D'Addario Silk & Steel Acoustic Guitar Strings - EJ40-6 String - Warm, Mellow Tone - Light, 11-47

A childhood friend of mine plays in a touring band and is a luthier when not touring. He has been playing guitar since he was 10 (we are 50 now) and recommended these strings to me. He loves them and I respect his opinion so on his recommendation I tried them.Love these strings on my Yamaha FG800. I've upgraded this guitar with a bone nut and saddle. With these strings the tone is bright, but warm. I'd say it is more "bluegrass and country" than it would be "rock and blues". Although, if you are a bit more aggressive with the pick you do get a great "classic blues" tone.These are a little more expensive than some other brands but I feel like the quality of these stings is a bit better. I also think they last longer than other brands too so, a couple dollars difference is a wash.I personally find these strings to be easier on your fingers than bronze or phosphor bronze (your results may vary). I feel like you do have to make a compromise with these strings. In my opinion there is a bit of a trade off; while I love the overall tone and playability I must admit the projection on the high end is not as good as I would like. Even digging in with the pick on those higher notes, it doesn't have the OOMPH, I'd like compared the the phosphor bronze strings I typically use. I do keep a set of silk & steel and phosphor bronze on hand and will change them out depending on the songs I am learning or the mood I am in. It would probably be easier to get another acoustic guitar!

Many years ago, I had played a Yamaha acoustic daily. My poor left hand fingers were completely numb on the tips, and blistered each time I played on the strings I was using. Typing was very painful in class. I later was in a music store & spotted strings, and so looked them over. Saw (martin) Folk Silk & Steel strings. Reading, says were 'easy on fingers', mellow sounding. The first part is what got my attention. I bought them and strung them up. Oh wow. Yes! Easy on fingers! My fingers healed up and got feeling back over the coming days, even while still playing 2-4 hours per day.Got married and stopped playing except very occasionally over the next 39 years. Fast forward to this last July, I bought a new guitar and much better guitar. Oh no. The strings! Meat grinders again. But. I knew what was needed, and I played on them for a few minutes daily, building may left hand back up. Strength wise and callouses. Except these strings also left bruising and did cut my fingers.Looking on Amazon, I knew I wanted Silk & Steel strings again. Or at least I thought. Oh my gosh..... cannot believe how many brands of strings now! 1970's, there weren't many brands or kinds NOR gauges. Crud. What to get? Spent more than 2 weeks looking and reading... Finally decided on these D'addario Silk & Steel. The 1st strings, high E, is 11, whereas Martin is 11.5. D'addarion would be slightly easier on that high string on my pinkie finger. It's the one that is bruised the most. The other strings are the same as the Martin's.Love these strings! Mellow and soft and the notes just flowwww..... strings & guitar just resonate... the sound lasting... not falling off as quick as the original strings. Yes! Got my wonderful sound back and love listening while playing again. I do finger picking... kind of banjo style. Notes on these strings ring true without brassy sounds..... bass is solid & rings, and not thunking as the strong (hard) strings were producing. (the guitar came with 13's! Not good on fingers that the last time playing at all had been 15 years earlier, and on Silk & Steel at that. Did NOT like the sound of 13's either. Very HARD notes, no flowing & then tapering off sound.)Am very happy with these D'addarios Silk & Steel. I do not miss the extra .5 on the Martin high E string. I sat and played for 4 hours on these strings. My back gave out sitting with my dreadnought. My left hand fingers were still okay and could have played a lot longer. But, my back said no, put the guitar away and play again tomorrow.Love these strings. ^_^

The sound that these strings make are so pretty and exactly the kind I was looking for. It gives a mellow, peaceful but strong sound, so worth getting two packs for any acoustic guitar player.

I broke down and tried these strings on my Martin DCP A4, and I love the way they feel. They aren’t as bright or as loud as the PBs I usually use, but the sound very good, and did I mention how they feel?It’s a bit strange having all silver colored strings.

I play primarily fingerstyle guitar and was looking for strings that would be soft and easy to play. These caught my eyes since it sounded from the description to be a bit closer to classical guitar nylon strings but on a steel-string guitar. I think certain attributes were as I expected:1) the strings are gentler on the fingers compared to 80/20 or phosphor bronze strings I've played in the past2) the tone is a bit more mellow, there's less brightness and bite to it3) the strings are easy to bendThat being said, there were some drawbacks I didn't really account for:1) the tone is mellow to a fault- it almost sounds muffled.2) the volume output is less than more traditional strings3) I think the tone degraded relatively fast compared to other strings (e.g. with 80/20s when I install them, they're overly bright for my liking, but then mellow out a bit overtime while retaining a lot of volume and clarity). These went more from mellow to swampy.4) percussive style playing doesn't really work- hammer-ons are hard to get any volume on, any kind of string slapping drumming is going to sound quiet.All that said, these are nice to have on a secondary guitar (if you have multiple) in case your fingers are tired from playing on steel strings all day but you want to continue for a bit on soft strings. Worth trying out to see if it fits your playstyle. For me- I will probably be mostly playing on my other guitar in the meanwhile, and when I end up swapping these strings out, I'll probably go back to more traditional strings.