A nine-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 string ...
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.
Variants
There are two common variations of the nine string guitar:
Coursed strings
The first style is often employed with three pairs of
coursed strings similar to a
twelve-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
. Often the three wound strings are single and the three thin strings are doubled to six strings. This allows dry power chords on the lower three and a more atmospheric
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
sound when all strings are played. Some examples of this type of nine-string guitar are the
Vox Mark IX and the
Vox Phantom IX.
A different and rarer version of coursing uses doubled courses on the three bass strings, and leaves the high strings single. This facilitates free bending during solos, and slide playing.
Mick Abrahams
Michael Timothy Abrahams (born 7 April 1943) is an English guitarist and band leader, best known for being the original guitarist for Jethro Tull from 1967 to 1968 and the frontman for Blodwyn Pig.
Jethro Tull
Abrahams was born in Luton, ...
of the band
Jethro Tull used this configuration (in open tuning) on the ''
This Was'' album, though he achieved it by removing three of the top strings from an EKO 12-string acoustic-electric guitar, since stock nine-string guitars didn't exist at the time (1969). Some twenty years later, former
Rollins Band
Rollins Band was an American rock band formed in Van Nuys, California. The band was active from 1987 to 2006 and was led by former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins. They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and " Liar", which both ...
guitarist
Chris Haskett
Chris Haskett (born 1962) is an American guitarist. He was a member of the Rollins Band from 1986 to 1997 and again for the band's reunion in 2006. He has also recorded or performed with David Bowie, Foetus, Pigface, The Cassandra Complex, Tool ...
had a custom
Paul Reed Smith nine-string guitar made in this configuration. The inspiration for the design was supposedly the desire to capture the prominent tonalities of a 6/12
doubleneck on a single-neck guitar.
Extended range
The second style expands on the seven- and eight-string guitar concept by adding either an additional lower- or higher-tuned string. When a lower string is added, the standard tuning becomes C#, F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E. The scale is often lengthened, e.g., on the Ibanez RG9 (712 mm/28" instead of the common 25.5"). Tuning the highest string to an A4 or higher can be accomplished with a shorter scale length and/or a thinner string such as a .008 or .007.
Extended range nine-string guitars also sometimes have a
multi-scale fingerboard design where the bass strings will be longer than the treble strings, which helps with proper
intonation of the lower strings, improves string tension balance across the strings, improves
harmonic overtones,
overtone series, and
inharmonicity.
Notable nine-string guitarists
Notable guitar players of double-stringed nine-string guitars:
* Mississippi blues singer and guitarist
Big Joe Williams
Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the s ...
spent most of his career playing nine-string guitars he had adapted himself from six-string instruments, with the first and second strings doubled in unison and the fourth doubled in octaves. His grave marker reads "King of the Nine-String guitar".
* Guitarist
Matt Pike
Matt may refer to:
*Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt
*In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance)
*Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
of
Sleep
Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...
and
High on Fire
High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perfo ...
also plays several
First Act
First Act was a manufacturer of musical instruments and musical learning toys, that produced guitars, bass guitars, guitar and bass accessories, drum sets, percussion instruments, and amplifiers. Mark Izen founded the company in 1995; its onlin ...
nine-string guitars. Nick Sadler, of the band
Daughters, also played First Act nine-string guitars.
*
Julian Cope
Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side pro ...
played nine-string rhythm guitar during the 1980s, employing a standard twelve-string electric guitar but removing the doubled string on the bottom three courses.
Notable guitar players of extended-range nine-string guitars:
*
Mick Gordon used a
Schecter nine-string for the ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
'' soundtrack.
*
Tosin Abasi 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 b ...
uses a 9-string guitar in standard tuning for the song "Private Visions of the World".
*
Stephen Carpenter 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 f ...
began using an
ESP
ESP most commonly refers to:
* Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability
ESP may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment Music
* ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars
* E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...
9-string on their 2020 album ''
Ohms''.
*
Rob Scallon plays a
Schecter C-9 guitar on his songs "Envy" and "Royale".
See also
*
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 ...
*
Eight-string guitar
*
Ten-string guitar
*
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 f ...
*
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 ...
*
Russian guitar
*
Harp guitar
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nine-String Guitar
Electric guitars
Acoustic guitars