Top ten reasons for breaking guitar strings

1. How long have the strings been in use? The longer strings have been on your instrument the greater chance there is of them breaking.

2. The strings are over tightened and there is too much tension on them.

3. If a string has a bend or kink in it then the possibility of breakage is increased.

4. If you have a heavy hand when you strum this can cause the durability of the guitar strings to be lessoned.

5. Using the wrong pick weight may be causing trouble.

6. What string size are you using, light, medium or heavy gauge?

7. If you put too much pressure on the strings when you are stretching them.

8. The brand of guitar strings makes all the difference in the world.

9. If you have a rough spot on your bridge or sharp edges on the tuning pegs this can cause the strings to be weekend.

10. Twelve string style guitars have extra light gauge wires.


It took me a while to realize that sometimes you get what you pay for. When my guitar strings keep breaking, something aint right. Although I was using a very good brand name of strings, that were cheaper than the rest,. this didn't mean that they were a quality product. My logic was that if they were Martins they must be good, wrong. I finally got wise after I realized that no matter what I did they still would break. So I changed to the Dean Markley brand and that put an end to the trials. It wasn't until ten years later I began to try the Elixirs. I have now settled in on the D'Addario brand and am please with the results that I am getting.