How often do you change guitar strings?

How often do I have to change the strings of my bass guitar ?

• I had my bass guitar for a year and a half and it has all the strings it came with but one ripped I'm think of just replacing all of them should I ? I have an ibanez gsr 200 the strings r kind of dirty

• Answer:

  Yes you should probably replace all the strings, just to make sure that they're all even in tone and quality. There is no fixed rule to how often to change strings. Some bassists like to change their strings every month. The great James Jamerson, it is said, NEVER changed his in decades of playing (he never cleaned his bass either - it's supposed to have been pretty gross, but he liked its "mojo"). I would say change them when they break, when they get rusty and gross, or when they start to sound dead.