8-String Guitars! Where Do I Start?
8-String Guitars Are The Future
If you listen to heavy music you have undoubtedly heard extended range 7 and 8-string guitars. Think Meshuggah, Animals As Leaders, Deftones, Steve Vai and almost anything extremely heavy today. Musicians are taking advantage of the extra range to create something new and unique. Not all 8-string guitars are played distorted and djent focused. Check out Mestis, Little TyBee, Charlie Hunter or Yvette Young. There are so many hidden possibilities to 8-string guitars when artists experiment across genres.
Animals As Leaders “Kascade” Live Take
How I Got Involved
I found myself interested in 8-string guitars when I started as a marketing intern at Capitol Guitars, an independent locally owned guitar shop in St Paul, Minnesota. Capitol Guitars offers Fender Musical Instrument Company (FMIC) lines including Jackson, Charvel, Gretsch and EVH. Capitol is also a dealer for ESP/LTD, Mesa Boogie, offers a buffet of custom shop guitars plus tons of used Gibson models. Capitol Guitars is the Twin Cities trusted source for heavy metal musicians (and surprisingly a lot of blues and punk rock dudes as well).
I started my internship in 2018 when the “8-string boom” happened. This wasn’t really a thing… but it kind of was. I noticed that Jackson, Ibanez, Charvel, Schecter, Kiesel, and almost every other brand except Fender were pumping out production models of 7 and 8-string guitars with an emphasis on multi-scale neck shapes. This trend continued for a few years and is still going but with slightly less effort in my opinion.
Obviously 7 and 8-string guitars have been around since the early 90s. I noticed guitar players express more interest over the past decade through observing purchase order volume, marketing assets from guitar companies, and down tuned music being released. I was all for it from the start. There is a stigma that 8-string players are “djent boys”, and only want to chug and play metal core. That was never my obsession or desire with it. I play mostly clean tones and use it as a support in my total mix. I’ve had my 8-string for around 5 years now. I’ll explain my experiences with my Jackson DKAF8 below.
I met Tosin Abasi from Animals As Leaders and Nick Johnston at a NYXL sponsored guitar clinic back in 2018. This experience pushed me to purchase and learn 8-string guitar. Check out clinics in your town. They are usually free (or very low cost) and you get a free music lesson from the best players on earth. I went to around 8 clinics per year at Capitol Guitars.
My 8-String Guitar The Jackson DKAF8 Multi-Scale
I had around $1,000 in store credit at Capitol Guitars saved up in 2018. I decided to get paid my monthly salary in store credit because I had an additional full time job. I had just met Tosin Abasi from Animals As Leaders at a NYXL sponsored guitar clinic at GC. Nick Johnston was also there. Long story short, they are both extremely down to earth people with a grounding and kind energy. I asked them questions in the parking lot about thumping and got a picture with them. The next day my Jackson DKAF8 came into Capitol Guitars on a pallet from Fender and I bought it without hesitation.
I purchased the Jackson DKAF8 multi-scale 8 string guitar. I don’t remember what I paid for it but they sell for $799 today ($600+ used). The neck is multi-scale which means the high E string is 26” in length and the lowest string F# is 28” in length. It has 24 jumbo frets with a 12-16” compound radius. The Jackson DKAF8 comes standard with two Jackson designed humbucker pickups and oddly enough individual bridge saddles. It didn’t come with a case. I bought a Jackson Dinky 7-string case and it fit fine. I will post a comprehensive review of my guitar in the near future.
You Get What You Pay For
There are serious differences between a $300 8-string guitar and a $4,000 custom shop 8-string guitar. I find that the middle of the road options are excellent from the $600 - $1500 range, especially if you get into something used. Most 8-string guitars offer a fixed bridge that eliminates problems that come with a cheap Floyd Rose and will hold tuning for days. Pickups are easy to swap out for a few hundred dollars. I’m running Duncan Nazgûl and Duncan Sentient pickups in mine and they sound amazing. I wasn’t into the stock “Duncan designed” pickups on my DKAF8, they were low quality and extremely muddy. I ran the stock pickups for 2 years before one literally fell apart and the inside wires were exposed. I am beyond happy with the Nazgûl Sentient set from Duncan!
Learning Curve - Steep But Manageable
There is a learning curve if you want to do more than just single note chugs. I had a difficult time navigating the neck for the first year and a half. I didn’t play it that much and it was more of a novelty to bust out during jams or recording sessions. One day I had a breaking point and said to myself “I’m only playing this guitar until I understand it”. I didn’t play 6-string guitars for about 6 months and truly got familiar with the 8-string neck. You need to have patience with yourself when learning. This is a different neck, unique chord shapes and new muscle memory. It starts to click in little chunks. With consistent practice you will be navigating the neck from the lowest register to the highest with fluency.
Learning 8-String Guitar
There are not many high quality resources to learn 8-string guitar online. This is part of the reason why I am writing these articles. Expect Guitar Pro tabs, exercises and more coming from me. I did take individual lessons from a few instructors who played 7-string. I learned a bit and it held me accountable to practice, however the majority of my improvement was from me sitting down and learning a little bit every day. Take this journey into your own hands.
I recommend starting in Drop E tuning. E B E A G D B E (lowest to highest) This way your 6th E string and root 8th E string are the exact same notes. You can play around riffs you learned in drop D and familiarize yourself quickly. Then adjust to F# as the lowest string and play around with running scales across all eight strings, playing chord progressions on the lowest four strings only, or transposing motifs to the lowest register. I also recommend playing with a pick and thump/slapping in the lower register.
Singing, Down Tuning and The Male Vocal Range
Performing my original song “Half My Strings” with my Jackson DKAF8 multi-scale guitar. This was recorded using a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 25 combo, and a Wampler compressor on the clean channel. I used Ear Trumpet microphones on this project.
I Really Enjoy Singing
I love to sing and have been covering and writing songs since I was around 12 years old. I had a decent run singing Opera back in the day. I always sang in E standard tuning or used a capo, which is pretty typical. My vocal range growing up was Tenor I. I’ve grown into a Baritone/Tenor II range over the past decade. When I discovered D standard tuning on the 6-string, aka a whole step down, I was in heaven. In D standard my voice didn’t need to strain to hit notes anymore. I just felt really comfortable. **Never tune your guitar higher than E standard, it will warp the neck. Tuning down is fine, just use a thicker gauge string so you’re not playing on extremely loose strings. I like running 10-52 gauge on electrics. On acoustic I think I’m running 12s or 13s on the high E string.
All of my 6 string guitars are now in D standard and they will continue to be forever, including Strats, Superstrats, Telecasters, and a Martin D-12. The 8-string allows you to explore lower possibilities without having to down tune your entire guitar. You can’t really down tune much past D standard on your typical 6-string unless it is baritone length. The 8-string baritone scale neck lets you explore lower registers of the neck with ease while maintaining intonation. This means more potential for chords that highlight the best parts of your vocal register without hurting your vocal cords or experiencing a voice crack. There is nothing more painful to my ears than hearing someone reach for notes just outside their range and failing. I will write a full blog post and tutorial on singing form in the near future.
Dialing In A Healthy Tone
The last gig I played I was running the Two-Rock Studio Pro 22 on a 2x12 cab. This show was outside and The Two-Rock projected my sound very clearly. During this two hour set the temp was about 33 degrees Fahrenheit and we were right on Lake Superior. 10/10 location, crowd and vibes - our hands were freezing the entire time.
Modeling Tones
I find that modeling DI amps are a quick and easy way to get a nice tone for your 8-string. I use Bias FX on my iPad Pro. It was $70 (roughly) and comes with many different amp packs. You can find and download user generated presets in their online portal which is great. I downloaded a ton of Meshuggah, Gojira, and EVH inspired tones. I tweak them a lot to dial it in for my guitar and pickups. I also like to model my 8-string through bass amps, split in stereo between one bass amp and a guitar amp, or play through acoustic amp sims. The acoustic and classical amp sims are great, they let through all of the clean, spanky, and percussive tones with serious clarity. Pairing a classical amp with a 5150 emulation is awesome for me personally. Joey Sturgis tones are top shelf as well. Links below!
Tube Amps
I started playing my Jackson 8-string through my Laney Cub 15 watt 2x12. It wasn’t the best out the gate with the stock “Duncan designed” pickups. I was using way too much gain and the classic UK style amp just isn’t built for this absolute unit of a guitar. I made it work and on clean channels and I had a decent sound come out. Eventually using a compressor, and EQ I was able to dial in a decent tone. I loved to run my guitar through the T-Rex Soulmate acoustic guitar looper pedal. Don’t buy this pedal if 8-string is going to be your only application with it, there are way cheaper options. My point is experiment with pedals, EQ and everything you can get your hands on!
The Mesa Boogie Fillmore 25 watt 1x12 is the best amp I have ever experienced in my life. That’s just what to expect from an American based high end amp manufacturer like Mesa Boogie. I snagged mine from Capitol Guitars in 2019. I could hear every single note with clarity on my 8-string. Pairing the Mesa Boogie with the Duncan Nazgûl Sentient set is my preferred tone. I often played the Mesa Boogie Fillmore and Laney Cub 2x12 in stereo having a little bit of grit from the Laney and clean tones on the Mesa Boogie. This ended up being my live sound. The Mesa and Laney running stereo through a Wampler Compressor. I’m not a huge pedal guy apart from a compressor and EQ, especially with amps that sound so good on their own. I did use “The Dude” for distortion on occasion.
I also spent a few years with a 22 watt Two-Rock Studio Pro 2x12 stack amp. This amp could handle the 8-string but broke up almost immediately after turning the volume above 2. I am glad I was around this amp for 2 years but after experiencing it I much prefer the Mesa Boogie or a EVH 5150. That’s just my opinion. It was so loud, mid heavy and did not do well at quiet volumes, perhaps an attenuator would have solved this. They say more speakers equals more air being pushed out which is helpful for building that 8-string wall of sound. Overall I recommend playing around with different amps until you find one that suits your style. DI emulation is an excellent way to test this out!
Capitol Guitars Can Help You Out
If you want help finding a great 8-string guitar or an amp I highly recommend you stop by Capitol Guitars in St. Paul. I was part of their team for four years and had the best experience possible. They don’t sell anything based on commission, everyone who works there plays in a band and they are all gear heads with different backgrounds from punk, prog metal, black metal, singer songwriter, literally every genre. They can hook you up with something you actually need to get the sound you want. Click here to visit their website, say I sent you and they will most likely throw you a little discount on new gear! Capitol Guitars is also typically among the first dealers to have new releases in stock after the NAMM show release dates.
Quick Takeaways
I learned that from a mix perspective, while using heavy distortion, only play single notes in the lower register. It gets muddy and they all compete for a limited amount of low end space.
Less distortion is always better for the final result of a song as a whole. There is so much competition in the low frequency range. Stacked mildly distorted sounds will equal a wall of heavy sound. If you isolated guitar from Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Gojira, etc, you would be surprised at the tones and the lack of distortion. They are not turning the gain dials to 10. It is a calculated mix. This was a problem for me when I started - not thinking of the final mix and trying to get all the tone from just my 8-string and an amp.
8-string guitars allow you to play rich full chords with a clean tone that sounds unique. Some chords are actually impossible on a 6-string. Sometimes having the lowest note of your chord not be the root is a really cool sound. Use string 7 and 8 to experiement.
Singing over a clean 8-string guitar is amazing because you aren’t limited to the 6th string E being your lowest note. You can find exactly where your vocal register sits and play chords that highlight you!
Tapping possibilities are endless. This is an area I need to dedicate more time to practicing. You have 8 available fingers and 8 strings that’s all I’m saying.
Thumping and slapping are much more approachable with a thicker string. I use a 80 gauge on my lowest string. Thump tutorial coming soon!
There is a huge difference in a custom shop multi-scale neck and an import multi-scale neck. Don’t judge multi-scale necks until you play some nice ones! My personal preference is a straight across 28” neck. My favorite 8-string was a custom shop Mayones from Poland. The list price was $3,999 used and I carefully played it during every shift for about 2 months straight. I called it “market research”, I did a lot of “market research” as an employee at Capitol Guitars.
Get an 8-string and Actualize Your Musical Potential
I am happy that 8-string guitars have become accessible for the everyday guitar player. I want to see what everyone creates. My experience has been one of challenge, learning and ultimately success. I love my 8-string guitar. I can’t imagine a music studio where I don’t have one with me. Most shows I play the 8-string and a 6-string tuned in D standard. I am so happy I took the risk and purchased my 8-string and stuck it out. I went through serious low points struggling to develop the muscle memory and music theory required to play it. If I could figure it out, so can you! The more time you spend with it the quicker you will learn it.
Projects I’ve Made With My Jackson DKAF8
Blue Blur - Paint Party Collective
I played in Paint Party Collective for two years. This was the first band I was ever officially in. My 8-string is offering the guitar tones at the beginning of the song that carry throughout. I also lay down some single note bass lines in sync with legendary bass player Nick Glass. This is a great example of the 8-string not being a djent machine and offering support in the mix.
I am excited to keep these posts coming. Thank you for taking the time to check this one out. There are a lot of production projects, guitar lessons, vocal lessons and mindfulness posts ahead. I am also putting more attention towards my podcast and YouTube channel. Connecting with me on social media is a great way to stay in the loop! @kieljakubic
Until next time, keep shredding!
- Kiel
