Eight-string guitar: design features, build, difference from other guitars

Musicians are creative people and they do not always have enough range of standard types of musical instruments to implement their ambitious ideas. The eight-string guitar is loved for its wide range of possibilities, extended tone, which is ideal for Heavy Metal.

Design features

The instrument is characterized by a number of differences from the standard classical and acoustic guitars. They make it an independent unit with a special body structure, neck, pickups and an extended sound range.

In times of increased popularity of hard rock, the 8-string guitar simply could not help but appear. It was she who made the Swedish band Meshuggah super famous, glorified Drew Henderson, Livio Gianola, Paul Galbraith.

The width of the neck is 1,2 cm larger than that of the “six-string”, and the distance between the reference points of the non-pressed string is up to 75 centimeters. This is due to the addition of the eighth string to the lower register, due to which, with the length of a normal scale, the guitar system would be broken.

The “eight-string” has a special sound. The djent sounds spectacular when the player hits the strings, and the unique timbre gives an unusual bass reproduction in the lower register, similar to electric guitar basses.

Difference from seven- and six-string guitars

The 8-string instrument differs from other guitars not only in the presence of additional strings, which determined the hybrid’s tuning. There are other distinctive features:

• thicker and heavier sound supported by high output pickups;
• due to strong tension, two anchor rods are installed in the neck;
• Frets may be diagonal rather than vertical.

The range of the guitar is close to the “piano”. When playing it, musicians have the opportunity to reproduce non-standard minor, major triads, which are impossible on a 6-string and even a 7-string instrument.

XNUMX-string guitar tuning

The instrument’s tuning is based on the same range as the “six-string”, but due to the addition of two strings, additional notes and octaves appeared. This hybrid looks like this – F #, B, E, A, D, G, B, E, where the notes “F sharp” and “si” were added. The sounds are tuned in this sequence, starting with the first string. The range is similar to a bass guitar, which “takes” the sound only one tone lower.

Advanced features allowed the hybrid to sound not only in heavy music. It is actively used by representatives of jazz, adding a new sound to chords, a fuller, richer sound. Most often, the instrument is used accompanied by a 5-string bass guitar.

Playing an 8-string guitar is more difficult than a classical guitar, but the sound production is incomparable. In addition, it is believed that the hybrid was created only for men. A wide neck and a powerful sound are not combined with feminine tenderness and fragility. But today, more and more often, girls take the instrument in their hands, which is not surprising, because representatives of the weaker sex play the double bass and tuba.