Just recently got my first 8 string Guitar ...another new clip post 108

Never liked guitars with more than six strings so when I needed something lower I got a baritone - loved it!

I had an 8-string ramirez (classical guitar).  Jose Tomas a colleague of segovia's started that trend.  (Narcisco Yepes did the 10-string thing but I never really liked the sound of that.) I decided I was too dyslexic to throw an extra couple strings in the mix.  Good luck with it!

I've always been put off by the thought of changing anything more than 6 strings, which I'm too lazy to do most of the time as it is 
 
So that's stopped me from buying: 8 string guitars, 12 string guitars and lutes. 

jamesg1213
Nice one Kenny! I look forward to some YouTube vids of you grappling with that

Hi James , thanks , yes it is a nice little guitar . I'm digging it 
The temptation to go there and make a u tube video playing the 8 string is something I'm considering very strongly ..
I think some of the things I'm doing are very different than what some of the other extended range guitarists are doing .
I notice there is not a whole lot out there on u tube with 8 string . It's either all Pro's or all Joe's ...
At the very least , if I did short little video clips they may be of interest to someone ...
Please let me know here folks  if your interested in this sort of thing .
 
all the best,
 
Kenny

Jeff M.
Kenny - that 8 stringer looks like a blast to play!
The fretboard looks pretty massive  - like an airport runway 
 
Must be a real mindset change with the extra 2 strings!
 
I have a 6 string bass - which I like a lot -  but I spend more time on the 4 stringer cause it's 2 less things to worry about 

Hi Jeff,
 
Someday I would Love to get a hold of a 6 string Bass .
Back in the mid 80's I had an Ibanez 5 string and loved it .
A Yamaha 4 string bass is what I have now ...When I play it (every so often ) , I certainly enjoy playing it .
 
Yes, It is true , going to an 8 string from a 6 or 7  string guitar is a mindset change .
I'm working through that learning curve in bite sized fretboard  explorations.
 
The neck and fretboard is fast and wide just like an Airport Runway .
Just like a real Airport , I've found myself stuck in The TSA line trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be and where the gate is for all the chords and guitar licks  I'm trying to play are
 
In spite of some of that ,
I'm really surprised at how much fun and creativity this 8 string guitar has brought into my musical life so far .
 
In my case , the main blast is , I'm able to reach for things and find them on this config much more easily than I was able to find them on a 6 or a 7 string  ....
Even though I certainly don't my way around the neck regarding all the note names (added 2 Low strings ),
I'm still able to transfer what I knew from having played a 6 for most of my life ...
 
On a 6 string guitar , once you get up to the B string from the lower strings all the fingering changes due to the B string being tuned to a Major 3 rd from the G string as opposed to the lower 4 strings which are tuned to a 4 th above the next lower string on a tradition guitar and tuning .
On the 8 string with the Low F # tuning , I have 6 whole strings tuned interval wise exactly like a regular guitar tuned in 4 th's would be tuned (just like the low strings are on a 6 string guitar ).
All the chord fingerings and note relationships are uniform and the same .
Once I hit the 3rd string the G string the B string on this goes back into regular guitar territory as it would on any guitar .
I'm probably rambling here , but the cool thing I notice is , if I flatten my left finger on the 5 th fret and play the bass note A on the 6 th string 5 th fret ( found exactly where it would be on a six ... two strings higher on the 8 from the lowest string )
I can play 11 chromatic tones lower and wind up with my left hand on the 5 th fret of the low string and have a low B ..
If I move 2 frets lower down the neck I would be playing my octave ( A) ..in the same octave as the A string on a 4 string Bass .
That would be my 3rd fret on the 8 strings lowest string ...IMHO , a very decent range for a guitar .
So even in a traditional  fingering such as position playing on a guitar one finger per fret , I get 11 more notes with out having to move around .
What that means is , I can find and play guitar chord shapes I'm familiar with and play hipper bass notes or even full on Bass parts all at the same time while staying in a consolidated space on the fretboard ....
 
Getting good at that type of thing and playing is gonna take a lot of time and practice . I'm OK with that .
 
all the best,
 
Kenny

Nice guitar, i really fancy getting a 7 string , i've only ever used 6 strings i may sell my dean ml knight and get one ;)

Jumping around here
 

Morvejones
Nice guitar, i really fancy getting a 7 string , i've only ever used 6 strings i may sell my dean ml knight and get one ;)

Hello Morvejones ,
 
Regarding playing a 6 string for years and then giving a 7 guitar string a go .
Playing wise the jump from a 6 string  to 7 string is a lot easier than the jump from 6 string to an 8 string .
On a 7 string you can always ignore the low string and just play it like a 6 ...
This is not so easy to do on an 8 string .
My 8 is tuned to a low F#  , B ...then I get my Low E string as my 3 rd low string
Also on a 7 string tuned with a low B or a Low A you can find you way pretty easy ..
Low B has all the same note names as the 2nd guitar string ,
Low A has all the same note names as the A string ( 5 th string ) .
 
 
Stores like G C have a large selection of various priced guitars and they may even have 2 or 3 , 7 string models in whatever your targeted price range may be .... at least you will be able to play a few in person  
 
If your not close to any music store  you can always check out Rondo Guitars ..
Rondo has a large selection of guitars that they have made for them , they also have an excellent reputation online w many players of all budgets 
7 strings
http://www.rondomusic.com/7string.html
8 strings
http://www.rondomusic.com/8StringGuitars.html
 
Hey man , good luck on what ever you decide to do regarding this idea of checking out a 7 string guitar in the future .
 
all the best,
 
Kenny

craigb
I've got a friend with an 8-string and one song he likes to play to show off the range of the instrument is Wichita Lineman by Glenn Campbell.  He used to play live gigs over one of those online TV channels until the service died so I got to see and hear him play a lot.  The guitar sounded great!

 
Craig,
 
I was very young when that tune came out . Just gave the tune a fresh listen yesterday , it still sounds good after all this time .
Your friend sounds like a cool friend to have
 
I think from what I have read about studio sessions and recording from that era , it was a fairly common practice to have a guitar player double muted guitar parts on a thing called a Tic Tac Bass ....
IIRC , that type of technique  was very common in a lot of genre's of popular music ..
 

SteveStrummerUK
 
 
Likewise per James' comments, I can't wait to hear you playing that beaut Kenny.

Hi Steve,
 
You don't know how bad I want to make a video playing this 8 string guitar ..
I'm seriously weighing the pro's and con's over here ..
On the pro's side , I'm finding all sorts of nice little short interesting things to play ...
On the con's side , When I take a spin on the fretboard , it doesn't take too long for me to hit some Pretty Embarrassing Clams 
I may just say screw it and just go for it anyway
thank you both , James and Steve for your interest .
all the best ,
 
Kenny