're dealing in electric or acoustic guitars, have a much longer lifespan and tend to sound better than their uncoated counterparts.

At the same time, there are plenty of pros that don't use coated strings and even prefer the grittier sound and feel you get with uncoated roundwound guitar strings.

So no, they're not a must but there are some significant benefits that are hard to ignore.

In short, it's a question of whether or not you want to pay the extra cost for the additional lifespan.

While it's somewhat contingent on the gauge and size of the string, coated strings are less likely to break than uncoated strings. This is simply because they have more reinforcement and less space between each winding. 

For uncoated electric guitar strings, you're looking at an average lifespan of two to three months.

Coated electric guitar strings, like Elixirs, can last much longer. Six to eight months is typical.

Obviously this depends a lot on several variables.

The main issue is how much time you spend playing.

I would say yes, especially for electric guitar.

Since electric guitar involves more lead technique like bending , thereby requiring a greater degree of string manipulation, the best electric guitar strings for beginners should always be a lighter gauge.

We'd recommend using a peg winder to change your electric guitar strings, though you can do it by hand if need be. This article shows you the process in pictures.

This three-in-one winder and string cutter is what we use.

You'll notice that on most electric string sets, the G, B and E are unwound, left to only the steel core in its varying size. This is a normal aspect of steel string construction which winds the low E, A and D strings, but leaves the other three unwound to more easily achieve the balance of size and tone between the six strings.

Electric guitar string age tends to be a little tougher to diagnose than acoustic guitar strings, just because they don't discolor quite as much. Still, you might notice a darkening or staining, especially on the thicker wound strings above the fret separators.

You should also be able to hear a distinct drop in tone quality or loss of sustain.

Particularly if you hear a lack of thickness or weight in your tone, it could mean your electric strings need switched out.

• Reverb.com, Guitar String Materials & Construction, Article
• ErnieBall.com, Company String Page, Manufacturer Website
• ElixirStrings.com, Company Home Page, Manufacturer Website
• Wikihow.com, How to Change Guitar Strings, Instructional Article
• Amazon.com, Musical Instrument Best-Seller List, Review Source