Can you Use Electric Guitar Strings on Acoustic? How?

I am sitting here in my music club and thinking about can I use electric guitar strings on my acoustic guitar. If you too having the same thoughts, this is the article for you.

I tried a couple of things and come up with this article on everything I found. I will tell you what happens if you put electric strings and why you should try this.

can I use electric guitar strings on acoustic guitar

So, Can you use Electric Guitar Strings on Acoustic? You could use your Electric Strings on your Acoustic Guitar. As Electric strings are not wounded like acoustic one, you may feel different while playing and also, you might need to make little adjustments to your guitar.

If you want to know more details, stay with me:

How to Tell the Difference Between Acoustic and Electric Guitar Strings?

The main and kind of important difference between acoustic and electric guitar strings is the material they are made from.

Overall playability, tone and sound of the guitar strings is highly depends on the material used. Electric guitar strings are usually made from alloys like steel-nickel or chromium.

As typical electric guitar pickups works on magnetic signals that’s why these alloys are commonly used due to their active magnetic properties.

Also, Electric guitar strings are usually light gauge (9s or 10s). You might know, thicker the string, more tension it will bear and more volume it will emit. The volume is not an issue with electric guitar as we can easily amplify it to our desired volume.

One the other hand, we do not use any pickup or amp for acoustic guitar. thus, we usually use thicker gauge strings, which resonate more and emit more sound.

Acoustic strings are generally made from bronze or brass alloy, because they resonate more, gives a kind of fullness and rich tone to the overall sound.

How Can I use Electric Strings on Acoustic Guitar?

You can put the electric strings on your guitar in the same way you put acoustic strings. Although, you need to be a little careful as these are usually thinner strings and don’t have any windings on them.

The first thing you need to understand, electric guitar strings will work fine on acoustic guitar. I saw many people arguing on the change in tone and all that stuff but If you use the same gauge electric guitar strings as you’re used to with acoustic strings, you’re in a good position.

You can’t just say, nickel strings are certainly good or worst than 80/20 bronze strings or brass acoustic strings. They both have their own properties and all this came to the personal preference.

Personally, I don’t recommend you to use electric strings on acoustic guitar, just because acoustic guitars are not designed for electric strings. I find it kind of Jangly, come out of tune easily, the base is gone, no lower ends.

I think you should try this on your own, you need to see if this works for you or not?

Here’s How Electric Guitar strings Sound on Acoustic Guitar:

Does Electric Strings can Hurt my Acoustic Guitar?

Just make sure your acoustic guitar is ready. Electric guitar strings can’t make any damage to your acoustic guitar in any way. Only you need to make some setups before your change the strings.

Normally, we consider electric guitar strings as light as compare to acoustic ones. They are going to put way less tension on the neck thus you need to adjust your guitar’s neck completely.

Are Acoustic and Electric Guitar Chords the Same?

This is also, an obvious question that many beginners tends to ask. If I put electric guitar strings on my acoustic guitar, does that make any difference in the chords? Answer is NO!

Chords are exact same for both Acoustic and Electric guitar. Although, some chords sounds better on electric guitar whereas some sounds better on acoustic one. Also, Electric guitar chords amplify through Amp whereas acoustic guitar chords sounds without any Amplifier.

No matter If you put acoustic guitar strings on Electric guitar or Electric guitar strings on Acoustic, music Chords is not going to change at all.

Final Words

I hope you enjoy what you read. So, now you know everything you need to know before you try electric strings on your acoustic guitar. Don’t forget to share this crazy experiment with your friends.

So, what do you think of this experiment? Are you going to try it? If not why? Feel free to put your thoughts in the comments. Also, If you have any kind of doubts or suggestions for our team, you can contact us.

Have a Great Day!

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