Doc Watson, and many other blues grass style (which means guitarists who utilize a plectrum instead of finger picking) frequently use thicker, medium gauge guitar strings, usually 80-20 bronze, or phosphor bronze. It's considered that phosphor bronze gives a more sustained tone and additionally last for a longer time, as phosphor bronze is resists oil and moisture from the skin. It's an excellent idea to clean the strings after each play, but it's not hard to forget.
As with all things, there are advantages and disadvantages for various types of string, and the various gauges. This can also affected by your performing style (light or heavy), picking method and if you wear picks or not. A guitarist who finger picks with steel or plastic picks will understand that strings suffer such a thrashing that they have less tone, or snap before too long and need replacing frequently.
Guitarists wearing picks, or other players using a heavy feel will also need to adjust the action on their guitar, if they don't want the strings to make noises as they oscillate close to the frets. Acoustic guitar strings aren't as skinny as for electric, and there has to be a compromise of thickness versus comfortable use. Acoustic guitar lessons frequently include techniques such as vibrato or bending the strings in order to change the note a quarter tone or maybe more - this can be quite hard when applying chords in proximity to the guitar nut.
Heavier gauges have the advantage of not moving overmuch, and also not moving out of tune if depressed too much between the frets, which can warp the string such that the note varies slightly. All thicknesses stay in tune generally well, if using a decent quality instrument, but thinner gauges may be affected more by temperature and moisture in the air.
Blues guitar tabs don't ordinarily refer to string thickness, but leaves it to the preference of the guitar player. It's useful to listen to the old disks, and to search out old film clips of the original performers if possible, to attempt to determine which gauge string they were using. Naturally, this would have had an effect on their picking technique (and yours!) Thinner gauge strings by and large go from .054 to 0.011 of an inch, and mediums range 0.056 to 0.013. It's possible to purchase custom string sets, like the Blue Grass pack, having a bass E of 0.056 inch (which is medium gauge), and a light gauge high E string which is 0.011 or 0.012 inch. Blues guitar players often use the lighter gauge strings.
As with all things, there are advantages and disadvantages for various types of string, and the various gauges. This can also affected by your performing style (light or heavy), picking method and if you wear picks or not. A guitarist who finger picks with steel or plastic picks will understand that strings suffer such a thrashing that they have less tone, or snap before too long and need replacing frequently.
Guitarists wearing picks, or other players using a heavy feel will also need to adjust the action on their guitar, if they don't want the strings to make noises as they oscillate close to the frets. Acoustic guitar strings aren't as skinny as for electric, and there has to be a compromise of thickness versus comfortable use. Acoustic guitar lessons frequently include techniques such as vibrato or bending the strings in order to change the note a quarter tone or maybe more - this can be quite hard when applying chords in proximity to the guitar nut.
Heavier gauges have the advantage of not moving overmuch, and also not moving out of tune if depressed too much between the frets, which can warp the string such that the note varies slightly. All thicknesses stay in tune generally well, if using a decent quality instrument, but thinner gauges may be affected more by temperature and moisture in the air.
Blues guitar tabs don't ordinarily refer to string thickness, but leaves it to the preference of the guitar player. It's useful to listen to the old disks, and to search out old film clips of the original performers if possible, to attempt to determine which gauge string they were using. Naturally, this would have had an effect on their picking technique (and yours!) Thinner gauge strings by and large go from .054 to 0.011 of an inch, and mediums range 0.056 to 0.013. It's possible to purchase custom string sets, like the Blue Grass pack, having a bass E of 0.056 inch (which is medium gauge), and a light gauge high E string which is 0.011 or 0.012 inch. Blues guitar players often use the lighter gauge strings.
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Learn more about blues guitar tabs. Stop by Jim Bruce's site where you can find out all about acoustic guitar lessons.
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