Eight-String Guitar: Extended-Range Instrument from Classical to Djent

Overview

An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings — one more than the seven-string Russian guitar and two more than the standard six-string instrument (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-string_guitar). Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string variants but are used by classical, jazz, and metal players. The added strings allow either a wider tonal range, the use of non-standard tunings such as major-thirds tuning, or both. Wikidata classifies the instrument under Q5348940 with the short description “guitar with 8 strings” (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5348940).

The instrument exists in three main families: classical (gut/nylon), archtop semi-acoustic for jazz, and solid-body electric for modern metal. Each family adopted the eight-string format for different musical reasons, which is why the instrument has no single standard tuning.

Origin and history

Various non-standard guitars were built in the 19th century, including eight-string instruments played by the Italian virtuosi Giulio Regondi and Luigi Legnani. These early eight-strings were most often used to extend the bass register of solo classical works.

A second wave came in the 1960s when American guitarist Ralph Patt invented major-thirds tuning in 1963 to facilitate jazz improvisation. Patt’s tuning is a “regular tuning” in which every successive open-string interval is a major third; standard guitar tuning has one major third among four perfect fourths. Because seven strings in major-thirds tuning are needed merely to cover the E–e’ range of standard tuning, an eighth string was added so that Patt’s instrument could have G♯ as its lowest open note. Patt purchased six-string archtop hollow-body guitars and had them modified by luthiers Vincent “Jimmy” DiSerio (a 1938 Gibson, c. 1965) and Saul Koll (a sequence of guitars including a 1932 Epiphone Broadway and a 1951 Gibson L-50), with custom pickups by Seymour Duncan and Bill Lawrence to fit the wider neck.

Eight-string electric guitars later gained popularity among metal bands, largely inspired by the Swedish progressive-metal group Meshuggah (formed 1987). Like the seven-string before it, the first mass-produced eight-string electric was made by Ibanez of Japan: the RG2228, which made the format available to working musicians at a non-custom price.

Construction and materials

Solid-body eight-string electric guitars are built much like seven- and six-string variants — solid wood body (alder, ash, mahogany, basswood), bolt-on or set neck, two humbucking pickups, fixed or tremolo bridge — but scaled up. The standard tuning from low to high is F♯, B, E, A, D, G, B, E. Many players retune the F♯ down to E1 (the same pitch as the lowest string of a standard four-string bass guitar), creating a “drop-E” voicing equivalent to dropping a seven-string to drop-D.

The main engineering issue is tuning stability of the lowest strings. Short scale lengths, improper intonation, uneven floating-bridge spacing, and incorrect string gauges can all produce a low string that sounds flabby or warbles in pitch. To solve this, many extended-range eight-string guitars use a multi-scale (fanned-fret) fingerboard, in which the bass strings are physically longer than the treble strings. Multi-scale construction improves intonation of the lowest strings, balances tension across the eight courses, and improves harmonic overtones — the same reasons piano makers use very long bass strings. The bass strings of an eight-string typically require the saddle to be set further back than the others; some bridge designs offset the seventh and eighth saddles or provide extra adjustment range.

Classical eight-strings, by contrast, use nylon strings on a wider neck and (in the case of the Brahms guitar) are played upright on an end-pin like a cello, with a wooden resonator box beneath the player’s foot.

Playing technique

Three broad technique families coexist on the eight-string:

1. Classical / fingerstyle. Paul Galbraith, working with luthier David Rubio, designed the Brahms guitar in 1994 — an upright eight-string usually tuned A E A D G B E A. Galbraith uses it for Bach transcriptions, Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, and original classical literature.
2. Hybrid jazz with split bass/treble. Charlie Hunter plays an eight-string built by Ralph Novak of Novax: five strings tuned to the upper five of a standard guitar (A D G B E) and three strings tuned to the lowest three of a standard four-string bass guitar (E A D). Bass and treble sections feed separate pickups and amplifiers, so Hunter literally plays bass lines and chord-melody simultaneously.
3. Modern metal / “djent”. Players such as Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah, Stephen Carpenter of Deftones, Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders, and Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry exploit the low F♯ or E for percussive palm-muted riffs while still using the upper strings for lead lines and harp-like arpeggios. Animals as Leaders incorporate “thumping” — an adaptation of slap-bass technique drawn from Larry Graham and Victor Wooten — across the entire eight-string range.

Cultural context

The eight-string occupies a peculiar cultural position: simultaneously an obscure classical curiosity (Regondi, Legnani, Galbraith, Egberto Gismonti, Livio Gianola), a niche jazz instrument (Hunter, Hungarian-born Australian Laszlo Sirsom), and the defining sound of an entire 21st-century metal subgenre. The “djent” subgenre — named for the staccato, palm-muted chug pioneered by Meshuggah — would not exist in its current form without the low F♯ that the eighth string provides. Bands such as Vildhjarta and Periphery built whole catalogues around the instrument; John Petrucci of Dream Theater began playing eight-string on the 2021 song “Awaken the Master” from A View from the Top of the World.

Notable players and examples

• Classical: Paul Galbraith (Brahms guitar, 1994); Egberto Gismonti (Brazilian, born 1947); Livio Gianola (Premana, 1964).
• Jazz: Charlie Hunter (Novax bass/guitar hybrid); Laszlo Sirsom (Phil Carson Crickmore eight-string).
• Metal: Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström (Meshuggah); Dino Cazares (Fear Factory); Stephen Carpenter (Deftones); Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes (Animals as Leaders); Justin Lowe and Trent Hafdahl (After the Burial); Greg Burgess (Allegaeon); Simon Girard and Kevin Chartré (Beyond Creation); Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry / Meshuggah touring); Ihsahn (Emperor, from his 2010 album After); Rusty Cooley; Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Decline & Fall EP, 2014); Lucas Mann and Joel Omans (Rings of Saturn); Chris Andrews (Devourment, Obscene Majesty); John Petrucci (Dream Theater).
• Mass-produced model: Ibanez RG2228, the first widely available production eight-string electric.

Comparison with related instruments

A baritone guitar achieves a similarly low range with only six strings by lengthening the scale and tuning down a fourth or fifth, but lacks the upper-register strings needed for chord-melody or lead in the same instrument.

FAQ

Q1. What is the standard tuning of an eight-string electric guitar?
F♯1, B1, E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4 — the standard six-string tuning with two extra strings added below. Many players retune the F♯ to E1 to match the lowest pitch of a standard four-string bass.

Q2. Why is the eight-string so closely linked to “djent” and modern metal?
The low F♯ or E provides percussive, palm-muted chug riffs an octave below standard guitar range. Meshuggah, who pioneered the sound from 1987 onwards, made the format the defining tool of the genre.

Q3. Are classical eight-string guitars different from electric ones?
Yes. Classical eight-strings (e.g. Paul Galbraith’s Brahms guitar, designed with David Rubio in 1994) use nylon strings, a wider neck, and are sometimes played upright on an end-pin. Tunings vary widely between performers.

Q4. What is a multi-scale or “fanned-fret” eight-string?
A construction in which the bass strings are physically longer than the treble strings, so frets fan out in a non-perpendicular pattern. This improves intonation and tension balance across the very wide pitch range of the instrument.

Q5. Who built the first mass-produced eight-string electric guitar?
Ibanez of Japan, with the RG2228. Before this, eight-string electrics were custom builds (e.g. the modifications Saul Koll and Vincent DiSerio made to existing six-string archtops for Ralph Patt in the 1960s).

Sources: Wikipedia “Eight-string guitar” article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-string_guitar); Wikidata Q5348940 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5348940); Wikipedia “Major-thirds tuning”; Wikipedia “Meshuggah”; Wikipedia “Animals as Leaders”; Wikipedia “Brahms guitar”. No featured image: Wikidata Q5348940 has no P18 property and the Wikipedia article uses several non-canonical thumbnails (Agile Intrepid, fretless homemade) without an instrument-portrait Commons file appropriate for hero use.