Guitar guys. Broke my first string?

I do not.

Is it easy to do?

Just get a chromatic tuner. Will run you around $20. Standard tuning is EADGBE (low to high). Once you have tuned your guitar enough, you will get to where you can tune by ear or at least tune all your strings just by having one in tune.

I broke a few strings tuning up to open E and then down again.

After the third broken sting in a month, I gave up on open E tuning. Then I found out that I could tune most of my strings down to what is called open D, place a capo on the second fret, and BAM!...open E! I felt like a chump...


I normally tune mine down a half step when it is not in open D/with capo (one song...she talks to angels).

To the OP, does your electronic tuner have different settings for guitar, bass, violin, ukulele, and chromatic?

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The high E string is what began sounding wrong. With my electric tuner it would never pick it up as the proper string.

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Snark SN-1

You're welcome.

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Restring with? Acoustic guitar by the way. What are the suggestions?

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Martin SP phosphor bronze Custom Lights sound great on my Blueridge. Cheap, too.

It's not common for me to break strings. However, I did get two sets of highly regarded John Pearse strings, and the G's on both broke during installation. So screw them.

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With my electric tuner it would never pick it up as the proper string. Trying to get it in tune it popped?

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Make sure you have a fresh battery in your tuner.

Low battery will make the tuner jump around the note you are trying to intonate.

Also make sure you stretch the strings a few times when you restring and retune each time. It'll help you in the long run during the life of the string set keeping the strings in tune. You can do this by placing the guitar freshly re-strung in your lap and placing your right index and middle finger under the string in between the string and fretboard near the neck joint and putting pressure on the string with your left thumb at around the 3rd fret. Then run your right hand up the string (towards the headstock) and gently tug on the string while you work your way up the neck. Do this two to three times for each string retuning in between stretching (be careful with how hard you tug on the three higher unwound strings, they will break). It takes any slack out of the string at the tuning peg and will give you better tuning stability.

I suggest having someone teach you.
You can overpay to have it restrung and tuned professionally, but it may be worth it for you; from there, it will be easier to keep it tuned with a tuner at home. Make sure your tuner batteries are fresh.

As someone else mentioned, stretching your strings is important.

The most common strings you will break are e, B, and E (in that order I've found); it happens more often than you would like, so it's not like you're the entire problem.

You'll benefit from learning to tune, as it's something you'll have to do every time you play, most of the time. If it's been a while since you tuned, the strings have a tendency to stick, which may be the reason it popped.