![Eight String Acoustic Guitar by Patrick Hawley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Eight_String_Acoustic_Guitar_by_Patrick_Hawley.jpg)
An eight-string guitar is a
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
with eight strings, or one more than the
Russian guitar
The Russian guitar (sometimes referred to as a "Gypsy guitar") is an acoustic seven-string guitar that was developed in Russia toward the end of the 18th century: it shares most of its organological features with the Spanish guitar, although som ...
's seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few
classical,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, and
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
guitarists. The eight-string guitar allows a wider tonal range, or non-standard tunings (such as
major-thirds tuning
Among alternative tunings for guitar, a major-thirds tuning is a regular tuning in which each interval between successive open strings is a major third ("M3" in musical abbreviation). Other names for major-thirds tuning include major-third tuni ...
), or both.
Various non-standard guitars were made in the 19th century, including eight-string guitars played by Italians
Giulio Regondi
Giulio Regondi (1822 – 6 May 1872) was a Swiss-born classical guitarist, concertinist and composer active in France and (mainly) the United Kingdom.
Regondi was born of a German mother and an Italian father in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1831 Fe ...
and
Luigi Legnani.
Eight-string electric guitars gained popularity among metal bands, largely inspired by Swedish
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...
band
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas ...
(formed in 1987). Contemporary use outside of metal has picked up in the last decade, and owes much to
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent band ...
and their stylistic eclecticism.
Designs
Semi-acoustic guitar (hollow-body guitar)
Seeking a
guitar tuning
Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...
that would facilitate jazz
improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
,
Ralph Patt invented
major-thirds tuning
Among alternative tunings for guitar, a major-thirds tuning is a regular tuning in which each interval between successive open strings is a major third ("M3" in musical abbreviation). Other names for major-thirds tuning include major-third tuni ...
in 1963.
Patt's tuning is a
regular tuning
Among alternative guitar-tunings, regular tunings have equal musical intervals between the paired notes of their successive open strings.
''Guitar tunings'' assign pitches to the open strings of guitars. Tunings can be ...
, in the sense that all of the
intervals between its successive
open strings are
major third
In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept and P ...
s; in contrast,
standard guitar tuning
Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...
has one major-third amid four
fourths.
Seven-string guitar
The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range.
The additional string is added in one of two different ways: by ...
s are needed for major-thirds tuning to have the E-e' range of the standard tuning.
[: ] Having an eight-string instrument allowed Patt's guitar to have G (
equivalently A) as its
open note
On string instruments, a stopped note is a note whose pitch has been altered from the pitch of the open string by the player's left hand pressing (stopping) the string against the fingerboard.
Bowed strings
On bowed string instruments, a stopp ...
.
Patt purchased six-string
archtop
An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players.
Typically, an archtop guitar has:
* Six strings
* An arc ...
hollow-body guitars that were then modified by luthiers to have wider necks, wider pickups, and eight strings. Patt's Gibson ES-150 was modified by Vincent "Jimmy" DiSerio c. 1965.
Luthier
Saul Koll
The Koll Guitar Company is an American guitar manufacturing company based in Portland, Oregon. The company, established in 1986 by Saul Koll, produces electric and semi-acoustic guitars.
The company is known for its "Glide" series (which has h ...
modified a sequence of guitars: a 1938 Gibson Cromwell, a Sears Silvertone, a c. 1922 Mango archtop, a 1951 Gibson L-50, and a 1932 Epiphone Broadway; for Koll's modifications, custom pick-ups accommodated Patt's wide necks and high G (
equivalently A);
custom pick-ups were manufactured by
Seymour Duncan
Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan found ...
and by Bill Lawrence.
Roy Connors, former member of the 1960s folk singing group, the Highwaymen, reconfigured a Martin O-28 six-string guitar to an eight-string of his own design and received a U.S. Patent on it (#3269247).
Solid-body
Solid-body eight string guitars are also used by many bands today. The construction of a solid-body eight-string guitar is comparable to that of seven- and six-string variants. The standard tuning (from low to high) is F, B, E, A, D, G, B, E. Many prefer to tune the F to a low E (E1), the same note as the lowest string on a four-string
electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck
The ...
in standard tuning, and providing the guitar with a fuller sound by having three different E strings. This tuning is equivalent to tuning a six-string guitar to
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning is an alternative form of guitar tuning in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D. So where standard tuning is E2A2D3G3B3E4 (EADGBe), drop D is D2A2D3G3B3E4 (DADGBe ...
.
Like the seven-string, the first mass-produced eight-string guitar was made by
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as ...
guitars in Japan; the
RG2228
The Ibanez RG2228 is the world's first mass-produced eight string electric guitar.Official Ibanez Website: http://www.ibanez.com/eg/guitar.aspx?m=RG2228 It came out in March 2007 and was introduced in the Winter NAMM show of that year.Youtube RG ...
.
Scale length
The main design issue faced with an eight-string guitar is tuning stability with the lower strings. This is due to the neck being constructed too short, bridge problems such as improper intonation, uneven spacing for floating bridges, or the use of wrong string gauges. Other problems associated with tuning stability rely on proper setup of the guitar.
Extended range eight string guitars sometimes will have a
multi-scale design where the bass strings will be longer than the treble strings (fanned fret design). This helps with proper
intonation of the lower strings, improves string tension balance across the strings, improves
harmonic overtones,
overtone series
A harmonic series (also overtone series) is the sequence of harmonics, musical tones, or pure tones whose frequency is an integer multiple of a ''fundamental frequency''.
Pitched musical instruments are often based on an acoustic resonator su ...
, and improves
inharmonicity
In music, inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (also known as partials or partial tones) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency ( harmonic series).
Acoustically, a note perceived to have a singl ...
. (See also
inharmonicity in pianos). The bass strings on an 8 string typically require the saddle to be pulled back a bit more than the other strings to properly set the intonation. Some bridge designs accommodate this by offsetting back the 7th and 8th strings or providing a bit extra room for adjustment. Longer scale lengths require less offset for proper intonation.
Notable players
Classical
Paul Galbraith
Paul Galbraith (born 18 March 1964) is a Scottish classical guitarist known for his unique style of playing.
Biography
Paul Galbraith had his first guitar lessons with Graham Wade, continuing his studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Chethams Sch ...
began using an eight-string guitar in 1994 when, in collaboration with luthier
David Rubio
David Rubio (born David Joseph Spinks; 17 September 1934 – 21 October 2000) was an English maker of stringed musical instruments.
Biography
David Rubio was born on 17 September 1934 in London, England. He acquired his new surname in his t ...
, they designed the
Brahms guitar
The Brahms guitar, or cello-guitar, is an eight-string guitar with a conventional resonating body, but also an external, box-shaped resonator. Classical guitarist Paul Galbraith, in collaboration with luthier David Rubio, invented the instrument ...
. Galbraith generally tunes AEADGBEA.
Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Amin Gismonti (born December 5, 1947) is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.
Biography
Gismonti was born in the small city of Carmo, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, into a musical family. His mother was from Sicily and his ...
(born 1947) is a Brazilian guitarist and pianist who favors the 8-string classical guitar.
Livio Gianola (Premana, 1964) is an Italian guitarist. It is considered by the specialized critic "The Master of the Eight String Guitar".
Jazz
Hungarian born Australian Jazz guitarist Laszlo Sirsom plays 8-string jazz guitar made by Phil Carson Crickmore He's tuning as a normal guitar on the middle plus High A and lower B.
Charlie Hunter
Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter plays custom-made seven- and eight-string guitars on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, a ...
plays a hybrid eight-string guitar made by Ralph Novak of Novax Guitars. Five of the strings are tuned to the standard guitar's upper five (A, D, G, B, E), while three of the strings are tuned to the standard
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
's three lowest (E, A, D). The bass and treble sections have separate pickups and are sent to separate amplifiers. Hunter also has a ten-string guitar based on the same principle—a combination of standard six-string guitar and standard four-string bass.
Metal
The eight-string guitar is used by modern
heavy metal guitarists such as
Fredrik Thordendal
Fredrik Thordendal (born 11 February 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the extreme metal band Meshuggah, of which he is a founding member.
Along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagstr ...
and
Mårten Hagström
Mårten Hagström, (born 27 April 1971) is the rhythm guitarist for the Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. He joined the band after the release of their first album, which allowed Jens Kidman to focus on his vocal performances and give up rhyt ...
of
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas ...
,
Dino Cazares
Dino Cazares (born in 1966) is an American musician, known for being the guitarist and one of the co-founders of industrial metal band Fear Factory. He is also the co-founder of the metal bands Divine Heresy, Asesino, and Brujeria. Cazares popu ...
of
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...
,
Stephen Carpenter
Stephen "Steph" Carpenter ( /ˈstɛfən/ ''STEF-ən''; born August 3, 1970) is an American musician, known as the co-founder and a guitarist of the alternative metal band Deftones.
His guitar technique makes use of both ringing open strings an ...
of
Deftones
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...
, Greg Burgess of
Allegaeon
Allegaeon is an American extreme metal band from Fort Collins, Colorado, formed in 2008. They have released one EP and six studio albums.
History
Allegaeon was formed in 2007. They initially played small shows, at bars and houses in and arou ...
, Simon Girard and Kevin Chartré of
Beyond Creation
Beyond Creation is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec. They are currently signed to Season of Mist records. The group has released three studio albums to date: ''The Aura'' (2011), ''Earthborn Evolution'' (2014), and ''A ...
, Justin Lowe and Trent Hafdahl of
After the Burial
After the Burial is an American progressive metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records and have released five of their six full-length albums through the label. Since their inception in 2004, the band h ...
, Josh Travis of
Emmure
Emmure () is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, before moving to Queens, New York, the group has released eight albums, with their first public release being a 2006 EP entitled ''The Compl ...
(ex-
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza was an American mathcore band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The band was founded (sans a vocalist) in Monroe, Louisiana by members Layne Meylain, Mason Crooks, Brad Thompson, and Mike Butler. They relocated ...
and ex-
Glass Cloud
Glass Cloud was an American metalcore band from Hampton, Virginia formed by Jerry Roush, Joshua Travis, Travis Sykes, and Chad Hasty in late 2011. The band released their debut album, ''The Royal Thousand'' on July 10, 2012 via Equal Vision Rec ...
), Per Nilsson of
Scar Symmetry
Scar Symmetry is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Avesta, formed in 2004. The band has released six albums, with seven released singles. They are signed to Nuclear Blast Records.
History
Formation and ''Symmetric in Design'' (2004−200 ...
and Meshuggah as a touring member and others. The instrument is particularly associated with the “
djent
Djent () is a subgenre of progressive metal characterised by its use of off-beat and complex rhythm patterns. Its distinctive sound is that of high-gain, distorted, palm-muted, down-tuned strings. The name "djent" is an onomatopoeia of this s ...
” sound popularized by Meshuggah,
Vildhjarta
Vildhjarta is a Swedish progressive metal band from Hudiksvall, formed in 2005. The band plays in a Meshuggah-influenced musical style employing heavily down-tuned seven-string guitars, as well as harmonic minor chord progressions, jarring stac ...
, and
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
, among others.
Tosin Abasi
Oluwatosin Ayoyinka Olumide Abasi (born January 7, 1983), is an American musician, best known as the founder and lead guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders. He has recorded and released five albums with Animal ...
and Javier Reyes of
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent band ...
primarily use a drop-E tuning (where the lowest string matches the E1 on a standard-tuned bass guitar) and incorporate "thumping," an adaptation of different bass guitar techniques — the term blankets all sorts of possible note groupings, but primary influences include a style á la funk bassist
Larry Graham
Larry Graham Jr. (born August 14, 1946) is an American bassist and baritone singer, both with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. In 1980, he released the single "O ...
and
Victor Wooten
Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...
's double thumping technique — as well as harp-like arpeggios extending across the full range of the instrument.
Ihsahn
Vegard Sverre Tveitan (born 10 October 1975), better known by his stage name Ihsahn (), is a Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer, best known for his work with black metal band Emperor. Tveitan is also a founding member of Tho ...
of the
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
band
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
began playing
seven-string guitar
The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range.
The additional string is added in one of two different ways: by ...
in 1999 and first played eight-string guitar on his 2010 album ''
After
After may refer to:
Literature
* ''After'' (Elgar), an 1895 poem by Philip Bourke Marston set to music by Edward Elgar
* ''After'' (Prose novel), a 2003 novel by Francine Prose
* ''After'' (book), a 2005 book by Canadian writer Francis Chalifour
...
''.
Rusty Cooley
Rusty Cooley (born April 27, 1970) is an American guitarist, known for his highly refined guitar technique. He is regarded as one of the fastest guitarists in the United States and a master of the shredding technique of guitar. ''Guitar Player'' ...
tunes his eight-string guitar like a standard six-string expanded in both directions. This tuning offers both deeper bass tones than a conventional guitar and extended range in the higher register for lead melodies.
Guitarist
Justin Broadrick
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...
of the English industrial metal band
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...
introduced his eight-string playing on the 2014 Godflesh EP ''
Decline & Fall''.
Guitarists Lucas Mann and Joel Omans from the
technical deathcore
Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...
band
Rings of Saturn
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirel ...
also use eight-string guitars, with Mann primarily making use of a nine-string guitar for the band's 2019 album
Gidim There are many references to ghosts in ancient Mesopotamian religion – the religions of Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and other early states in Mesopotamia. Traces of these beliefs survive in the later Abrahamic religions that came to dominate the regio ...
. Miles Dimitri Baker, one of their former members, also used one.
Chris Andrews of the
death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band
Devourment
Devourment is an American death metal band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1995, the band has split up and reformed three times leaving Brad Fincher as the only original member. The current lineup is Ruben Rosas, Chris Andrews, Dave Spencer and B ...
uses eight-string guitars, starting with the album ''Obscene Majesty''.
John Petrucci
John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 2010 ...
of
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...
band
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...
plays an eight-string guitar on the song "Awaken the Master", from Dream Theater's 2021 album ''
A View from the Top of the World
''A View from the Top of the World'' is the fifteenth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on October 22, 2021. This is their first album to be recorded at their own studio, DTHQ (Dream Theater Headquarters), a ...
''.
See also
*
Brahms guitar
The Brahms guitar, or cello-guitar, is an eight-string guitar with a conventional resonating body, but also an external, box-shaped resonator. Classical guitarist Paul Galbraith, in collaboration with luthier David Rubio, invented the instrument ...
*
Roy Smeck
Leroy Smeck (6 February 1900 – 5 April 1994) was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, and ukulele earned him the nickname "The Wizard of the Strings".
Background
Smeck was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He started on the vau ...
, popular player of the octachorda from the 1920s onwards
*
Ten-string guitar
There are many varieties of ten-string guitar, including:
* Both electric and acoustic guitars.
* Instruments used principally for classical, folk and popular music.
* Both coursed and uncoursed instruments.
Uncoursed ten-stringed guitars
...
*
Nine-string guitar
A nine-string guitar is a guitar with nine strings instead of the commonly used six strings. Such guitars are not as common as the six-string variety, but are used by guitarists to modify the sound or expand the range of their instrument.
Variant ...
*
Seven-string guitar
The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range.
The additional string is added in one of two different ways: by ...
*
Extended-range bass
An extended-range bass is an electric bass guitar with a wider frequency range than a standard-tuned four-string bass guitar.
Terminology
One way that a bass can be considered 'extended-range' is to use a tuning machine mechanism that allows fo ...
*
Harp guitar
The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...
*
Eight-string bass guitar
An eight-string bass guitar is a type of bass guitar with double course (music), course strings normally tuned in octaves, with both strings in a course usually played simultaneously. As on a Twelve string guitar, 12-string guitar, this produces a ...
*
Chapman stick
The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eight-String Guitar
Acoustic guitars
Electric guitars