Best Guitar Strings For Beginners Electric (Jan 2023 Update)

I build guitars and buy these for setups period. I have tried to use these on one occasion just for kicks but found the tension all wrong. Not so much on the wound strings as the unwound upper strings. I found the tension and feel really poor. They seemed to be ridiculous to bend and if you managed that they felt like they were about ready to snap. I did not like the brittle tone either. The feel of these is just all wrong but they are cheap and fine to use for building but my guitars would never go out with these!Thump54

Musicians Gear strings are perfect for any player. If you get your strings for free because of an endorsement deal, you can claim a better value. I don't have that option = I pay for my strings. I change strings about once a month, sometimes more often, because NOTHING sounds as good as a new set of strings. But I can't afford big coins to keep fresh strings on them. These MGs are very affordable, they sound great, they play well, they are consistent, and I am very happy when I play with new strings. The new packaging helps stop rust and corrosion, so I usually buy in boxes of 10, just so I have some on hand.guitarpicker7

I use these strings all the time. Dont believe all the nonsense you read- they sound good, they last well and they are affordable. If you dont need to pay double or triple for hype, buy these strings. The best sounding strings in the world are new strings. Buy a stack of these and change them whenever you need to. The more you play, the more often you will need to change them. Even a cheap guitar will sound good with new strings. And the most expensive guitar will sound bad with old strings. I love them.reynardfoxe

I seen people was giving these strings bad reviews because after 2 weeks of playing everyday, they said strings go bad. I have NEVER had any issues with these strings, i for one say replace your strings every 2 weeks anyway ESPECIALLY if you play everyday. But owning multiple guitars sometimes it never goes that way, i have now had these on my jackson, and i put them on 5 months ago, play everyday and there still going strong, hardly any rust, definitely tell their wore out but over all BEST STRINGS on the market, great tone, great durability, never breaks, and great feel.Durbify

These are punchy and dynamic strings, with a certain warmth and colour to them. Like pure nickel strings, only the wound strings have the cobalt alloy wrap. If you like pure nickels, to get away from that grainy/dark/grey of normal iron/steel strings, but wish for something a little darker and with more outright balls than pure nickels, you will absolutely love these!4992andy

Best strings I've came across so far, I always had a bit of an issue when getting into my jam and a string snaps due to too much "passion" when playing. With these bad boys, I'm able to be as passionate as I like and they survived several jams now. Tipping my hat to creator of these titans.Romans J.

Love these strings. Clean, bright, ringing tone and easy to bend. I like the Hybrid gauge for the lighter top end, but sometimes 9's tend to unravel at the ball. The end wrap eliminates this problem, and I haven't lost one since switching to the RPS type. I use these mainly for blues. On a short scale guitar, like an SG or a 335, (I use them on a custom, 24.75", short scale Strat and a '64 Hagstrom H2 with a 24.375" scale), I suggest replacing the 16p "G" string with an Ernie Ball 18w. The heavier gauge wound string compensates for the lower tension of the short scale, and makes for a fuller mid range. If they made this set with a wound "G", it would be perfect. IMHO.Steve

If I had to use one set of strings, I would go with this one. Besides being incredibly reliable and consistent (no disparity between packs) these strings have served well under different weather conditions and on long hauls. I always keep these in reserve when going on the road as the gauges in the pack can work as substitutes for other strings and brands. Meaning, you can mix and match should you break a string on a guitar that's tuned to D. I've always had loyalty to the brand, though I do use a variety of strings for the other instruments I play. The strings make a good pair with the (IMO) amazing Ernie Ball Music Man guitars.Boyan P.

I tried these strings on copy of an ES-335 style guitar. The pickups are not as alive as I would like. The strings appeared to add energy to the pickup and resonate well. I enjoyed the new sounds and power when playing. I was able to bend the strings to my heart's content and pretend that I was a blues master. Do not be afraid to give these strings a go.Ed

The best sounding and feeling strings I have ever used. Most of my guitars have vintage powered pickups and these strings are extremely clear sounding. They sound great on my Strats and Teles. They sound fantastic on my '61 RI SG and LTD PB 500 (Duncan Alnico II pickups). They still have the "slinky" feel of regular Ernie Ball strings. They seem to last a little longer too. If you are a bedroom player, you will like them. If you are a gigging player you will love them. I have always used EB strings, these are now the only strings I use.ShaneC

These are great strings. The feel like Slinkys to me, but are a little more slippery. Sustain is fantastic. I wore out a set of DR DDT (11 bottom) so, I put them on my Ibanez GRG121. This guitar has dinky weak humbuckers, but a pinch holds way longer with the strings…to the point that it feels more like upgrading the pickups. Maybe it's placebo, but I could swear they have a tighter swing too. I went thinner than the DDTs (obviously) putting these on and some of the first moment fret butt I got above fret 15 went away. Maybe it's just bc their thinner, but watching them I think they swing less. Try these strings… *Note: They leave a nasty bitter on your fingers.Steve

Used these to replace the ones that came on my 2018 Gibson Les Paul Standard HP after the factory set had lived its life. I love the sound of these strings and playability of 9s. Haven't broke broke one of these strings yet, even with a lot of bending.The Legend

I bought my first guitar back in January and I went to string up some Ernie Ball Room strings and they broke INSTANTLY. A week later bought these and had no problem with them. They work BEAUTIFULLY for my guitar. I love the feel I love the tone-They're nice and easy to bend. I've been using them on my guitar for a long while now. I'm thinking about going for 10's next time? Anyway a GREAT string pack in my book.Oya

I've been playing/collecting new and vintage guitars for 26 years, and regularly try new strings. I noticed that if these strings contact the bridge when re-stringing, the color will chip off immediately. Secondly, they feel like dull plastic. This feels like your fingers are dragging, and seems "cheap". Thirdly, I had to adjust all the pickup heights on the low-E, as the heavier strings sound completely dull and lifeless. I also received a damaged string, and contacted DR customer service. I haven't even received a response in two weeks, which demonstrates how unimportant we are. In this day and age, where online retail is more important then ever, this is unacceptable. This is NOT a reflection on Guitar Center, which always takes good care of me. Ultimately, these strings are a cheesy gimmick that will hopefully fade out. If you want quality coated-strings, try Elixir.DS

I decided to pick up guitar after a 15 year break and found Rocksmith to be a pretty useful tool. I put these on my guitar to help with getting familiar with the fretboard and neck. Because it's been awhile. The first couple of days, the strings sounded great with no issues, but a couple of weeks in, some of the strings sound muted a little bit and are just not as crisp as non-coated strings. i'll probably take these off sooner than later. I would recommend these for RockSmith but if you're looking to just dress up your guitar, I would caution against them.Citiznkain

I'm a beginner and I never learned to read music. I bought these strings specifically to play along with the game Rocksmith 2014. For those who are just starting out, these strings make it easier to learn to play because of the individual colors of each string. I have bought multiple packs of these strings. I've recently bought a electric guitar, acoustic/electric, and a bass. I have put these strings on all three. Love them. As an added bonus, these strings really light up underneath a black light.Mark just starting out

Well built strings in my opinion. There smooth and able to hold there tone pretty well I think that these strings will prove to be at least satisfactory for any type of musician They can take the heat and they look pretty good too.TC

Bought these on a recommendation from a guy on YouTube and have not had any issues at all. I used Dean Markley Blue Steels for nearly 20 years, but due to lack of availability, was looking for an alternative. The individual who recommended them is a touring professional guitarist. I see why he uses them.Jason

For years I bought and used a wide variety of guitar string brands, always interested to try just about anything and everything. Finally, I grew weary of the endless variety and my own randomness in brand selection. I did a controlled comparison over two months between the ten or so brands I tended to purchase most frequently, in order to determine whether in fact I had any clear preferences. Ernie Ball emerged as my top brand preference, for its combination of satisfying tone, reliable quality, attractive price and packaging (each string in an individual sleeve inside the sealed package). I have many guitars, and change strings frequently on all of them. I prefer the warmth of pure nickel wrap over nickel wound strings, so I always buy pure nickels (regardless of brand). I use 11-48 gauge on all my Strats and 10-46 gauge on everything else. Ernie Ball strings sound good and feel good to me on all my guitars. I now use them almost exclusively.willbutyouwont

These strings stay in tune for a while and have a resonant thunk quality to them. They aren't as bright straight out of the package and in my book that's a good thing. Best 11s for the money, in my humble opinion.tate_labianca

I put the 10s on a Partscaster which wouldn't stay in tune or intonate with the Tuners I had on it. So I put some Grover Tuners on and reused the strings which had already been through torture. They tuned perfectly and sound fantastic. Durable for hard players and high fidelity for gentle use. Great strings!MP Simmons

(Guitar there were placed on is a Tom Murphy Painted and Aged Gibson Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard w/ Brazilian Fretboard) Back in the day, Ernie Ball strings weren't packaged well; they weren't even sealed. If you haven't tried them since their packaging was reinvented, they're definitely worth a look now. Tried D'Addario pure nickel strings, found the wound three to be too low output. I swear the core wire looked like it belonged in acoustic strings. Maybe I got a factory defect, who knows. Gibson strings sound great initially but the 'G' starts to sound dead after a week and the wound strings sound dead and filthy in three weeks. These on the other hand sound marvelous. They sound great out of the package, stay balanced, and sound good for longer than I thought possible.MidnightRiderInTX

I have recently come back to playing the guitar, Sax is my primary instrument but I have had my Gibson RD Standard since 1978. I have since increased my heard of guitars to 10 electric guitars and 3 bass guitars. I have come to favor the Ernie Ball lights and super lights on almost all my guitars. I play the 9's on all of my Stratocaster copies and the super lights on the 3/4 size guitars. I love the feel as far as tone, intonation, flexibility ease of bends and how the strings hold up as a whole. I would definitely recommend to a friend or buy this produce again.Antonio

I have been using the Power Slinkys (11s) for a few years now. I had switched from another brand because the Slinkys made my Strat sound more Straty. After watching a few videos on YouTube about string gauge, I thought I would buy the Regular Slinkys (10s) and see what difference that would make. When I got online to buy I saw that Guitar Center had a sale on 12 packs and since there is a pandemic, I thought it prudent to hoard strings. My logic was that while I may run out of TP, I would never run out of strings for my guitars. Long story short, you cannot go wrong with the tone of 10s. I do like them better than the 11s. They are much clearer in the low end and you get more definition. I have to do less EQing when recording and they just seem to pop better in a mix. The only downside is that they are taking me time to get used to, I play very heavy handed and these are much easier to bend. But I can already see that I have less hand fatigue.Richard

I really like these strings. They are warm, and give what I believe to be the best tone on my Stratocaster's and Telecaster. I don't really remember when I first started using Pure Nickel strings (of any brand), but I DO know I have never used anything but Pure Nickel since. The strings got a 4 star rating. I purposely omitted 1 star because, I feel they don't last as long as say a Nickel wound D'Addario would…but then again, I have not found a Pure Nickel D'Addario set of strings. So I forfeit the longevity for the tone. I DID just today order some Fender 150M (medium gauge 11's)…which are also Pure Nickel. I would never order 10 sets of strings if I didn't like them. Once I get to play the 11's, I will give a review on that product page. As far as Fender Pure Nickel strings go…you can't go wrong on the tonal quality. Rock on!!!White Dog

For years I've played flatwound strings, but when I bought my new Fender American Professional Jaguar I was taken by how lively and expressive the strings were! I left them on. There was a learning curve, with me having to learn a lighter touch, but the more I played them the more I liked them, I went on the Fender website, clicked on the "Chat with us" button, and asked what set came on the Jaguar. It was this set – the Fender 250L Super 250 Nickel-Plated Steel Electric Guitar Strings. VERY musical, VERY expressive! I play jazz-inflected folk, fingerstyle or various flatpicks, including Fender 351 Thins and Dunlop 204s. There's a reason Fender puts these on their guitars!RubyTuba

BUY THESE ! I hadn't used Fender strings for 30 years . A friend of mine bought out a music store so to liquidate he sold me all the strings and drum sticks in stock .. there were mostly Fender strings so I started using them . 20 packs of 9's lasted me well over a year . I work at least 3 night a week as a lead guitarists / vocalist . so I use my main Strat a lot . after I ran out of Fender's I used GHS and noticed I was breaking strings .. so I tried the Ernie Ball's .. breaking strings again ! I went to a local music store and bought a pack of Fender's . as an experiment I wasted to see how long before one would break . SIX WEEKS ! .. THEY LASTED 6 WEEKS ! .. That's 18 gigs , 3 hours pr night for a month and a half every Thursday Friday and Saturday . and they still sounded good ! FENDER RULES !horsesass123

I took a lot of years off and I had stock 10s on my G&Ls that was killing my hands so I played those for a while and endured my shortcomings as my hands were in training to regain the strength of my youth. Then made the switch to Ernie Ball Hybrid 0946s and that felt better but still felt like a battle when playing faster licks and solos. A friend suggested that I try the NYXL0942. Wow! I felt like I was in a time warp and back to my old self from years ago. These NYXLs have initially withstood my bending and time will tell to see if they are as tough as advertised. Also they feel like I am playing nylon strings so they are a lot more comfortable. Could be the lighter gauge but I think the string design also has something to do with that. The only thing I notice is that they do not ring out as loudly as my previous strings but it does not matter when you plug in. Really glad about these strings and will probably be putting these on all my guitars.MediumSexy

I love the sound of NYXL. They provide me with a pearl like sound that I can use for jazz as well as for heavier sounding music. The strings have qualities that last for a very long time. I usually change my strings every week. I left them for a month on my guitar just to see how they would sound. They sound fantastic… they would lose some freshness after about two weeks but they still hold a great deal of quality after two months playing. They also stay in tune after you pull your strings. I use them on a Strandberg and I love the sound of NYXL with that guitar.Piotr Bal

These strings are a great sounding string with a full tone. I typically used an 11 string guage and went down to a 10 on my current guitar setup. When I tried the 9s I thought I would lose some of the warmth and fullness, but they sound fairly consistent with with heavier guage strings and are easier to play and bend. Now I just have to learn to have a lighter touch when I play…chad

After trying a few different brands and gauges of strings over a five year period I have finally found the perfect brand/set of strings for playing in C# and drop-B tunings. I started out playing Ernie Ball sets on a 25.5 scale guitar in standard tuning but when I began experimenting with down-tuning I found the EB sets to be lacking in tone and definition the lower I tuned my guitar not to mention constantly breaking my low E string. When I switched to playing a 24 3/4 scale guitar in C# and drop-B I had to start looking for a new set of strings because the EB "not even slinky" sets I had been using just were not cutting it. I tried Dean Markley Blue Steel .13's with a wound 3rd string and found the top strings to be cumbersome and the low .56 still not heavy enough for dropping the low E to B. I went to every single music shop in town looking for a light top/extremely heavy bottom set and I finally ran across the GHS .10 – .60 set on sale, two for the price of one. Perfect! These strings last forever. If you use some GHS Fast Fret on them they keep their tone better than any other brand of string I've tried and I have yet to break a string in the year or so I've been using the GHS .10-.60 sets. The tone is fantastic and they sound great on a mahogony/maple body guitar with EMG pickups. It does take some getting used to the difference in string gauge between the low and high strings but it didn't take me long to learn to adjust my pick attack for the lighter strings on the top end. If you know how to set up your guitar for heavy gauge strings get 'em and go to town! If not I would highly recommend you take your guitar to a guitar/music shop and have it set up by a pro. Oh, for you kids out there: these strings are NOT meant for standard tuning and they will not make you sound like Zakk Wylde but they might make you a better guitarist if used as intended. I now use GHS strings on all my electric guitars.ViperDude310

touring in the 80s I used GHS boomers GBCL, I stopped playing in the 90s and somehow ended up using EB hybrid slinkys. I found an old pack of boomers in a guitar case compartment i hadnt opened since 93. Somehow they were still fresh and strung up one of my guitars from the 80s. Wow, the wound strings EAD (or C# G# C# my tuning) are definitely Louder and breakthrough more than the wound EBs… (the plain steel sounded identical). There are soooooooo many fake garbage and laughable opinions on guitar products these days on the tube that I decided to do my own experiment to confirm what I was hearing. I proceeded to purchase 26 packs of these GHS boomers GBCL (which are the wound strings from a 10s set and the plain strings from a 9s set). Using 2 identical guitars (even color), Logic X via a PreSonus FireStudio input, dunlop red acrylic 1.5mm pick and as consistent as possible pick of each strings. The only difference was that each guitar had a new set of strings, one got GHS boomers GBCL and the other ErnieBall HyBrid Slinkys. I averaged the 12 picks of each string by merging the 12 waveforms into a single track for each guitar for each string, the wound strings of the GHS boomers were clearly louder, rang longer by at least 7.2, 5.9, 4.6 seconds respectively (tuned toC#, G#, C#). the Plain Steel string waveforms were virtually Identical between the sets though. If you arent sure what this tuning is, its simply DropD half a step down (aka dropC#). Plugged into a Dual Rectifier, Laney and a Vetta, on a high gain channel you get this Extra Gain that breaks through, so needless to say ill be back to using GHS boomers GBCLs on all my guitars!!!thundercab

Cant recommend yet as i just restrung 2 gits. One of the Bs broke as i went to tune. Theses were 9-45s i believe so obvi skinny as all heck. Keep in mind im a bass player and i love #rototsoundstrings on me basses!! They sound sick af.hippy-slayer

I altered this set slightly by using the 11 and 16 strings from a Roto Pink set. Overall, these strings are not as bright as D'addario strings. Some folks might not prefer the lower midrange tone Rotos provide. More bark and less bite. Big fan of Rotosound and Strings and Beyond for getting them to me quickly. Great price from these folks. Recommend!Old F.

My first purchase of Rotosound strings was 1968. They were always great strings, and of course in those days there weren't many other brands, but I always came back to Rotosound. Tone wise they are well balanced, not too bright, with a tight controlled bass end, with great sustain. As the years have passed, I have used other brands, usually a lot dearer than the Roto's, so it was great to come back to Rotosound strings. In conclusion, I think they are great, very competitively priced and trusted guitar strings (and you get a free 1st. E string!)pzm1555

Great strings! They have a good tone, and if kept clean, will last forever! I know, because I had one set of strings on a guitar of mine for over 20 years. I have had the guitar for almost 30 years, and only on the 3rd set of strings. You may say bull, but these strings will last you for a LONG time! Highly recommended!gpgl-p-qn9d97b

These Blue Steel strings are so lively I am surprised they don't get up and walk away from the guitar! They have a resonance to them that is more than simply an added brightness; in fact, I have found that other types of strings are unbearably bright using the hot 498T bridge pickup on my Les Paul Special. These strings, though, seem more balanced to me and nicely crunchy in the midrange and bass, with an extra ring to them at all frequencies, not just the high end. They last forever even with daily play. I usually plug into my computer and use guitar amp modeling in GarageBand or Logic, and these strings shine through every tweak I can make. My only complaint, as noted above, is that the last set I put on the guitar seemed rough on my fingers at first. I hadn't noticed this before, but I had used a different brand last time I changed the strings and although they died within a couple of weeks, they were silky smooth to play. The new Blue Steel strings felt a bit like little metal files when I first put them on, but after a break-in period of just a few hours of play (or perhaps a callus-growing period?), they felt fine. I try different strings from time to time, but I always keep coming back to these, and I am never disappointed with them. I have a pack of Ernie Ball strings that I am going to try next, just because everyone raves about them, but I think chances are slim that I will switch allegiances. I love these strings. Love love love! I suppose the main feature of these strings is the processing they go through. Whatever they do to them, it works. They sound better on my Les Paul Special than any others I have put on it. The strings come in a sealed package and so remain uncorroded and shiny even if you don't use them right away. I have yet to break one of these while playing. My only complaint is that they seem to chew up my fingers when brand new. Or maybe I was just having a bad left hand day. They wore smoother with some play. A bit more expensive, but they last longer than most other strings I have tried, so you can probably get away with changing them less often without a reduction in sound. I am happy to pay a little extra for strings with the life and staying power that these have.ErikTrips

Overall I love these strings, they suite my style greatly and they sound so good through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and Fender Blues Junior! These strings are number 1 in my arsenal of strings because to me, i enjoy the brightness that these strings offer! they get me the nice twangy, chimey crystal clear bright tone and sound and each note i hit with these strings really pronounces so greatly! i only set my hot rod deville's drive barely on 2 and i get a nice rich gritty sound and when i strum at the tip of the neck like Kieth Richards does, i get that nice bell like chime perfectly. One thing to note with these is, in order to keep that nice rich flavor to them, you gotta use string cleaning oil such as fastfret or dunlop string cleaner, you cant let the grease from your fingers sit on these after gigs or long times of play because it will dead end the tone greatly. but all in all these strings are great, they are my number 1 brand strings i like to use! One thing to note is you have to keep up on making sure you clean these strings right after you play because if grease from your fingers is left on them it will greatly dead end the tone. Not a bad value just wish they were less but they are worth it though.cUpBsrmjO

Absolutely can't tell that these are coated strings at all. They are bright without being super honky that you have to break in, they are smooth to play, and only sound better the longer you have them. They last an insanely long time with heavy use while still sounding fresh as can be, I play every day and change mine once every 10 months to a year. I guess I'll have to give Elixirs a fair try because they are the only brand I haven't used on bass yet, but have no idea what the last review was about saying these strings aren't good. They are downright amazing. I don't do reviews but I stand by the products that stand by me. The price is absolutely worth every last penny. Try them and you'll never look back!Mike B

My personal favorite coated strings, they have a great balanced tone perfect for rock and roll. They last forever, and keep their tone for months even with heavy playing. They have a warm low end and snappy responsive highs. I typically don't like coated strings as I find they impede my playing, however these strings feel like there's nothing there! These are truly excellent strings. This is an Employee review by Cgray at Sam Ash store 57Moose

I really like the tone and flexable feel of these strings. They have a good sound that does sound to bright or feel to slick, unlike elixers. I will probably purchase again if i find a great deal on them but unfortanatly i didnt get my moneys worth because the g string broke in two weeks. The only other thing i didnt love is that the big e string has so much wrapping at the ball that i had to jam my pin in a little more than was comfortable to hold it in. All in all the positives outway the negatives, the biggest thing to improve on would be durability.tyrw21

Sounded a little chimey on an Epiphone Les Paul Special-1, with 650/700's. Quite a bit mellower on an Epiphone Les Paul Plus Top Pro, with ProBuckers.. Many online have suggested for Nickel allergy. I don't play enough to say for sure, but I think it sure helps for that.A.J., ND

My super power is to sweat a lot and kill nickel strings in record time. These stainless steel strings put up much better fight and sound great for much longer.DG

I have used these strings for 3 or 4 years now they're really good I chose them because of the size and I found out that they are awesome. Not one ever broke on me as I did expect the 10 to from the speed and pressure I used sometimes. My particular style is metal, the strings work great for that. They are highly pliable. I am a bender and the tuning I think does not go out too much after the stresses I place on the strings. I have used deep standard E standard C standard a also be dropped down tuning no problem with any of the strings at all the sound is crisp and clear it's not a muddy sound and it's not a tinggi sound from the strings like a steel Acoustic sound.Big Mac

These strings work pretty much as advertised. They let you tune absurdly low without sacrificing note clarity or integrity… not perfectly, but reasonably. They also stay in tune remarkably well with little to no breaking-in.Regular DR 10's can handle my guitar tuned down 1 1/2 steps with no problems, but anything beyond that is flub territory and intonation is out by as much as a full half-step. With the DDT 10's, I can go 3 steps down and they still sound tight. If you check with a tuner, the intonation isn't quite right, but the difference is negligible to the naked ear. It's hard to break a DDT string. They are noticeably tougher than your average set of 10's. The feel is quite nice at 1 steps and lower though. They're surprisingly easy on the fingers. You don't have to pick hard to get heavy attack. They just exude brutal tone.Their quality stands true to the DR name. Definitely worth a try if you plan on experimenting with extremely low tunings. They can make your 6-string sound like a 7-string… only it'll still feel like a 6-string!Strizzwald

I typically play a half step down, sometimes drop C#. Guitar I have set up for that was giving me some occasional open string buzz in drop C#, but I didn't wanna go to a higher gauge because I like to be able to go to E standard once in a blue. Took the Daddarios off, put these on. Boom. Problem solved. Also very stable tuning wise and feel great overall. Thumbs up!Dustin J.

I really like the Veritad10-46 strings. The bonus pack had 3 extra Xenon for the bottom strings. Really has a great sound and so easy to slide, bend, and hammer on without any back noises.R. Criss

Used these to replace the ones that came on my 2018 Gibson Les Paul Standard HP after the factory set had lived its life. I love the sound of these strings and playability of 9s. Haven't broke broke one of these strings yet, even with a lot of bending.The Legend

I bought my first guitar back in January and I went to string up some Ernie Ball Room strings and they broke INSTANTLY. A week later bought these and had no problem with them. They work BEAUTIFULLY for my guitar. I love the feel I love the tone-They're nice and easy to bend. I've been using them on my guitar for a long while now. I'm thinking about going for 10's next time? Anyway a GREAT string pack in my book.Oya

Well, I guess for some, these would be great strings, but not for me. On the plus side, the sound is great, no doubt about that. Nice bright tone. Sounds sweet with distortion or clean. When I play clean and kick on the chorus they sound perfect. Same with distortion. And they look good, too. But, and this is a big but, as some others have said they are thick. For me, it's just the low strings that I have a problem with the thickness. Like when I play on the low E string, I feel like I'm playing bass. This isn't really a problem sometimes, like if I'm strumming or playing chords, but if I'm shredding, it just doesn't work out for me. I'm used to playing GHS xtra light Boomers. So this was a BIG difference. Luckily, I got some GBXL's too. I mean, I know they make Progressives in lighter gauges, but I can't find them anywhere. These strings are good, just too heavy of a gauge for my tastes.In conclusion, if you just play power chords and breakdowns, these strings are great. But if you're doing a lot of sweeping or legato, I wouldn't recommend these. I'm not the best guitar player, so they may be perfect for other people, but for me, they are just way too thick.The Jester