People scared of 8 strings.....

[SirMyghin]

Personally I believe 8 will be the new 6 eventually. Instead of having to drop tune 7 or 6s for each piece (drop tune A on my Les Paul, drop tune G on my Baritone Les Paul), most of the tunings you need are already inherently built into an 8 (including not having to sacrifice the higher notes to get the lower tunings). Its a versatile instrument when looked at its entirety (and not just because it can get down low) IMO - meaning that if push came to shove, an 8 can become a 6 or a 7 depending upon the piece you play with the added bonus of being able to djent like crazy if the piece asks for that.

You are making a very big assumption here. That the majority of players want and 'need' more range, and have an interest in technical ability. Out of all the music out there, what %'s do you think uses extended range instruments in the least? I would wager it is a lot less than 1%.

 

[CooleyJr]

I just want an 8 for an extra high string instead of the low F or F#. I had an Agile Intrepid 828, and while yeah, it was pretty brutal to have another low string, it just wasn't for me. I'd like to be able to make extended arpeggios and shit like that.. but when I tell people how I'm planning on buying an 8, they look at me like "duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what?! Why so many strings?" Like many others have said, I don't see myself going beyond 8 strings but even then, people are scared of them STILL and I don't like that. Closed minded people FTL.

 

[Murdstone]

You should hear some of the comments I get when I tell people I'll have a 10 string in a couple weeks.
There are a select few who are open to it though, and that's what I'm counting on.

 

[SirMyghin]

I just want an 8 for an extra high string instead of the low F or F#. I had an Agile Intrepid 828, and while yeah, it was pretty brutal to have another low string, it just wasn't for me. I'd like to be able to make extended arpeggios and shit like that.. but when I tell people how I'm planning on buying an 8, they look at me like "duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what?! Why so many strings?" Like many others have said, I don't see myself going beyond 8 strings but even then, people are scared of them STILL and I don't like that. Closed minded people FTL.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I know what to do though. Go play jazz! (seriously Jazz musicians have always been the most open in my experiences, limitted as they may be). I have worked with a lot of great open minded folks though (if I am working with original material, they need to accept my style of bass playing/let me have some fun).

 

[CooleyJr]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I know what to do though. Go play jazz! (seriously Jazz musicians have always been the most open in my experiences, limitted as they may be). I have worked with a lot of great open minded folks though (if I am working with original material, they need to accept my style of bass playing/let me have some fun).

Yeah. A friend of mine actually wants me to do a guest solo on his new EP, and I'm hoping to have the fanned 8 so I can do a solo with the high Ab. He's VERY open to it and also wants one so he can do the same. Since I'm starting to get into different styles of lead playing, getting into some jazz would probably be a huge benefit! Since I like to record lots of videos, doing some styles that appease more to the general public with an 8 string would open their mind a little bit more to something as "obnoxious" and "ridiculous" as an 8.

 

[Eric Christian]

I've had an ad up continuously on Craigslist in my area entitled: "☣☣☣8-STRING METAL☣☣☣" for as long as I've had my 8 string with very little response and most of it negative. Or I'll get a response like "dude, we tune to drop C so c'mon over and try out" and then I have to explain that it isn't possible and they could care less at that point. I don't give a shit though, I enjoy playing it and thats what counts.

 

[SirMyghin]

Yeah. A friend of mine actually wants me to do a guest solo on his new EP, and I'm hoping to have the fanned 8 so I can do a solo with the high Ab. He's VERY open to it and also wants one so he can do the same. Since I'm starting to get into different styles of lead playing, getting into some jazz would probably be a huge benefit! Since I like to record lots of videos, doing some styles that appease more to the general public with an 8 string would open their mind a little bit more to something as "obnoxious" and "ridiculous" as an 8.

Shame there are no folks I know like you near me. I love to break out the bass and not need to worry about the guitar, while knowing it is in good hands. You will have a headstart on any style due to the huge amount of technical prowess you have. Ability is the core of every style, the applications are pretty subtle.

 

[CooleyJr]

Shame there are no folks I know like you near me. I love to break out the bass and not need to worry about the guitar, while knowing it is in good hands. You will have a headstart on any style due to the huge amount of technical prowess you have. Ability is the core of every style, the applications are pretty subtle.

Well thanks a lot man! Good to hear kind words like that every once in a while. I totally agree with you about having a head start due to my technical ability though. It's about time I decide to venture into different styles as well. Maybe you should move down to New England. From what Nick (Zimbloth) says, there's quite a few people like (us) in the Boston area of Massachusetts. I'm slowly making my way closer and closer to there but I just can't bring myself to actually LIVE in Boston.

 

[SirMyghin]

Who knows where I will be in an year, finally finish my edumacation and all that jazz. Time to hang my purty papers on the wall and get to work (in Canada at least you must display your degrees at work in engineering).

 

[saovi]

You are making a very big assumption here. That the majority of players want and 'need' more range, and have an interest in technical ability. Out of all the music out there, what %'s do you think uses extended range instruments in the least? I would wager it is a lot less than 1%.

You're probably right. I suppose with less in the playing field there's room to grow. I still suspect that will change though but hey you know what they say about opinions.

 

[SirMyghin]

I would just use basses as an example. It seems that bass range has been a little more free than guitar range was, it is pretty commonly accepted nowadays (douches always exist in contrast), but 4 is by far still the norm. The stigma may vanish, but I doubt they will ever overtake.

 

[CONTEMPT]

I was actually kicked out of my last band for brining an eight string to practice with the intention of using it.

 

[Fred the Shred]

To be honest, I still get a lot of "wait, what the hell is that?" reactions when I open the case and an 8-string comes out, even when people are incredibly used to seeing me play 7-strings. Thankfully, given the results I've presented in multiple contexts, they reserve judgement till after I played the surf board with strings on it.

 

[remington]

When I reciever my interceptor 828 I was given a totally different reaction, everyone at the studio loved it, even the old school guys who didn't even know there was a such thing as a 7 string guitar thought it was really cool, although they made it clear that they will stick to their 6's. But that may just be because of my area I live in, I find people are more calm, chilled, and open here than in other places I've been to.

 

[saovi]

Along with playing git, we also do scores for film trailer and advertising. Aside from Meshuggah, Periphery and TeseracT, 8 string appears to be a good fit for this application and accepted well by music editors.

 

[Koshchei]

People don't usually recognize my GKG Turbulence F-1 as a guitar the first time I pull it out. I've had them guess that it was everything from an electric dulcimer to a Ukrainian bandura.

 

[5656130]

People don't usually recognize my GKG Turbulence F-1 as a guitar the first time I pull it out. I've had them guess that it was everything from an electric dulcimer to a Ukrainian bandura.

when i start playing out live and someone asks me "is that a guitar" im going to reply "no its a electric mandolin"

 

[Krullnar]

"8 strings? I can barely play 6"

ha ha ha

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

"How do you play 8 strings? You don't have 8 fingers..."

"Yeah, I don't have 6, either"

 

[heineken_fretwalker]

"8 strings? I can barely play 6"

ha ha ha

I hear that a lot, along with "8 strings are pointless, why not just downtune a 7?". To which I reply, I LOSE ALL MY HIGH NOTES!! I play 8 strings for the range available, not so I can tune in drop Z.