Hey Everyone, I'm looking for a "light-thin-soft-strings" that's easy for fingers and bending. meaning not the "heavy-thick-hard-strings" as I'm only an intermediate player and my fingers still need some practice to increase strength, and besides I don't really play heavy music. In this case, what would be a good brand you guys would suggest for "light-thin-soft-strings" ?
BTW. it's for my "Fender 57 Reissue Stratocaster Made In Japan Since 1993 maple neck"

Any Help Will Be Highly Appreciated. THANK YOU. =D

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If you want strings that are easy for bending, and generally easy on the fingers, it is the type of gauge that can help you achieve this. I would recommend the gauge-9(first string)-42(sixth string). These numbers refer to the diameter of the string in inches, as in 0.009 inches, 0.011 inches, 0.16 inches, 0.024, 0.032 and 0.042. This gauge is quite soft and light to play, easy to play, and is often refered to as "super light", or "light". The tension will be generally lower for the thinner gauge strings.
Also, it is most likely that your guitar came with this gauge already, so you will not need to adjust it for a different gauge. If you could tell me what your guitar is, I can tell you what gauge strings it would have come with-alternatively you can see on the product information page on the fender website, for your guitar.

Strings start off harder and more difficult to play, but soften up with time, so depending on how much you play, and how you play, that could be a couple of days or a week, or longer. Don't get put off by finding the strings hard to play at first, because with time your fingers will get stronger and harder, and you will find 9's very soft-you may decide to move up to 10's even. It's all part of learning to play guitar.

If you want to though, you can move down to 8's-that is, the first string's diameter is 0.008 inches(that is how string gauges are normally refered to, the other strings will be thinner too). Billy Gibbons from ZZTop has often played like this.

As for the brand, try them out and see what you like. Some people like the fender bullet strings, others d'addario, others Ernie Ball, or Elixir, and so on. Strings are cheap, try out the different brands and see what suits you.

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"reach for the sky and aim for the moon, for if you miss you will end up among the stars"

Zoom MS50G
72 tele dlx RI
2011 standard strat
Blackstar HT-5R
Taylor Big Baby

http://www.youtube.com/user/Almungo/videos?flow=grid&view=0

fender 150 008s.. i play nines now but used 008s for years.. esay on the fingers.

Did some google search and here's what I got:
Elixirs last longer, however they cost more so the actual benefit is probably minimal.
Ernie Ball soft but starts to sound dead in a short period of time and breaks easily.
D'Addario descent price. last for a good amount of time. sounds bright.

I'm leaning towards D'Addario .09-.42 at the moment

but exucse me.. got this question in mind ...
Ernie Ball and D'Addario, both D'Addario .09-.42, same gauges.
In terms of bending and pressing chords generally easier for the fingers
is the difference literally HUGE or actually just minimal ???
and perhaps it doesn't really matter as long as they're .09-.45 gauges..?

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I recently swapped from Ernie Ball to Daddario (both 9-42s), to try them out. The difference is not big, but they do sound a bit different. As for playing, I haven't really noticed a difference. I found that actually, my Ernie Ball strings lasted for ages, and still sounded pretty good.

_________________
"reach for the sky and aim for the moon, for if you miss you will end up among the stars"

Zoom MS50G
72 tele dlx RI
2011 standard strat
Blackstar HT-5R
Taylor Big Baby

http://www.youtube.com/user/Almungo/videos?flow=grid&view=0

heard Elixirs cost like two/three times more than D'Addario..
however when you bought them
Ernie Ball and D'Addario cost about the same right?
and did the Erinie Ball generally felt softer than D'Addario for you?
as in it doesn't hurt your finger as much when you play A LOT

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the elixers might be slightly more expensive but they last for at least a month (for me, and i play a lot) whereas i can kill the other sets you mention in a week , you do the maths and you'll see that elixers are better value for money , hth , cheers
Alan

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Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9-42...

I've been using D'Addario 8-38s since they started making them about 30 years ago.The nickel wound EXL-130 are very bendable strings and are very easy on the fingers.I do extreme bending in the vein of Buddy Guy,Jimi Hendrix and Albert King and also use the vibrato arm violently with no tuning problems and the strings stay in tune and bright much longer than regular strings do.Don't let people tell you that thin strings have a thin tone because that's just not true,Jimi Hendrix,Tony Iommi,Billy Gibbons and John Lennon used super light gauge strings yet they all got some pretty heavy tones.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I've been playing for long enough now where I don't think any strings apart from maybe super thick 13's or thicker, which I've never played anyway, hurt my fingers. My fingers can get tired though, but I don't find that is related to the string type, just how long I've been playing.
I can't remember how much they were, about the same yes. Have a look on the internet.

Try out some strings, see what you like. If you don't like them, change them. Thats the best way to actually find your own tastes in string.

_________________
"reach for the sky and aim for the moon, for if you miss you will end up among the stars"

Zoom MS50G
72 tele dlx RI
2011 standard strat
Blackstar HT-5R
Taylor Big Baby

http://www.youtube.com/user/Almungo/videos?flow=grid&view=0

I read in the Holiday issue of GW that Billy #$@*&!% Gibbons has managed to go even lighter, and now has a sig. set of 7-38s.
http://www.billygibbons.com/index.php/g ... 6-set.html