Demigod wrote:
Oh, and I know what the USE of the longer scale length is, i was just wondering about the frets being further apart. Whats the distance between the 1st and 2nd frets?
I'm too lazy to measure it but it's really not that much bigger if you have decent sized hands, mine are fairly big and I find I have no problems barring the entire neck in any positions. It makes playing things closer to the open positions a bit of a stretch but it widens out the higher frets just a tiny bit and make it easier for me to play notes cleanly up high. I've also found that because of the extra tension I have less issues alternate picking on it or doing really quick rhythms, I tune to standard and use a .010-.046 gauge set with a low .058 for the B and a .080 for the E so there's a lovely amount of snap in the string and it retains a nice big fundamental note.
G-Man wrote:
At what point do you think someone should start considering an 8 string? Do you consider it to be a different instrument all together from a standatrd 6 string guitar? (ie Are they just for metal? If so do standard chord shapes fall away, and is there then a whole new technique to playing one?) I'm trying to figure what the advantages are of the 2 extra string are?
I think that metal players picked up on them really quickly because the seven string was so well received in that community that it made sense to give it a try ? Also Meshuggah are one of the fore runners in using 8 strings and ever since they got em Ibanez fanboys having been begging Ibanez to put the things into production and now that a massive company makes them it's given them more attention as they were generally only a "custom" order sort of thing. I think it can be amazingly useful for jazz or any kind of music where there's a single guitarist in a band and they want to fill out more spectrum - it just takes clever chord voicings to really make it sound HUGE. I personally find I gravitate mostly towards playing mine like a chapman stick, the extra range is really awesome for creating independent parts, but when you throw on some noisegates, a tubescreamer and some gain to get em djenting then they really do have a certain aura to them that lends itself incredibly well.
You'd be surprised at how easy the transition can be to go from 6 to 8, it's a little confusing at first but if you just keep at it and wrap your mind and hands around the extra range it can free you up so much compositionally and from a positional point of view. It's really all just about having the intent to play one, and if you get over the learning curve it's so worth it.
I'm now just going to post up examples of things that helped motivate my desire to get my hands on an 8. ?
This one's on an Agile 8 string.
This is on a Novak 8 string, which is made to be extremely different to the normal 8 strings being produced these days. It's more of a bass and guitar hybrid instrument.
Yes most of these are horrendously heavy, as previously stated though it's a great instrument not too many people outside of the metal community seem to be accepting it yet though it's potential definitely isn't limited to metal.
