Rick Beato on string gauge

IMHO, If they(the folks in the video) had taken a different path I think the videos would have received a better reaction.
*For me, the arthritis guy (psoriatic and osteoarthritis) the tests, recordings, etc, etc actually have made me not dread a drastic change in tone when (not if) I have to go to 8-38's. Makes me feel like ok, so I can adjust for the tone and certainly do not have to worry about being heavy handed, physical hand condition and all.. I hope. It took a while to get use to bending the G 15 after so many years of 16. Muscle memory changes.
Hope this kind of makes sense.
 
Ive never liked 9's they sound thin to me and I have a heavy hand, I like 10-46 and 11-48's NYXL's. I like Rick and Rhetts content, but just because they made a video saying something sounded better im not running out to change 20+ guitars to a different gauge.
 
well i'm glad people here can think for themselves. in youtube land, many just do whatever they say. i'm actually surprised that many comments on the video are saying they aren't going to change a thing just because of this video. it's usually not like that! youtube land is a crazy place...
 
I love 9.5's...def found my gauge...I work away so much it also helps me fight less when I'm back at home.

Thats another reason I love the evertune bridge! You can set it up with the gauge you like and no more tuning issues!
 
well i'm glad people here can think for themselves. in youtube land, many just do whatever they say. i'm actually surprised that many comments on the video are saying they aren't going to change a thing just because of this video. it's usually not like that! youtube land is a crazy place...

Proceed to read youtube comments at your own sanity. And always remember that the other guy you're arguing with on the other side of the digital divide is just that, another guy. Or girl. Or everything in between. We live in crazy times.
 
I do not like the clickbait titles like "You have been doing it WRONG", so I didn't click. But that video doesn't stop appearing at my YouTube suggestions, so I had to disable that suggestion.

I've always been alternating between 9 and 10. Not because they sound different, but because how they feel. As I get older I tend to use more 9 than 10. I don't care what youtubers say, and I am happy that everyone can use what pleases them :D
 
I do not like the clickbait titles like "You have been doing it WRONG", so I didn't click. But that video doesn't stop appearing at my YouTube suggestions, so I had to disable that suggestion.

I've always been alternating between 9 and 10. Not because they sound different, but because how they feel. As I get older I tend to use more 9 than 10. I don't care what youtubers say, and I am happy that everyone can use what pleases them :D

In all fairness, clickbaiting titles work and are kinda necessary. Otherwise they would only draw in a fraction of the viewers they would normally get. That's just the way it is. There is abundance of content and everybody wants you to see theirs. A friend of mine has an Indian martial arts channel, showcasing all the secrets of kalaripayatu, stuff that took him years to learn and master in India, and he doesn't do clickbaiting. And he barely has any followers of viewers. That's the way it is. Obviously the content has to be good, and Rick does do good content, but the main difference between the successful and unsuccessful youtubers is that the former have learned how to work with the youtube algoritm and don't shy away from clickbaiting.
 
So I bit the bullet and finally watched the vid. While the title is obviously clickbait the video was well done. As is custom with Rick. And I obviously still lack the Golden Ears of the Gods, or youtube compression did something to it, or the headphone I used is shite, but I can barely hear any difference. Only towards the end when Rick goes back from .008 to .011 do I hear the tiniest increase in low end.
 
Here we go



oh and back on the string gauge thing - here's what got me mostly: the intro section, he mentions "are you using the correct string gauge..."

"correct"

for what. it's words like this which are not flippantly used which makes the youtube audience think "wow this guy has a lots of subs and views, knows what's he's talking about on other videos, has a kid with perfect pitch... i must be "wrong" if i'm not using the "correct" thing."

Friedman said that lighter strings CAN reduce low end as an option compared to using a drive pedal in front. so can an EQ pedal. so can other things.

i'm not sure why anyone would consider changing string gauge JUST for EQ. clearly it affects so much of how you play.

as some youtube comment said - all of these guys are seasoned pros and they don't know that thinner strings do change tone? they had to test this? (clearly they're making a video, but i wish it was from the POV of "here is what it sounds like" vs "omg do they change it who knows?!") also keep in mind that the favorite was leaning toward the 8s and Rick prefers 8s himself.

ok i'm done. haha.
 
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008's also have more bite and attack - or less sustain depending on your point of view. They also have a slightly quicker roll-off of higher harmonics that compliments the extra attack. With all the low end and gain in today's amp tones, i like the extra attack and quicker decay the 008's offer. The dynamic range is a bit less than higher gauge string, so less signal compression my be required. They only seem too thin for a period of time. They do seem to 'wear out' just a little faster, but the benefits are worth it.
 
While Rick Beato has had some interesting breakdowns of recording techniques and such, if I see a lot of clickbaity headlines on a recommended YouTube channel, I just block them. It's really cleaned up a ton of what I see now.
 
i take all my guitar advice from stack exchange hehe
https://music.stackexchange.com/que...-gauge-affect-a-guitars-sound-and-playability

I would think the benefit of going to 10's is lower action w/o string buzz but admittedly 9s feel lower - I guess due to the thinner gauge.

that said... still prefer the sound of 10s. I go back to 9s and it just does not sound right to me. I thought the 8s in the video were an improvement in the wrong direction albeit very slight. had a hard time distinguishing 9 from 10 but on my own guitars i swear I hear it... perhaps only acoustically.
furthermore, if it doesn't matter - then why stop at 8s? why not 1s. if it does matter why stop at 10s, why not 11s?
 
I've been bouncing between 8s, 9s and 10s for the last two years. I started running 10s due to the better tension balance from 10-13-17 on the plain strings a lot better than the typical 9-11-16 or 8-10-15 gauges. I pretty much constantly over bend the b string as it's just way looser than the adjacent strings, especially on the 8s where they're so loose to begin with (yes I know I could just buy a single 12 to replace the 11, but I ended up liking the 10s for other reasons so I never did...). The 8s, while fun and actually quite helpful when I had a wrist injury, were hard for me to not over strike them picking, even with my "light-medium pick" attack, especially withy heavy riffing on a 38 low e.

What I found, once I switched to 10s, was that regardless of the tension balance, I simply prefer feel of the size of the 10s under my fingers. They were just a little tight for my dainty hands to get good bends late in a playing session. So I now run 10-46 (59 low B on the 7 string) tuned to e flat to get the combination of larger size + looser feel + better balance. Working great 👌. Only thing better I could imagine would be the Ernie Ball 10-48 gauge, but since I'm addicted to the slick nanoweb coated elixirs, I'll survive with 10-46
 
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