Eight-string guitar
An eight-string guitar is a
Various non-standard guitars were made in the 19th century, including eight-string guitars played by Italians Giulio Regondi and Luigi Legnani.[1]
Eight-string electric guitars gained popularity among metal bands, largely inspired by Swedish progressive metal band Meshuggah (formed in 1987). Contemporary use outside of metal has picked up in the last decade, and owes much to Animals as Leaders and their stylistic eclecticism.
Designs
Semi-acoustic guitar (hollow-body guitar)
Seeking a
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.
Like the seven-string, the first mass-produced eight-string guitar was made by
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 the proper setup of the guitar.
Extended range eight string guitars sometimes will have a
Notable players
Classical
Paul Galbraith began using an eight-string guitar in 1994 when, in collaboration with luthier David Rubio, they designed the Brahms guitar. Galbraith generally tunes AEADGBEA. Egberto Gismonti (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 plays an 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'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.[9]
Metal
The eight-string guitar is used by modern heavy metal guitarists such as Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah, Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, Stephen Carpenter of Deftones, Greg Burgess of Allegaeon, Simon Girard and Kevin Chartré of Beyond Creation, Justin Lowe and Trent Hafdahl of After the Burial, Josh Travis of Emmure (ex-The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and ex-Glass Cloud), Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry and Meshuggah as a touring member and others. The instrument is particularly associated with the “djent” sound popularized by Meshuggah, Vildhjarta, and Periphery, among others.
Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders 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 and Victor Wooten's double thumping technique — as well as harp-like arpeggios extending across the full range of the instrument.
Ihsahn of the black metal band Emperor began playing seven-string guitar in 1999 and first played eight-string guitar on his 2010 album After.
Rusty Cooley 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 of the English industrial metal band Godflesh introduced his eight-string playing on the 2014 Godflesh EP Decline & Fall.
Guitarists Lucas Mann and Joel Omans from the
Chris Andrews of the death metal band Devourment uses eight-string guitars, starting with the album Obscene Majesty.
John Petrucci of progressive metal band Dream Theater 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.
See also
- Brahms guitar
- Roy Smeck, popular player of the octachorda from the 1920s onwards
- Ten-string guitar
- Nine-string guitar
- Seven-string guitar
- Extended-range bass
- Harp guitar
- Eight-string bass guitar
- Chapman stick
References
- ISBN 1934110183.
- ^ Griewank (2010, p. 1)
- ^ Kirkeby, Ole (1 March 2012). "Major thirds tuning". m3guitar.com. cited by Sethares (2011) and (Griewank 2010, p. 1). Archived from the original on 11 April 2015.
- ^ a b c Patt, Ralph (14 April 2008). "The major 3rd tuning". Ralph Patt's jazz web page. ralphpatt.com. cited by Sethares (2011) and Griewank (2010, p. 1). Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- ^ a b Sethares (2001)
- ^ ISSN 1041-7176. Archived from the originalon 21 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2012.: 37
- ^ "8 String Guitar Tuning - All You Need To Know!". GuitarCasa.com. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "List Of Most Common 8 String Guitar Tunings - Guitar Lessons". Pickuptheguitar.com. 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ISBN 0879307285.
Works cited
- Griewank, Andreas (2010), Tuning guitars and reading music in major thirds, Matheon preprints, vol. 695, Berlin, Germany: DFG research center "MATHEON, Mathematics for key technologies" Berlin, MSC-Classification 97M80 Arts. Music. Language. Architecture
- Sethares, Bill (2001). "Regular tunings". Alternate tuning guide (pdf). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. pp. 52–67. Retrieved 19 May 2012. 2009 PDF version of Alternate tuning guide, including a revised chapter on regular tunings
- Sethares, William A. (2011). "Alternate tuning guide". Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin; Department of Electrical Engineering. Retrieved 19 May 2012.