The Secret Behind Legends' Tones: Iconic Guitarists and Their String Choices

The Secret Behind Legends' Tones: Iconic Guitarists and Their String Choices

Every guitarist has a string setup they prefer — and the legends are no exception. Some guitarists found a good combination early on and stuck with it. Others, just like us, went through some trial and error before discovering the strings they liked best.

We decided to explore what some famous rock, blues, metal, and jazz guitarists have used for strings during their illustrious careers. Some of those strings can be purchased here at Strings and Beyond so you can share a deeper connection with your favorite guitarist.

Angus Young

The AC/DC lead guitarist has used light (0.009) strings throughout his career as they are better suited to his smaller hands. Young currently plays Ernie Ball strings, though it’s unknown whether he may have previously used other brands. His brother Malcolm Young, on the other hand, used heavy 0.012-0.056 strings for rhythm work.

Eddie Van Halen

EVH’s string choices bounced around a lot. He initially settled on the now-defunct Fender 150XL strings, which had a custom light gauge of 0.009-0.040. In the early 1980s, Ernie Ball designed a set with this gauge specifically for Eddie, which led to a long-term partnership. Later, he jumped ship to Peavey and adopted their “standard light” 0.009-0.042 strings. Finally, EVH ended up back at Fender using the 0.009-0.046 strings with heavy basses.

Jimi Hendrix

Throughout his life, Jimi Hendrix used Fender Rock N’ Roll 150 strings, which ran 0.010-0.013-0.015-0.02-0.032-0.038 — in other words, light bass and medium treble. Duane Allman and Rory Gallagher also trusted these strings. Fender no longer uses the Rock N’ Roll 150 name, but they do have Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child strings in this same setup with pure nickel or nickel-plated wrapping.

Billy Gibbons

The ZZ Top guitarist is known for playing some of the lightest guitar strings around. His Dunlop Signature Set goes from 0.007 to 0.038 — by comparison, regular lights start at 0.009! Reportedly, this choice stemmed from B.B. King telling him that if he switched to lighter strings, he wouldn’t have to work as hard.

B.B. King

Interestingly, B.B. used what we would now consider medium strings. In addition to the 0.010-0.046 string run, he sometimes used a medium-heavy setup of 0.010-0.013-0.017-0.030-0.044-0.054. Although this may sound hypocritical, keep in mind that blues guitarists of his time were known for using very heavy strings, so B.B.’s strings were pretty light in comparison.

Stevie Ray Vaughn

On the other end of the gauge spectrum, you have Stevie Ray Vaughn, whose most common string setup was 0.013-0.015-0.019-0.028-0.038-0.058 — one of the heaviest electric guitar sets available to give him that deep crunch. Vaughn frequently used GHS strings but was known to use other brands as well. And interestingly, he tended to have an unwrapped D-string.

James Taylor

For a couple of years in the early 1990s, this easy-listening maestro used Adamas acoustic guitar strings. Beginning in 1995, though, Taylor has been loyal to John Pearse phosphor bronze guitar strings. Taylor prefers a gauge setup of 0.011-0.015-0.022-0.030-0.040-0.050; John Pearse now offers this to everyone as the Slightly Light 550SL package.

Joe Perry

The Aerosmith lead guitarist exclusively uses Ernie Ball strings, but the exact gauge depends on the guitar and the song. For some tunes, he has Extra Slinky extra-light 0.008 strings. Other times, he’ll go as high as 0.010 Regular Slinkys.

Dave Mustaine

The co-founder of Megadeth plays his brand of thrash metal on Phil Everly’s Cleartone strings. He uses 0.010-0.052 (Light Top Heavy Bottom) strings for standard E tuning and 0.011-0.054 strings for D tuning.

Gary Moore

From hard rock to jazz fusion to blues, this Northern Irish virtuoso relied on Dean Markley strings. He started on light 0.009-0.046 strings before moving to regular 0.010-0.052 strings. Late in his career, a hand injury forced Moore to drop back to light strings.

Jimmy Page

The only strings the Led Zeppelin guitarist has ever been known to use are Ernie Ball Super Slinkies with a light gauge of 0.009-0.042. These nickel-plated, round-wound strings provide a bright baseline for the band’s bluesy hard rock sound. Eric Clapton also used Ernie Ball Super Slinkies for decades but has since switched to Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies (0.010-0.046).

David Gilmour

It’s unknown what strings the longtime Pink Floyd guitarist used for his first decade-plus with the band. But while recording “The Wall”, he adopted GHS Boomers and never looked back. Gilmour now has a signature series that includes the 0.010-048 “Blue Set” and the 0.0105-0.050 “Red Set”.

Slash

Whether with Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver or as a solo artist, Slash almost always tunes down a half-step. As such, he plays medium electric strings with a custom 0.011-0.048 setup to hold enough tension. Slash has long used Ernie Ball Paradigm strings and now has a signature set.

Django Reinhardt

Like many other gypsy jazz guitarists, Django Reinhardt played Argentine strings, which were silk and steel strings with silver-plated copper windings. Gallistrings now offers acoustic jazz strings in a light gauge of 0.010-0.045 which closely matches the 0.010-0.046 that Reinhardt used.

George Benson

To achieve his unique sound, George Benson uses his official Thomastik Infeld GB112 Jazz Guitar Strings. The standard gauges are 0.012-0.016-0.020w-0.028-0.039-0.053, which equates to heavy on the top/bottom and medium in the middle. They have a pure nickel wrap and a flat winding, giving them a mellow sound and smooth feel.

Pat Metheny

This jazz legend has gone on the record as saying that he uses D’Addario flat-wound strings at a medium 0.011 gauge. With the Gibson ES 175 electric guitar Metheny played for years, he also had to bring the tone control down to almost zero to get the dark sound he wanted.