What’s Up With 7 and 8 String Guitars?
February 24, 2009 by Scott
10 years ago every “Real” metal-head was criticizing 7 string guitar players because of the nu-metal movement. Hell, even these days people look down at them for it. In the past year or so musicians have stepped it up, saying; “If you don’t like 7 strings…here’s one more.”. Let’s look at a few things in the current metal scene with more than 6 strings.
- Catalepsy is a dethcore band that has 3 seven string guitar players. It’s not like they are Iron Maiden with 3 astounding 6-stringers. You really can’t decipher between the three players. Seems like a waste to me, but they put on a good live show. I’m not sure exactly what they sound like on CD as I’ve had little interest in them.
- Dino Cazares plays an 8 string Ibanez in Divine Heresy (and other bands) and has played 7 strings in the past.
- High On Fire’s Matt Pike uses a custom 9 string guitar from first act…which is pretty much just a 12 string without the E, A and D string being strung normally. It’s actually quite interesting. He does this for a chorus type effect being that he is the sole guitar player in the band.
- Scale The Summit’s Chris Letchford uses a custom made 8 string guitar and band mate Travis Levrier uses a 7 string. Also Prosthetic Records newly signed progressive/instrumental band Animals As Leaders uses both 8 and 7 string guitars.
So is it only acceptable for a band to use more than 6 strings as long as they are using them in a non nu-metal way. Progressive metal bands are allowed to use them because they are actually doing more than chugging with them? I honestly don’t care either way as along as it sounds good, but I’m just kind of wondering what everyone’s opinion is on this.
Image: Guitarcenter.com
too many amateur bands use 7- or 8-string guitars to cheat and write “that riff” one more time, and a lot of prog rock dudes just want an extra string to wank on.
song quality reigns supreme. if a song is supported by a particular instrument, use it… but that’s the key — it should *support* the song, not be the focus.
i always liked how meshuggah used them.
Great point, Bill. I’ve often thought about buying a 7 string,but then I always tell myself that I’m not nearly good enough on a 6 string yet, why spend money on something more?
My fingers are too damn short to play anything more than a 6 string. I like how Scale The Summit utilize them in Carving Desert Canyons, that album is such a great instrumental.
What I always wondered, and maybe someone can enlighten me, is if a guitar player has an 8 string and he tunes it to F-Sharp then how does the bass player tune his guitar? I would think a bass guitar string tuned that low would just sound sloppy.
weird, i was just reading about this before i came here, not that you are trying to list all of them, but i think meshugga uses 8 as well. I say all the more kick ass they can be. i’m not a guitar player though.
Obviously the extra 2 strings dont make you any better if you cant write/play anyways, but i think they can be extra tools for those that are skilled enough
I saw a press release this morning about Animals As Leaders and that’s what got me thinking about it. It seems more bands are doing it, I think Korn just gave it a bad name from the get go, back in the day. Like I said, as long as it sounds good I could give a shit what people think. Chris Broderick of Megadeth plays a 7-string too so I’m kind of wondering where that’s going to come in to play with the new album, that is if he plays one on the new album.
Meshuggah does indeed play custom 8 string guitars and it is AWESOME. Ive seen the Ibanez 8 string up close and I think it’s a thing of beauty!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGVyk_TObCo&eurl=http://www.metalsucks.net/
oh gosh..
interesting quote from meshuggah’s wikipedia entry:
‘Hagström notes, “The eight-strings really have given us a whole new musical vocabulary to work with. Part of it is the restrictions they impose: you really can’t play power chords with them; the sound just turns to mush. Instead, we concentrated on coming up with really unusual single-note parts, new tunings and chord voicings. We wanted to get as far away from any kind of conventions and traditions as we could on the album, so the guitars worked out beautifully.”‘
I own a seven string because i love the low B and can’t live without the high E. Seven’s and eights are justifiable if you utilize all the strings
TOSIN ABASI of ANIMALS AS LEADERS Opinion on GUITAR and number of strings it has .
http://www.noisecreep.com/2009/05/07/talking-guitar-with-animals-as-leaders-tosin/
Since writing this I did buy a Schecter Omen 7, used from a pawn shop. It was kind of cool as I started playing it, but I found I just couldn’t utilize the 7th string enough and lost interest. I think I’ll always just be a six-stringer and stick with what I know. To those that can and do utilize the 7 or 8 string guitars to the best of their ability, more power to you.
the duo from Scale the Summit have truly inspired me musically.. I saw them open live for Protest the Hero and they brought all 7-8 strings alive the entire performance. I felt very comfortable with my skills on a 6er, but found myself in some sort of a writers block. When I bought my schecter hellraiser c-7 that all changed.. I thank the guitar gods every day for the 7 dog.
In response to the “too many amateurs” vibe and the comment of the 6-stringer who found it hard to utilise the 7th string (scott). Would it not be better if, after say a few years experience, new players learned how to utilise a 7 string? ie not just chugging. Wouldn’t that lead to future guitar players who were not too used to the 6 strings to never vary, but not too connected to chugging that low b that they cannot create anything worth listening to?
If you have listened to either Animal as Leaders or Scale the Summit, then you know that 7 and 8 String guitars do make a difference in the right hands. I just bought an 8 string myself and there is a bit of a learning curve, but in the process I would like to learn some of the aspects as the above two bands have acquired in an overall guitar sound. It adds so much more depth. And for me its not about the chugging sound, although its cool to fit in, its not what its about. Its about expanding your sound spectrum and that’s all I have to say. If you dont believe me listen to the above bands and tell me they haven’t brought it to the next level.
Lance
also check out the band Periphery, Misha aka Bulb is the guy who helped Tosin on his Animals as Leaders album. Very good guitar player as well who utilizes the 7 and 8 string.
I think a lot of people on here are being idiots about this whole thing.
As james said “Would it not be better if, after say a few years experience, new players learned how to utilize a 7 string?”. First off, this is insinuating that players should learn to play 7 strings. Why? A guitar has the range that it has. An instrument is defined by its essence. Players should play what they like.
I find the 7 string crowd to be a small group that represents themselves well online, but that is all. They mainly play either boring chugging ala Meshuggah, or tasteless metalcore/indie that no one really cares about.
The whole reason low tunings are incorporated in metal is because guitarists wanted a darker sound out of their guitars. Not to extend their range. Hence why they tuned down. The Swedish Death metal scene tuned B-B on their 6’s, and the American band Demilich even tuned as low as A-A.
If you like 7 strings, great, continue to post on ss.org, release your albums no one cares about and be done with it. If you genuinely prefer 7 strings great for you, just don’t make jackass remarks about it. No one really cares what you use (except for hardcore metal fans), so why even other make an argument out of it? If your music is so poor you have to rely on the fact that you use more than 6 strings to increase popularity, then why even bother?
Extended range baritones are very justifiable for musicians that fully utilize every string. I cannot live without my high A. I am at sixstring A-Standard, but with a 7th string G and 8th string D2, which I occasionally drop to C2. I frequently use my highest and lowest strings, do eightstring sweeps..which are a bitch to pull off, and for my combined rhythm/lead way of playing, I honestly am in need for a ninestring guitar. Having extra lower strings is ultimately so that I can go HIGHER. I have a sixstring tuned to F-Standard/drop-E. Anyone who uses sevenstrings and eightstrings simply to go lower is an impudant, ignorant fuck.
Dante Leblanc: Sounds like you don’t really play “music”. Maybe you should pick a different instrument.
The whole sweeping thing in large ranges has been done and is boring.
7 string guitars are a good progression. I guitars used to have 5 strings until the late 1800s. E to A. and when they added the low E and it too faced similar criticism. It makes more sense if you play heavy music with low tunings to buy a seven string and than to the six string drop method. It saves time from having to tune to down drop D or C. And you don’t have to sacrifice the high e string. The 7 string guitar’s popularity from the Korn and Deftones, Fear Factory and Limp Bizkit earned the instrument a bad rep. Limp Bizkit did not play a seven string in the traditional sense tuned low to high C#F#BEG#C#C#. It became popular to criticize the instrument like by Mick Thompson in SLipknot who says that “7 string guitars are gay” even though he down tunes his guitar the same way.
Down tuning a 6 string is what metal players have always done. It doesn’t make any sense adding a different string, when you can just downturn and change the voice of the instrument.
From what I’ve read, many people here seem to agree with me in the fact that if you don’t use all of the strings in a musical sense, why bother? I play an 8-string in my band Artificial Life Forms. We play a mix of electronica and early 90’s nu-metal. I use an 8-string for the simple fact that I need to hit some really low notes and really fricking high notes in more than one song. Yeah, some of the material can use just a baritone, or even a 7-string, but until I can justify the funding for either or both of those, an 8-string will have to do. The bass is done through a synth for the material we play. I’m not saying we are the best sound or best band, but we doing something that is not widely done to our knowledge, and to really pull this off we need some sounds that may not sound like they would sound good. We tried out a bassist tonight, and his sound was just too thin even with a good rig. Now, I’m the one of the first to say this, no, I’m not the greatest guitarist in the world. I like to listen to the virtuoso players and drool. I like what they do, and I can do some of that and a few things that they don’t (not can’t), but for what my band is calling for musically, an 8-string is perfect, if not sometimes too low. The 8th string is not always used, but also, it’s not really ignored.
To really say it for everyone, it’s not the gear, but how it is used. If it’s not used well, don’t use it. If it fits, don’t brag about it. If people ask, don’t hide it. If it’s a necessary tool for composing your music, please do so, but don’t use it for your inability to play. Scott Ian from Anthrax even has a few 4-string guitars that he uses like baritones because he wouldn’t use all of the strings on a 6.
For all of the people that bash ERG’s, don’t do so just because you can’t play one. If you can do all of what someone does on an ERG, please show me how it’s done!