Color Coded Strings

Tom Campbell · From: Houston, Texas, USA

Has any one ever colored their string/strings. I play a U12 and have been having a problem referencing my 10th string (unresolved eye problem). I know harp players use color coding to distinguish various octaves.

If you have colored your strings, what process did you use?

Thanks!

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Tom...I play 14 stringers mostly, and mess with a bunch of different unconventional tunings; it helps a bit (till I get used to it) to darken a certain string...I use marksalot or similar...it wipes off...all over my hand.

David Doggett · Posted 14 Feb 2007 5:24 pm

When I first switched from 10-string E9 to a 12-string E9/B6 universal I had the same problem. I discovered that I had been using the fret marker symbols down the center of the neck to locate myself across the strings. The 12-string shifted the center of the neck over one string. For about a month I would run a red marking pen down the player side of the 8th string to help me get my bearings. After awhile I automatically shifted my orientation and no longer needed the marker. Now I seem to get oriented by the fact that the wound and unwound strings divide between strings 6 and 7. That works for both 10-string and 12-string necks. If I ever decide to try a wound 6th string, I'll be screwed.

Pat Carlson · From: Sutton, Nebraska, R.I.P.

Tom as an old Ma-Bell cable splicer I knew there were only 10 dominant colors in a 600 pair cable Razz

I could easily relate to
Blue=1
Orange=2
Green=3 and so on. I made a crutch for my fret board and colored the lines on my tab sheets accordingly.This was a big help for me, when I was first starting out Laughing

I would look at the tab and know that red was string 6 etc. etc.
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Tom Campbell · From: Houston, Texas, USA

Thanks guys.

I'll give the magic marker a try. I guess if the color isn't wound into the string when it was made, the marker is the only alternative.

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

color coded strings sounds like a good idea !!!
i wonder why it has not been done
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Danny Hullihen · From: Harrison, Michigan

It has been. DAddario does it on their E-Series six string guitar sets.

Clarence Wilson · From: morgantown wv usa

The last four U12 guitars I have, or had, have color coded tuning nuts. I used magic markers. It helps me to see which strings are pulled , by which pedals or levers. Some of the 6 string guitars have the ball ends color-coded, too, from the factory.

CEW
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Rick Johnson · From: Wheelwright, Ky USA

Why can't you take a Sharpie and mark the
10th string? They come in nice colors.
Has anyone ever tried it?

Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabs.com

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

The markers for CDs work fine. If you really want something that stays on try DYKEM = a machine shop dye for metal parts...be careful, it could mess up your instrument's appearence if you get it on other parts.

Sonny Jenkins · From: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx

Hey Tom,,,when I first went to a uni I marked my 8th string with a marks-a-lot. By the time I changed strings I was used to it and didn't need it anymore,,,now a 10 string'er seems very awkward.

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

I had to play an unfamiliar sort-of diatonic tuning,
(low to high, G B C D E G A B C D E G)
and I had to read music, so I magic-markered the C's in black, the G's in red and the D's in blue. I tried other schemes, but the black and blue strings next to each other made it clear which one was which.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Don't you just hate it when you anchor your thumb on the wrong string and play something that you know is right, and it just sounds so wrong? I hate it when that happens. Embarassed

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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I think marking strings is actually a hindrance, in the long run. It slows you down, and constantly watching your right hand will impede your progress. You have to just learn where a certain string is by the feel. (After all, this is the way blind players manage to learn their way around!)

John Cox · From: Texas, USA

I know this is about coloring the strings but, I color my nylon tuners in pairs according to the pedals and levers. I find this keeps me from guessing wich ones to tune. J.C.

Tom Campbell · From: Houston, Texas, USA

A classical-grand harp, like the ones used in an orchestra, have various (entire) octaves color coded. It's the only way the person playing can determine where they are. With the harp, its not a "crutch", its a necessity for playing the instrument.

Granted, a 12 string is no where close the the complexity of a grand harp...but one or two coded "anchor" strings doesn't seem to be that radical.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

This almost goes without saying, but I'm hoping that someone "looking" for the 10th string on a 12-string neck isn't counting down from the 1st string. It's seems far easier to just remember the 10th string is the 3rd string from the bottom, 12-11-10.

Your right-hand placement should be very consistent, and this will make the "string-finding" task easier. Harpists have the strings color coded because they have far more strings than we do, and because they have no convenient "resting place" for the hand like we do. Their hands and arms are just hanging out in space!

Sure, you can mark your strings, and grow to rely on the marking...but won't that make it both difficult and uncomfortable when you try to play someone else's guitar?

Sonny Jenkins · From: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx

Like I said,,,,,I found that by the time (a couple of weeks) I needed to change strings,,,I didn't need the reminder anymore,,,the hand had become conditioned to the positionof the new sequence of strings.,,,(I don't "anchor" my hand on certain strings???),,,nor did I have to "watch" my picking hand,,,I saw that black string under my bar and my right hand related to it.,,,,to each his own.

Ron Kirby · From: Nashville TN

Great Idea Johnny Cox, Maybe the builders will take note.

As for colored strings ,will they glow in the dark? He -Ha!

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

I color my fingernails.... Smile

Puce or Ochre depending on the day...

joe wright · From: Jackson, Michigan

Learn to play with your hands and not your eyes.

If I color coded my strings I'd have to open mine...joe

C. Christofferson · Posted 17 Feb 2007 3:28 pm

After being given the idea by this thread I have put some pieces of narrow pin-stripe tape on the fretboard running the length of the neck under (from the angle of playing position) the 3rd and 6th strings just to see if it would actually help or just get in the way. Conclusion, it really helps, but so did putting more light on the fretboard cause i was used to practicing in poor lighting making the strings almost invisible sometimes.

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David Doggett · Posted 17 Feb 2007 3:41 pm

I agree with Sonny. It is strictly temporary for a special situation, like when I switched from 10-string to 12-string. Like Sonny, I also didn't need to look at my picking hand. Somehow, just seeing the strings under the bar, my right hand knew where to go. Finally I realized I could see the strings vibrating while watching my bar hand, and that kept my right hand picking the right strings. I just needed a little color on the 8th string to readjust my perception of where the root was among all those strings in the middle. Color coding is precisely what eliminates the need to count strings as Donny fears. And somehow, it doesn't make you dependent, it just reorients you. By the time the color wore off in a couple of weeks (marking pen coloring does not last long on metal strings), I didn't need it anymore, and didn't add the color when I changed strings. My reorientation was complete by then. I'd say if coloring a string helps you with a temporary situation, go for it, but wean yourself off of it as soon as possible.

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