8 String Guitar article
Common 8 String Guitar Mistakes to Avoid
Most extended-range mistakes come down to the same short list: muting not sorted, scale length ignored at purchase, strings too light, and bass boosted instead of shaped. Here is what to watch for.
Extended-range instruments attract players who have done their research, but even well-prepared guitarists make the same handful of mistakes when they first get their hands on an 8-string guitar. Most of them are fixable quickly if you know to look for them. A few will cost you time if they go unaddressed. Here is the short list.
Mistake 1: Not Sorting the Muting
This is the one that creates the most frustration. Every string you are not actively fretting will resonate sympathetically and push noise into your amplifier. It is not as noticeable on a six-string; on an extended-range instrument it is immediately audible. Right-hand palm muting on the lower strings and left-hand shadow muting on the upper strings are both necessary habits. Building them from the start takes deliberate attention. Not building them means cleaning up a noise problem that becomes harder to fix the longer it remains.
Mistake 2: Ignoring Scale Length When Buying
The lowest strings on an 8-string guitar need a longer scale to maintain adequate tension. A 25.5-inch scale produces floppy, poorly tracking low strings in F♯ or E tuning. Most players targeting heavy or djent contexts end up on 27-inch or longer instruments. Buying the cheapest available option without checking scale length is the most common purchase regret in the extended-range market.
Mistake 3: Using the Wrong Strings
Standard six-string string sets do not include gauges for extended-range tunings. A properly strung eight-string in F♯ tuning needs a bottom string in the region of .070–.080" or heavier, depending on scale length. Using too-light a gauge produces the same result as too-short a scale: floppy, imprecise low-string playing. Buy strings designed for extended-range instruments — D'Addario, Dunlop, Elixir and others all make eight-string sets. Check the manufacturer's recommended gauge for your tuning and scale length.
Mistake 4: Boosting Bass Frequencies
Standard guitar instinct when the low strings sound thin is to boost the bass on the amp or EQ. On an extended-range instrument, this produces mud rather than weight. Guitar amplifiers are not designed to reproduce the fundamentals of F♯ or low E strings cleanly — boosting bass in that frequency range just adds undefined low-frequency noise. The correct approach is to cut sub-bass (below 80–100 Hz), allow the guitar's natural string interaction to provide what low-end there is, and use EQ to shape the midrange where most of the note information sits.
Mistake 5: Treating the Instrument Like a Six-String with Extra Strings
The most limiting mistake is conceptual. An 8-string guitar is not a six-string with two extra bass strings bolted on — it is an instrument with a different neck, different technique demands, and a different musical vocabulary. Players who approach it by simply adding bass-register six-string patterns to their existing technique miss the textures that make the instrument interesting. Listen to Tosin Abasi, who uses the full string range as a percussion/melody/bass hybrid. The lowest two strings are not just for power chords.
Mistake 6: Skipping the Proper Setup
Many extended-range guitars leave the factory with setup that suits no one in particular. Action too high, intonation not dialled in, pickup height approximate. Unlike a standard guitar, where a loose setup is merely less-than-optimal, poor action and intonation on an 8-string guitar are especially damaging because the lowest strings are already harder to keep in tune. Sort the action, set the intonation, and check the pickup height before you conclude anything about how the instrument plays.
The Bottom Line
Muting and setup are the two things that determine whether an extended-range instrument sounds like a musical tool or a noise machine. Get those right first. For full instrument guidance, our buyer's guide covers every buying variable. For setup help, the setup guide walks through every adjustment. And for a full overview of the instrument, our overview covers it all.
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