Is the 8-string all hype?

[sixty]

I'd like to get some feedback from folks who own or have played the 8-string. Is it worth it or is it just hype trying to catch onto a fad?

 

[Nats]

hype/fad

 

[Randy]

Meshuggah and similar bands seem to be the only *metal* bands to make the 8-string work in a fitting and original way. The lowest string might dip a little too far into the bass guitar range for most mainstream stuff, but it does their music(meshuggah and company) well.

That said, I'd still consider one at the right price, although, I doubt it'd become my standard.

 

[Maniacal]

Not at all for me. My 8 string is the nicest guitar I have ever played and I make full use of all strings. I have had it for quite a few years, before the 8 string became a "must have" for shredders and chuggers.

 

[mizfi7]

It just depends how you use it a 7 string is just fine for what i do.

 

[GazPots]

Its just another string. Just because meshuggah use them doesn't mean you have to make the same music as they do.


I'm firmly planting my view of it not being hype beucause i quite like mine and i play pretty much in the style of petrucci on 7's. It's just another tool in the quest to make awesome music.


I don't really see an 8 stringer as a shredder guitar any more than a 7 string is a shredder guitar? Granted its got a better range up high but i don't use it as such. Nor do i chug like a bastard on the low F.


Mainly use it to avoid detuning a 7 and for some nice but huge sounding/weird voiced chords that cover most strings.

 

[wannabguitarist]

It depends on how you use it. I personally would have a hard time using an 8 in a creative way in a metal context unless it was tuned for a high string, but I would have lots of fun with one for weird finger-picking, tapping, and other assorted clean ideas.

 

[hufschmid]

I make full use of all strings.

Good players who play on eight strings have an 8 because they really use the range potential....

And dont forget that an 8 string is not a ''new guitar''.... Sure its kinda new in Metal.... But

Extended range guitars have been here for hundereds of years (classical 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 13 string) and (the familiy of the Luth being the historical reason for the modern extended range Guitars)

Classical guitar players for exemple who play on 13 string guitars dont have 13 strings just for fun... but because they need and know how to use the available extra range....

Some of the music they perform comes from the Luth so they must be able to play all of those ranges on a Guitar.. (check out the video as exemple althew its an 11 string i think)

If its to have an 8 string only to look cool then its pointless to have one in my opinion...

 

[Stephen]

Its just another string. Just because meshuggah use them doesn't mean you have to make the same music as they do.

Exactly!

my band are starting to do 8 string songs now and sounds nothing like meshuggah, just sounds like my band

 

[leonardo7]

I dont use an 8 string yet with my band but I like to have it laying around the house. Its alot of fun and something different to mess around with.

 

[TomAwesome]

How do you think of a 7-string as compared to a 6? It's the same idea. It's another string. It's more notes/range. As far as whether it is "worth it or just hype trying to catch onto a fad," that depends on you, and we can't really answer that for you. If you're the kind of person who would try something like this just because it's popular and get bored of it later when you find you have no real use for it (not that there's really anything wrong with that), then yeah. But there's no reason why you can't get some legitimate use out of that extra range.

 

[caughtinamosh]

I tend to use my seven string just as a standard guitar (I commit the deadly sin of transposing everything down, but I care not, for it is more br00talz), so I don't think I could adjust to an eight string - the avoidance of using F# power chords (they are simply too muddy and tend to break up) would be too much for me to handle.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Shockingly enough its just another string

Theres a really cool death metal band that someone posted up here that played 8's in E.

 

[Demiurge]

I made an agreement with myself that with my 8, I was not simply going to transpose all of my old riffs/routines into the lower register like the immediate temptation would seem to be. It's a challenge from a creative standpoint and also a technical one- with the scale length, neck width, etc. it's like playing a different instrument. I guess you really have to play one and work with one to get the idea that it's not all hype.

 

[caughtinamosh]

I made an agreement with myself that with my 8, I was not simply going to transpose all of my old riffs/routines into the lower register like the immediate temptation would seem to be.

You are a stronger man than I.

 

[Koshchei]

Just pluck one note and listen to it. Part of what makes it sound the way it does is the other strings contributing overtones and noise of their own. Even for the musical options created by the change in timbre/character, a 7 or an 8 is worth the price of admission.

I forget where exactly, but I *think* that the development of the Brahms guitar was partly driven by this (and the obvious technical advantages of being able to actually play the piece without slamming into the wall of physical impossibility) -- The inventor saw the resonance and sympathetic vibration of the 6 string as unbalanced. Of course, I'm going from memory, so this could also be 100% complete bullshit.

 

[DevinShidaker]

8's are cool, but I'm not impressed with any of the production models that I've played. If you're going to have that wide of a range, you're going to need a longer scale or multi-scale. For example, the standard scale LTD F-408 plays nicely except for the 8th string, because it's too loose, and that is before you get into problems you might experience with intonation. I'd like to have one that plays how it should.

 

[vampiregenocide]

Moar strings = moar possibilities

As time goes by I'm sure we'll see a lot more creaity things with the 8 string. Meshuggah are just the beginning. The instrument is really still in its infancy.

 

[troyguitar]

I still want to try one with a high string. I don't really have any desire to play lower than B, maybe Bb or A but that's it.

It's not worth the $900 minimum price though for me to try it...

 

[ChaNce]

Re: that video: I shudder to even think how much that instrument costs.