Whisky Sage

100 Likes! Awesome!

Thanks for the 100 people who’ve liked posts on this blog. I greatly appreciate it. There’s much more where this came from.

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Indie Chat on Twitter (Great writing advice and discussion)

Author Elizabeth S. Craig is doing an Q&A on Twitter right now. She’s answering questions about trad-pub and indie-pub. There are some great bits of advice for novice writers. Search “#indiechat” and follow the discussion. You’ll learn something.

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A Villian in Crisis

I recently started a manuscript with novella potential. In it my antagonist possesses tremendous power, enough to vaporize the protagonist. So the external conflict is clearly one of an over-matched hero versus a potent villain. In these situations, a…

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Dandelion Mead or Wine Recipe

I took the Dandelion Wine recipe from WikiHow, and enlarged it, so it would yield 5 gal. instead of one.

It’s untested, so brewer beware. Some of these steps are rough. I’m mainly posting it here so I can revisit it later and revise it, once I’ve tried it…

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Beginner Lesson: Changing Strings

Beginner Lesson: Changing Strings

From my Tumblr. I explain how to change your strings.

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Beginner Lesson: Changing Guitar Strings

*Note: this does not cover Floyd Rose bridges.

I wanted to write a short lesson, but I don’t have a video to demonstrate and don’t know how to create diagrams. So the simplest guitar lesson to write is how to change strings. This is Guitar 100-101 level stuff here, so if you have already conquered it, you won’t be interested in this one. If you’re brand new (and I mean brand, baby-spanking new) to guitar, you’ll find it useful.

Some fundamentals:

1. Your tuning keys. You should know what these are by now. They’re on your headstock, and you twist them to put the guitar in tune. 

2. Your bridge. It’s the big piece at the end your strings go over, under or through. There are many bridges, but this one is yours.

3. Your saddles. These are the individual seats where you strings rest. Sometimes they have holes and your strings go through them. Other times, there’s no saddle, but one big piece of metal, plastic or whatever. 

4. Your ferrules. Sometimes you have these, and sometimes not. Consider this the point where you strings terminate. 

Now some FAQ’s:

1. How do I take my strings off?

- Unwind them from the tuning pegs at the top until they’re fully slack. I prefer to take wire snippers, and snip off the twisty ends, for they are hard to pull through your pegs and saddles. 

2. Do I have to take all the strings off?

- Not necessarily, but you can if you want to clean the fretboard and all the dust around the pickups.

3. String gauges. .009, .010, .024, what the..?

- Those gauges are for different string positions, going 1-6, starting from the skinniest one (Usually called the “high E” string) at #1, to the thickest at #6. (Adjust as needed for bass guitars and extended scale ones).

- String gauge is a personal preference issue. .008-.038” is probably the thinnest, six-string set you can buy, and if that’s what you like, then no worries. Some guitarists prefer, .009-.046: (aka “9’s) and .010-.052” (aka “10’s”), and others like heavier gauges. There’s no one, superior gauge. All that talk of 11’s being the best or whatever is horsejacking bullshit. Try things out and stick with what you like. 

3. What brand of strings should I get?

- Whatever you want or can afford. Ernie Ball, D’Addario, Fender and Dean Markley are the most common brands. There are lots of others, though. Rotosound is a popular bass string brand. 

Alright, now for changing your strings.

1. Get out your new strings from the packaging. Leave the new strings in their individual envelopes for now, if applicable. If they are all bundled together in one baggie, leave them in the baggie.

2. Take your old strings off. One at a time or all at once, it doesn’t matter.

3. Take out the first new string. Start wherever you want, as long as you remember which one goes where. The packaging indicates the string gauge. 

4. Thread the new string into the ferrule, hole, over and around the saddle, or wherever your string will terminate. Guide it over the saddle and lengthwise down the guitar.

5. Thread the string into the tuning peg. Take the string past the peg until it is loose, not taut, but not so much slack it’ll take more than 5 windings to tighten your string. 

6. Hold the string over the groove in the nut with your index finger, and use a string winder or your hand to wind the tuning peg counterclockwise.

7. Keep turning until the string is taut. Keep the windings towards the bottom of the peg, not the top.

8. When the string is taut and has no slack, use wire snips to clip off the loose string at the end. 

9. Repeat until all your strings are on.

10. When all your strings are taut, take each one and gently stretch and pull on the new strings. This will help adjust them to the intense pressure. 

11. At this point, either tune your guitar, or begin performing an intonation adjustment. (Intonation is a separate topic; skip it if you don’t know how to do one). 

12. Repeat tuning and adjusting until your guitar stays in tune. 

13. Rock out.

Pockets in the Earth

Every writer has themes they revisit consistently. Stephen King has his beloved state, Maine. HP Lovecraft had Massachusetts  worn-down Colonial neighborhoods, and educated protagonists. Ray Bradbury loved autumn and October. You know you’re reading…

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Taking Your Beatings

First, a good read: Linky

And then this:

@DanikaDPotts @Murphyverse Criticism teaches far more than praise.

 ‏@Murphyverse I’ve had to take withering criticism of my writing and guess what I got better. Some times you have to eat humble pie to get better.…

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Hooking Up

Lately I’ve been putting more focus into linking with other writers, such as you fellow WordPressers who’ve followed me (Thank you for that, by the way), and sites such as Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Goodreads. In this age I think it’s…

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