5 Best Guitar Strings for Metal

When it comes to finding the best strings for metal music, these D’Addario NYXL1052 Nickel Wound options represent an excellent starting point for your search, offering excellent sound and great resistance against tuning issues.

The strings actually serve as something of a hybrid option, with a gauge range from .010 through to .052, meaning they have a light top and a heavy bottom.

Crucially, for those with an interest in playing metal music, the high carbon steel alloy used for these strings provides them with the necessary level of strength.

Although they are not the cheapest strings on this list, they are made by a very reliable company, which has been making instrument strings for hundreds of years in total.

These particular strings have a nickel-plated steel winding material that makes these the best strings for metal if you are already used to playing with softer strings.

Next, if you are looking for the best electric guitar strings for metal with a skinny top and a heavy bottom, at an affordable price, the Ernie Ball 2215 strings may be the ideal choice.

The gauges for these particular strings are .010, .013, .017, .030, .042 and .052, making them a similar option to the D’Addario NYXL1052 strings.

The Ernie Ball brand has a strong reputation within hard rock and metal circles, being favored by the guitarists from a wide range of bands, including Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Led Zeppelin.

In terms of materials, the strings have a tin-plated hex steel core, along with a nickel-plated steel winding. They produce a balanced sound, with heavy bass strings that function well when playing aggressive metal music, but with enough versatility to play other styles of music perfectly well too.

As the name suggests, the DR Strings DDT-11 Drop-Down Tuning Nickel Plated Steel Strings have been specifically designed to provide stability even with drop tuning.

This quality makes them ideally suited for playing heavy metal music and explains why they are the preferred choice for many metal guitarists.

The gauges for these particular strings are .011, .015, .019, .032, .042 and .054, which means both the thinnest and thickest strings are thicker than the corresponding strings on both of the aforementioned sets. These are among the very best guitar strings for metal enthusiasts who want robust strings for touring.

Utilizing a steel hexagonal-shaped core, which is coated with nickel plated steel, these strings are hand-crafted and yet remain relatively inexpensive.

The DR Strings brand itself also enjoys popularity within metal and heavy rock circles, in part because they were the preferred choice of the legendary Pantera guitarist, Dimebag Darrell.

For those who are looking for seriously heavy strings, the Dunlop DHCN1254 Heavy Core range is widely regarded as offering among the very best guitar strings for metal.

The range is broken down into a number of different options, named “Heavy”, “Heavier” and “Heaviest”, with the latter being especially well suited for this genre of music.

The strings have gauges of .012, .016, .020, .032, .042 and .054, meaning even the thinnest of the strings is thicker than the equivalent on any of the aforementioned options, and the same is true of the thickest string too.

Dunlop’s DHCN1254 Heavy Core strings have a steel core, with a nickel plated steel winding material. They have been specifically designed to provide excellent sound with drop tuning, while also feeling smooth under your fingers.

Their ability to withstand aggressive playing styles is another reason why they are among the best strings for metal.

Finally, our list of the best guitar strings for metal concludes with the second Ernie Ball entry. The brand’s 2726 Not Even Slinky Strings are expressly designed with metal and similar music styles in mind.

One of the interesting things to note is that these are the only strings on this list to deviate from the nickel-plated steel winding material.

Instead, these metal guitar strings utilize an iron and cobalt alloy, which provides a more dense and meaty sound on the lower notes of the guitar, while also providing long-lasting toughness.

The gauges of the strings are .012, .016, .024, .032, .044 and .056, which means this is officially the thickest set of strings on our list, beating the Dunlop strings mentioned above.

As a result, these are very much the ideal choice for those who really want a high output, durable set of strings for thrashing.