Hey there, Reader – hope this one finds you warm and cozy, wherever you are! We're just wrapping up a streak of freezing weather here in Austin, complete with a day off school for the kids. I'll take it!

Here's a few updates I've made in the Song Notes world since last week.

Updated Lesson for Let Him Roll by Guy Clark

First up – I made some updates to one of my more popular Travis-style fingerpicking lessons. Here's the original video from 2019:

And here's the new resources I put together to help you out. This includes 6 new zoomed play-along videos, which show you the step-by-step exercises I recommend to build up to playing this tricky song. I've also put together practice notes in print-friendly form, which walk you through each of the step-by-step exercises with some additional context. Get all these on my Let Him Roll lesson page »​

And if you're after more Guy Clark, check out these other lessons I've made. His music is quite amazing!

• ​My Favorite Picture of You​
• ​Stuff That Works​
• ​Dublin Blues​
• ​LA Freeway​

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Changing Guitar Strings FAQ

Last week I got a question about guitar strings — how often I change them, if there is any particular brands I recommend, etc. I wanted to share my answer here as well, in case any of you are wondering!

Big picture, I change my strings every 3-6 months. I probably should change them a bit more often, going off what other teachers online say? But hey, just keeping it real.

When it comes to string gauge (thickness), tend to favor medium or light – with a pretty open mind as I move from set to set. For beginners, I would probably recommend light or extra light – just because it'll be a bit easier to get a clean sound with minimal finger strength. Just be sure your guitar doesn't require anything special... for example my short-scale GS Mini requires medium strings, says Taylor.

As far as which string brand I use.... it's a mixed bag. Fortunately, I take a picture of each new set when I'm putting it on... which comes in handy right about now!

About half the time I go with Elixirs...

I've also given D'Addario a shot quite a bit...

And I'm always happy to try something new...

If I'm being honest...

I'm not too opinionated about strings. I'm typically always happy with whatever I go with. I can't think of a single time where I've changed strings and rushed to re-change them ASAP.

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What about string coating?

This is something I'm likewise open minded about. I see all these descriptors such as warm, rich and full, bright & focused, mellow, etc — and I'm not too confident I could tell you the difference. Just the same, here's the back of a few string packages I found – so you can see how these brands describe the different options:

I'm sure if I had multiple guitars I re-strung often, and could do some sort of A/B testing — it'd give help me refine my thoughts on this quite a bit.

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Need help changing your strings?

Check out a video I made a few years back, where I show the real-time process of me changing my strings. Zero edits. This is not a short video, and that's the point!

In a world of super-polished YouTuber guitarists, I wanted to show you the honest pace of me going through the steps – with plenty of commentary on along the way.

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Be sure to check out my lesson page for some recommended videos from other teachers, showing more succinct versions of this same thing. The lesson page also has a few diagrams, which I always refer to, to help remind me how to tie the strings on the headstock knobs. For example:

Have any favorite strings?

Let me know! I'm always happy to try something new.

That'll do for today. I've got quite a few lessons in the works at the moment, which I'll be sharing over the next couple weeks.... so stay tuned! Stay warm, and I'll see you in the next one ✌️

David

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