You can find video after video of people changing guitar strings with all kinds of advice but several pieces of advice stood out.

1. By putting a small bend in the end of the string with the bushing, you can get it to slide past the end of your bridge pin easier.
2. Change one string at a time
3. Leave the right amount of slack in the string to leave between 2 and 4 wraps on the tuner peg when the string is tight.

The last piece of advice was the one that I thought could be a little clearer. Lots of comments like, “you’ll just get used to knowing how much slack to leave” weren’t all that helpful. Frankly, I really doubt I would have “got used to it”, because I change strings so infrequently. Isn’t there something more substantial I can use as a gauge?

Yes, there is. Taylor guitars has a video of technicians installing new strings and that provided the information I needed. Essentially you want the slack to be equal to the length from the string’s tuner peg to the next tuner peg. So for the low and high E strings, you would want the strings to reach the tuner pegs for strings A, and B respectively when pulled taught. Instead of cutting them at this length, I just grabbed the string at the length I wanted and pushed it back through the peg to provide the “right amount of slack”, bent the string up and out of my way and then I started to wind the tuner peg. For the D and G strings you will need to just eyeball the length based on the distance between the previous tuner pegs.

Make sure that your string comes up the inside of the tuner peg and that the windings head towards the head stock and not towards the end of the pin. Trim strings as close to the tuner peg as possible and you are done. Stretching your strings several times will prevent new strings from going out of tune.

Here is a list of the bands and djs performing at the most prominent Irish bars and restaurants in the Columbus Area. There is something for everyone. Many businesses are also hosting other activities during this weekend. Check back for more information in the coming days.

Web sites for Restaurants and Pubs
Byrnes Pub
The Brazenhead
O’Shaughnessy’s Public House
Fado’
Mary Kelly’s
The Claddagh Irish Pub

Free license for MagicScore School 5.355 – Create and edit music composition of any complexity..

Just point your browser to http://www.last.fm to enjoy free music when ever you are sitting at your computer. There are basically two ways to listen to music using Last.fm. The first is to type in a musician that you like and it will start playing music from that musician and any other musicians that are comparable. The second way to find music is to use tags. Tags are simple search terms that describe the music. A note of warning, tags are not infallible. I noticed that Drop Kick Murphys are listed on Celtic Folk. By their name you can guess their style of music. You probably wont be sipping your tea while listening to their little ditties.

Tags

• http://www.last.fm/tag/irish
• http://www.last.fm/tag/irish folk
• http://www.last.fm/tag/celtic
• http://www.last.fm/tag/celtic folk

Some artists to give you a head start

• Christy Moore
• Mary Black
• Clannad
• The Chieftans
• The Irish Rovers
• The Dubliners
•  Cherish the Ladies
• Tommy Makem
• The Clancy Brothers
• Van Morrison
• Lorenna McKennitt

Some artists with a little more bump

• Great Big Sea (Not necessarily Irish)
• U2
• Drop Kick Murphys
• The Cranberries
• The Corrs
• Sinead O’Connor
• The Pogues
• Gaelic Storm
• Black 47
• Seven Nations
• The Prodigals

That should get you started. Once you start to use Last.fm, you will find more musicians you like by looking at the similar artists.