Check out Stew Mac at www.stewmac.com/ and you can find the amp that I used in this video here www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/electronic-kits/amplifier-kits/62-brit-plex-45w-amp-kit/
Maybe you need to find out how people learned to play these monstrosities. . . and why they prefer them? I have to agree. I don’t see the appeal. I think it’s kind of like owning a souped up muscle car vs a Chevy - most of us would be just fine and flourish with that Chevy. The peeps with souped up Dodge Chargers that have the ultimate 500 Hemi, bucket seats, racing stripes, etc - like why would you ever need all that other than to gloat when the speed limit is like 65-75 mph in most places?! 😂😂😂
@brandonacker , send it to him. The guitar is an oddity so the choice of player should be unsually too. Plus, I'd love to see what a classical player with his start in metal would do with it.
Brandon Acker, classical guitarist who plays all kinds of super old stringed instruments like the lute and the theorbo. A lot of his stuff has heaps of strings and the look suits the meme of him being a vamire
Watching you struggle with this as a guitarist reminds me of me as a violinist trying to learn guitar. “It’s a stringed instrument! Hell, there’s frets even! But the muscle memory is useless when the notes are so far apart!” And your relief at going back to a 6 string and feeling competent again was so relatable.
Do you have perfect pitch? I've heard that it's extremely common in violinists (and similar instruments) because y'all have to be damned precise in finding notes
Just shows how different people react to a similar experience - I used to consider myself violinist and I had the best time learning the guitar! It basically changed my life I studied the violin and piano since i was 12 but I picked up the guitar two years ago and I haven’t really put it down since. I progressed surprisingly quickly on the guitar and i just put it up to “it’s a giant violin with frets 😍” Now going BACK is trouble. The difficulty of playing violin seems much worse and even more pointless
I'm a guitarist learning violin, and I'm experiencing this in reverse. All of your notes are so close together! And you just gotta know where they are!
I'm feeling the opposite way, as a guitarist learning violin lmao. Like where are my frets? (I mean there is fretted violins, but that kinda defeats the original purpose of a violin)
@@mr.nobody68 Not perfect pitch - I can’t name a note or chord if you play it and ask me to name it. However, I can tell you if something is flat or sharp, even if I can’t name the note. But what I do know is that I always tune manually. Give me the pitch and I will tune my guitar to it. I don’t own a headstock tuner or pedal because that just takes me more time and effort than just playing the pitches. However, I do need to hear each of the 6 pitches. I’m not able to hear the 4ths on guitar. However I did get to the point on violin if you give me an A440 I can tune all 4 strings by listening to the 5ths.
I think Bradley Hall would be a cool person to send it to, he's a shred guy so it would be intersting to see him try tro make something on a guitar that isn't really made for his type of stuff. He's also a great metal composer so I think he would make something cool with it.
I’d love to see Paul Davids’s or Rudy Ayoub’s take on this beast 😂 Edit: that final piece was actually beautiful, and I feel you made far better use out of the extended range than most Metal shredders.
5:35 "I just spent $65 re-stringing this f***ing thing" As a bassist, particularly one who owns a 37" multiscale 6 string bass, I found this hilarious 🤣
From what I understand, the strings are usually tuned to G#C#F#BEADGBE Also, the person who sent it to Rob was Andrew Baena. You should definitely send it to Nik Nocternal to do some crazy stuff.
As someone whose first learned stringed instrument was a four string tenor guitar in DGBE, who then later had to learn to deal with the additional E and A strings on a standard six-string, I felt this in my soul. The path to incorporating additional strings can be long and painful.
As a 9 string (non metal) player, I found your measured approach quite interesting and refreshing. I started on 6 then went to 7, later 8, and now 9. Jumping from 6 to 10 is quite the feat! Kudos. I love that you also tried non metal ideas as extended range instruments can do so much more than chug in the lower register. Lastly, I'd recommend an easier tuning (all 4ths is great), and tapping, as I personally feel that's where you can get the most out of 9 or 10 string guitars.
I saw an interesting bit where Narciso Yepes explains that with a 10 string classical guitar he has sympathy strings for all 12 notes and with a 6-string only 4 of the 12. I've been looking at the 8 string Ortega as well it's a nice price and to get my feet wet with more than 6 strings.
I have this exact guitar, more as a side-guitar than anything, a studio tool of sorts... and I can't do all 4ths, the lowest string being a G#. The G# is unintelligible, it has to be a low B or higher. That low B is still the same otave as the low B on a 5 string bass, so it's still pretty sweet. But then you have to settle for an awkward interval jump between two strings at some point up to the highest string, because there's no way you're tuning that high string above E on a 27" scale. Unless you want to get into some seriously avant garde string guages. Now that I read that in writing, yeah the whole situation is already avant garde af.
Fellow 9 string player here too! And someone who uses the full range too. Personally, coming previously from the 7 string, I've settled on BEBEADGBE as my tuning. Straight forward and makes sense.
Hey it might not seem like much, but thanks for pointing out how it took you an hour and 254 takes to nail the riffs. sometimes I get discouraged when I've played something 50 times and it still doesn't sound right and I doubt myself, but knowing it takes someone as talented as you to that long to pull some of these riffs off helps with remembering how long it takes to build up skills :)
When I am trying to learn a new song, but I just can't keep playing it right, I tell myself "hey, I invented a new song!!". Keeps my positive all the time. In fact, I have actually invented my own songs from other songs i was trying to learn, but butchered...
@@dixiemcgee8535 I also have this one-string diatonically fretted 'canjo' I built in elementary school on a class about basic music theory, I actually still use it to come up with some very basic tunes, which I then fully flesh out for the ol' 6-string. That's my other main method of making my own music lol.
I love watching Ichika Nito go ham on something like this and then come back down to earth with a video like this and feel like I have a chance at being a decent normal guitarist
Being a short person, I've only recently discovered how much a short-scale instrument makes playing so much more comfortable to me; this, THIS is a nightmare LOL. I vote for Brandon Acker to be the next UA-cam guitarist to suffer!
@@CK-3K yeah i figured it out after 20 years of playing full sized, full scale guitars, and then got a parlor acoustic, 23" scale, and now i have a Jaguar 24" scale electric, and both are so much more comfortable to play.
I'm very happy to see Narciso Yepes and his 10 string guitar get some recognition. The idea behind his 10-string guitar was to provide more sustain to notes such as C, Bb Ab and Gb on the E string, by means of sympathetic vibrations on the 4 additional strings tuned to these pitches. So you would mostly play it like a traditional 6-string, with the benefit of more sustain and the ability to play repertoire for the lute without the need for transcription and allowing more literal piano transcriptions. Yepes was an exceptional player, and I encourage everyone to check out his recording of Muñeira from Mompou's Suite Compostelana.
I’ve owned one of these since 2018. I find the lowest sting unusable (sounds like farts) so I tuned both that and the next string to double drop B and it’s a lot more manageable to play. When you hit an open chord with that tuning, it’s intense. I don’t recommend the guitar to most people because it’s tough to wrangle but isn’t without its uses. After all, it’s in pictures on my dating profile and it really is a conversation starter!
The thing with the lower-end chords is that eventually at that tuning even pleasant sounding intervals are gonna start getting shitty. There's an actual name for that musical phenomenon that I cannot recall currently tho.
The only time I’ve ever seen a similar guitar, like this being played well, was in Portugal. A guy was on the street just blistering away on that thing selling CDs. A lot of tapping seems to be an Intercal part of using this particular guitar. At least that’s how he used it. It was mesmerizing because he would be doing blistering leads and stuff.
Love to see and hear your takes on everything! I recently purchased a Harley Benton fanned fret 8-string which I use to play solo guitar. Upping the string gauges on the lowest 3 strings makes the 8-string a completely different beast when played fingerstyle. Tuning the lowest 2 strings to E and A gets rid of the learning curve, all you need do is move whatever you are playing on the 5th and 6th strings over 2 strings. Quick and easy fun...
That's an interesting tuning for it, I always thought that a 10 string guitar would just follow the 4ths/5ths intervals that other extended range guitars use (extra B string on a 7 string, F# on an 8 string, C# on a 9 string) and have a low G# string as the lowest note, but having the 3 bottom strings be tuned as the 3 lowest strings on a regular bass actually makes a lot of sense and makes it way more manageable and musical, I think, it's basically having a 7 string guitar + a bass on the same body. That last tune sounded amazing, though! Definitely something I would've expected from a 10 string electric guitar
This one actually made me LOL. Because Adam wouldn't spend much time playing it, he would get all reflective about it, and manage to throw in some bizarre music theory about some kind of chord you can only play on that instrument or something.
That feeling of disorientation is what I felt when I switched to a 5 string bass in 1987. 18 years of muscle memory down the tube! What that taught me was to stop looking at the fretboard and just think intervals. I picked up an 8 string Ibanez at GC. I didn’t enjoy playing it. I might like a 7 string though.
I used to own one of these! I miss it. I used to tune it to be a standard tuned bass and guitar and play it through my bass amp and switch between bass and guitar on the songs I enjoyed playing.
You really should at least try a 7-string some time!! Those are really fun and after a while they feel pretty much just like a usual 6-string in terms of comfort, yet they add lots of inspiring possibilities even with just that one extra string!
Keith Merrow woke me up to the possibilities of a 7 string. I always thought it was just a crutch for lower and "heavier" riffs, but what keith merrow plays in a 7 string inspired me to get one.
I recently played an 8 string guitar and my experience was the same as yours: confused, uncomfortable, unable to do what I normally do - very not-fun. I can truly appreciate those guitarists that do the work to make these things their own and progress into new territories🤘, but yeah it’s just not for me.
I owned a 7-string for about a year and that's about what it was like. I played the high strings more than anything on it. I enjoyed the longer scale length (26.5") it made me really want a baritone 6-string.
I've got an Ibanez RGD - like a normal RG, but a bit curvier and with a 26.5" neck. I *_LOVE_* it! It's tuned BEADF#B most of the time. Low and heavy, but still very bright, lively and clear - no mushy notes. If I can ever find one (and justify spending the money) I'd really like to get one of the RGIBs: six strings, 28" scale.
Awesome video, for once I like the honesty on those guitars. Most videos make it seems as if it was playing a 6 strings. For the next one, I’d vote for Brandon Acker who is already used to weird stringed instruments but on the classical side. Would be fun to see what he can do with an electric.
You know, I've been playing exclusively 7 or 8 strings for over 10 years now, and I feel exactly what you mentioned in reverse. When I pick up a 6, my brain breaks 🤣
@@clenchedfistsyndrome1439 I dont know about easy, but a 6 string definitely feels a bit 'toy-ish' to me after playing 7 string nearly exclusively for decades.
7:34 I used to take my guitars to a tech named Ralph Novak in Emeryville (next to Berkeley Ca) back in the 80's. There I saw some of the first fanned fret guitars ever made. Ralph was the inventor of Novax Guitars. I think he lives in Washington state now.
I recommend Brandon Acker to send this to. He plays not just guitar but also the 14-stringed Theorbo, which I imagine is how this instrument should be used akin to.
The thing that helped me with extended range guitars is to treat it like a totally seperate instrument, approach it as you would learning something for the first time & throw out all your preconceptions about the instrument before you start.
I'm a bassist/guitarist. That thing is such a hybrid of both I'd love to try one. Think the string spacing would be weird like you brought up. Thanks for the review,now I definitely gotta check one out.
Ah! The Agile Pendulum Pro 102730. Very nice! I've had mine since 2017, and I love it. The only crappy things are it's hard to find certain hardware and strings for this behemoth.
I love mine, i got it because it was cheaper than the baritones, 8 and 9 strings at the time for the scale length i wanted. I love it, i can play and or cover just about any song without having to change tuning completely. The extra last high string is always used as an accent or dissonance. It feels wonderful for how monstrous it is. Once you get used to hand positions and what strings to skip.. it's a breeze to play.
I always forget that guitar youtubers like Sammy G. and other don't do everything with one take, it's just a whole new world and it demonstrates that they are human too. I certainly would had more trouble even coming up with riffs (let alone record them, lol), even tho i just got my first 7 string a few months ago. btw Associating 7 or more strings with metal is almost like the equivalent of linking found footage to horror movies. It's not a bad thing, it just somehow come to my mind. With that being said, i would love to see what would Nik Nocturnal do with 2 more strings :)
Thank you for your transparency. You are clearly a tremendous guitarist. This is exactly how I feel when I pick up my 8-string, which I’ve had for about 4 months…
I SO much appreciate Sammy G. admitting how many takes it took to hammer out something for us to listen to! I guess it goes to show, just because you can drive a car doesn't mean you can drive a tank! 😆
this is so relatable. I'm a bass player who dabbles in guitar, and for whatever reason when i went from 4 strings to 5 it was so great and natural, and from a 6 string guitar to a 7 was easy, but when i hit that 6 string bass mark or the 8 string guitar, my brain stops working, the neck is too wide, and i start losing the connection between the string i'm fretting and where to pluck to hit that same string. that's just one extra string, i cant imagine adding 3 extra strings and making anything coherent. this struggle is too real.
My first guitar was a 6 string, and I am waiting for my first 7 string guitar to arrive, it's and Ibanez. And I'm really excited, It will be a challenge but I can't wait
man totally. i actually just can’t go back to 6-string at this point. every once in a while I happen to play someone’s instrument (99% it’s 6-string obviously), all i can think of is “damn, there should be at least another one”. to be fair, I’m not a metal guy and play my instrument clean most of the time, so really for that part I don’t rely that much on a lower register, but damn it so handy when it’s there - just to add extra fatness occasionally with some inversions for otherwise all-too-common chord voicings. the devil is truly in the small details and it shows. btw my machine is South Korean Schekter C-7 Custom. loving it for all the years I own it, every time i pick it up still.
This is the second video I watch with you playing an extended range guitar. The other video being the "Boomer guitar vs. Millennial Guitar" with the 7-string. I love that you don't immediately go to metal because that is what I see everywhere else on UA-cam. I'd actually love to see you play an 8-string guitar if you haven't already done so and hear your thoughts on that.
Send it to Andy Rehfeldt! He's definitely underrated and underutilized in the guitar community. The guy shreds and would be nice to see a fresh face in a series like this.
@@DugNastyMusic uh oh!!! He will die early and is not nearly as smart as a righty!!! Can’t stand left handed guitarists!!! Play the damn thing like it’s meant to be played! Like Kiko does!!! 😆
I love how you're completely honest about how it's hard to play this thing. It definitely is and I think most of us would feel the exact same way 😂 But it's really soothing that you're not showing us how you just shred right away but emphasise that there's a lot of work behind it and it's okay to not be instantly brilliant at every single aspect of the guitar universe. By the way - I would recommend to send it to either Bernth or Bradley Ball 😁🤘
SG: I feel your pain on this one. It's not that you can't make music on the 10-string; rather, it's a question of how much time and effort it takes to get there. BTW, your original piece at the end was by far the most enjoyable part of the entire video - a blend of what Aaron Copland called "the familiar and the unexpected" that is characteristic of all great music. Superb. Subscribed. - Vito
Just bought a 7 string acoustic and played it. It’s an Agile, it’s fan fret. And I absolutely love it. This guitar though, seems like hell. I can only understand adding more strings (like you mentioned) in classical or metal, I’m doing 60’s singer songwriter folk, Nick Drake like stuff. It’s perfect for adding more texture and harmony between notes in an alternate tuning.
You should try a strandberg for this series, you can better explore the fanned frets and also you can talk about that weird neck profile they do, would be interesting!
Well done SammyG! It was fun to see the creative struggle. I think Darrell Braun would probably have a good time frustrating himself with this, as you did. Or maybe Max Carlisle from Guitar Max. These guys do some great 6 string work, so seeing what they could do with 10 should be fun. Edit: Ryan from 60 Cycle Hum would be fun too I think. This was on the tip of my brain and I just couldn't find it when I first posted. 😋
One thing i've noticed having made the jump from 6 to 8 string was that the more you think about it, the more difficult it is to play because of overthinking it. just acknowledge that your standard scales now go lower by however many strings you got and leave it at that.
In the 80's in my late teens,I used to tune my lower two or three strings down super low on my 6 string electric and would Dgent. On my clean channels,or acoustic,i would sometimes swap heavier gauge strings and tune down my lower 2 strings and play as much bass as I could along with my other strings. Very complicated at times with use of finger tapping,pull-offs,hammer-ons and sometimes trilling partial chords and using right hand to hold certain strings down to help form chords and,or separate notes. I wish I could afford one of these,but I'm far from having fully explored 6 strings. And mastery is beyond my life cycle. Fantastic playing and vid.
To be fair, the purpose of extended range guitars isn't only to play djent/thall/extreme metal. Like, there are multiple people who write really beautiful guitar songs with 8 and 9 strings like Rob Scallon and Ichika Nito But yeah, the fact that he didn't go directly to 00000000 also annoyed me a lil bit cuz I'm a metal nerd lol
@@meloxdeath I get what you're saying, but this 10 string guitar (and you cannot deny it) was made for djent. I know that some in the jazz scene like 7s and 8s for the extended range, but this is a 10 string and we both know only 1 kind of person buys a 10 string lol
I do like the idea of 7+ string guitar being used for more diverse things than just Metal or Jazz. I think it would take a company brave enough to make a 7/8/9 string that really compliments more genre and could be a more general work-horse. Hell, I'd love to someone use this for Shoegaze or Country, using the lower strings as accompanying drones for chords played further up. I really liked the funk example you gave, so there's potential there too. Overall, I'd like to see more people pick it up and try different things.
What would change other than the pickups to make this viable for different genres? The same applies to 6 strings, where the only real differences in tone come from the pickups, bridge style, and scale length. Strandberg bodens come in 6-8 strings with floating or hard tail bridges, basically every major pickup type, and are incredibly ergonomic, only weighing about 6-7lbs and having every cutout you need for different playing positions. They're about 2 grand but after you play one it definitely makes sense why, but their endurneck shape can take some getting used to and some people don't like it.
This struggle reminds me of when I had to go from playing an extremely shreddy style of heavy metal to playing pure classical guitar. I was pretty floored at how little of my skill transferred over, even if it seems obvious now why they wouldn't.
"Normally when I'm playing a guitar, I'm enjoying myself. This has been the one exception I've ever come across." That remark pretty much summed it up for me.
Thank you for suffering for our amusement, and thanks again for sticking with it long enough to produce some good sounding samples, even if it took 254 attempts. I've never played a 7 or 8 string, but was curious. That beast does not tempt me even a little. You basically described the uncanny valley, but for guitar: Close enough to familiar that it should be okay except that no no no no no it is not okay. Good work as always.
The last example you played sounded the best to my ears. Musical, felt great and used the range of this instrument well. I'm curious if you improvised that last musical excerpt or was it a written piece?
I think you did great! I mean, sure it's a guitar, but it might an entire different instrument considering the different techniques, playing style and musical style it requires 👍
For anyone who might not know his sponsor for the episode isn’t just a sponsor trying to get their product out there however they can. They really are the gold standard for luthier tools.
I’m glad you included Narciso Yepes as the classical example of 10 string guitar playing. He was a master who added many works to the 10 string guitar.
Anytime anyone asks me what the point if my 8 string is…is say “think of it like a piano, you have access to a much larger range…” to add accompaniment without needing another instrument it gives the ability to add more fulfillment to what your playing….i went from a Gibson Black Beauty 57 Reissue to an 8….and i never want to go back to a 6…8s feel better to play …especially with its fan frets…they are more practical than a 6 and take no time at all to get used to…Listen to Animals as Leaders and you will HEAR what the point of an extended range guitar is…they are not just for metal….hell listen to Javier Reyes play his 8 string Ortega classical ….
Dude nice work…. Love that you didn’t try to sell it. I think I kept my 7 string for a couple months before I convinced myself that I simply didn’t enjoy it!
I went and bought the samurai guitar course, and I gotta say it has completely elevated my skills as a guitar player. Finally, I understand what the modes of the major scale are and how to play them in any key on guitar. 10/10 do recommend
There are very good reasons why the six is so popular. A seven string is a nice convenience when you want to play all of the rock genres without having to tune down or have a differently tuned axe. But even a seven string is more difficult to play, because the higher strings are out of your line of sight unless you lean over a bit more. Having a friend to play bass is the best way to get another four strings in the song.
Thanks for telling it like it is. Now get a Chapman stick and see what happens. I bet it is better because you will be holding it differently and aren't picking/plucking the strings so your brain won't be trying to apply your guitar muscle memory. And rather than being a novelty instrument, Chapman sticks have a long, legitimate history (the first time I heard one was Tony Levin's work on Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers", and that was 1980).
The original patent for multiscale guitars (and thus fanned frets) was issued about 1900-1910. The metal sounded decent, and drop tuned dissonant metal being what it is, the audience would never notice a missed note. Thanks to you I just bought my 93rd guitar - an Agile 10 Pendulum Pro in Wine Red. I try to limit my G.A.S to "one of each type". I have an Ibanez 8 string multi-scale, and a 20 string electro-acoustic harp guiiar, but nothing in-between - until now. If you think $65 is bad to re-string that thing, check out the prices for decent Fender Jazz 5 string bass strings - over $100 a set!
I am comfortable playing on a 7 string. Playing on an 8 string threw me off, until I played riffs in the key of A minor. The F# 8th string was weird but just playing A on the 3rd fret and using the G on the 1st fret as the subtonic, suddenly made playing on it make sense. Then trying to figure out the modes helped. If you tune the rest of the strings in 4ths, it probably would have made more sense. G#, C#, F#, B and then the rest EADGBE.
Your comment about muscle memory is pretty spot on. I can play nearly any stringed instrument upon first picking it up. EXCEPT banjo... fuck the banjo. Nothing feels weirder as a guitarist than to move your hand up a string and the pitch get higher. Other instruments like ukelele and mandolin take a bit to get used to the different intervals between the strings, but they still feel fairly natural once you figure that part out. . Idk if I even want 10 strings. Might as well just buy a grand piano at that point lol.
Started on 6 strings. During the lockdowns I got myself an Ibanez 7 string and spent 2 years learning it. Got myself an 8 string for Christmas the muscle memory is definitely all messed up lol. After a month I’m finally getting somewhat comfortable with it.
I've been playing 7-string for a little over a year, and I think having the extra range is definitely worth it. You might not use the extra string on every song, but it's great to add a little bit of that lower register. I can even see the benefit of an 8-string to add a low E, but it's hard to wrap my head around the idea of a 10-string, or what the purpose of that would be. I love the ingenuity of Agile's instruments, and I think I could find ways to use the 10-string, but it definitely wouldn't be my first choice.
I had a 9 string for 6 months... loved it, but found the difficulty of playing anything I had played on a 6 too much. Playing things that had no relation to 6 strings was a little more manageable... my hats off to those that rock these beasts...
I recently picked up an 8 string guitar, moving up from 6 string guitar / 5 string bass.. it feels really good knowing what I sound like now, is what you sound like on your first couple of takes too :)
Check out Stew Mac at www.stewmac.com/ and you can find the amp that I used in this video here www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/electronic-kits/amplifier-kits/62-brit-plex-45w-amp-kit/
lol, I know you're the Samurai Guitarists but how about we spend some time with that Amp hmm?
Maybe you need to find out how people learned to play these monstrosities. . . and why they prefer them?
I have to agree. I don’t see the appeal. I think it’s kind of like owning a souped up muscle car vs a Chevy - most of us would be just fine and flourish with that Chevy. The peeps with souped up Dodge Chargers that have the ultimate 500 Hemi, bucket seats, racing stripes, etc - like why would you ever need all that other than to gloat when the speed limit is like 65-75 mph in most places?! 😂😂😂
@brandonacker , send it to him. The guitar is an oddity so the choice of player should be unsually too. Plus, I'd love to see what a classical player with his start in metal would do with it.
How about Rick Beato?
Send it to TEREBERRY
Brandon Acker, classical guitarist who plays all kinds of super old stringed instruments like the lute and the theorbo. A lot of his stuff has heaps of strings and the look suits the meme of him being a vamire
Yeah, by that standard, these instruments are way more practical and accessible than an archlute, or a harp guitar, or even an acoustic piano really.
Or, really, people just want to look cool while playing chapman stick.
Wait I need Brandon Acker vampire memes stat.
Brandon was my guitar teacher at one point lol. Not sure I ever saw his reflection in the practice room’s shinier materials, so maybe he is a vampire.
@@alopiaskrieg that sounds like confirmation to me.
Watching you struggle with this as a guitarist reminds me of me as a violinist trying to learn guitar. “It’s a stringed instrument! Hell, there’s frets even! But the muscle memory is useless when the notes are so far apart!”
And your relief at going back to a 6 string and feeling competent again was so relatable.
Do you have perfect pitch? I've heard that it's extremely common in violinists (and similar instruments) because y'all have to be damned precise in finding notes
Just shows how different people react to a similar experience - I used to consider myself violinist and I had the best time learning the guitar! It basically changed my life
I studied the violin and piano since i was 12 but I picked up the guitar two years ago and I haven’t really put it down since. I progressed surprisingly quickly on the guitar and i just put it up to “it’s a giant violin with frets 😍” Now going BACK is trouble. The difficulty of playing violin seems much worse and even more pointless
I'm a guitarist learning violin, and I'm experiencing this in reverse. All of your notes are so close together! And you just gotta know where they are!
I'm feeling the opposite way, as a guitarist learning violin lmao.
Like where are my frets?
(I mean there is fretted violins, but that kinda defeats the original purpose of a violin)
@@mr.nobody68 Not perfect pitch - I can’t name a note or chord if you play it and ask me to name it.
However, I can tell you if something is flat or sharp, even if I can’t name the note.
But what I do know is that I always tune manually. Give me the pitch and I will tune my guitar to it. I don’t own a headstock tuner or pedal because that just takes me more time and effort than just playing the pitches.
However, I do need to hear each of the 6 pitches.
I’m not able to hear the 4ths on guitar. However I did get to the point on violin if you give me an A440 I can tune all 4 strings by listening to the 5ths.
I think Bradley Hall would be a cool person to send it to, he's a shred guy so it would be intersting to see him try tro make something on a guitar that isn't really made for his type of stuff. He's also a great metal composer so I think he would make something cool with it.
Yes I wanna see this lol
Oh Bradley Hall for sure!
So i heard stevie t and jared dines like guitars with lots of strings
@@fredriksvard2603 Nej. Där blir det nej. Bestämt nej. Skräddaren säger nej.
This guitar has a thin neck(at least it looks like it) and a flat fretboard. It's designed for shredding lol. I shred on my 9-string
I'd love to see what Charles Berthoud could do with it. He is a great bass player, and he does a lot of tapping. I think it would be perfect for him!
Came here to say exactly this. Charles occasionally plays guitar in his vids and he's no slouch. And he is, of course, an absolute bass god.
Please! I love Charles!
Charles would tear this up
Absolutely yes!
Yep, same.
Certified "just make friends with a bass player" moment
SEND IT TO PAUL DAVIDS!! would be super interesting to see his take on it
Actually ya know what... Yeah it would
I agree with this
I’d love to see Paul Davids’s or Rudy Ayoub’s take on this beast 😂
Edit: that final piece was actually beautiful, and I feel you made far better use out of the extended range than most Metal shredders.
Yes
Rudy Ayoubs take would be hilarious 😂
I second Paul.
Plus one for Paul, I expect Rudy to rant the crap out of it but secretly enjoying the dam thing
Rudy!
5:35 "I just spent $65 re-stringing this f***ing thing"
As a bassist, particularly one who owns a 37" multiscale 6 string bass, I found this hilarious 🤣
Having a 7 string bass I had a chuckle here
Some 4-string flatwound sets cost nearly that much lol
@@Ronofthedead07 I mean look at Thomastik-Infeld Jazz flats, lol.
Double bassist: Hold my beer...
I bought an Ibanez BTB806MS recently and the strings are 30$ more than my old six string BTB lol
From what I understand, the strings are usually tuned to
G#C#F#BEADGBE
Also, the person who sent it to Rob was Andrew Baena. You should definitely send it to Nik Nocternal to do some crazy stuff.
As someone whose first learned stringed instrument was a four string tenor guitar in DGBE, who then later had to learn to deal with the additional E and A strings on a standard six-string, I felt this in my soul. The path to incorporating additional strings can be long and painful.
As a 9 string (non metal) player, I found your measured approach quite interesting and refreshing.
I started on 6 then went to 7, later 8, and now 9. Jumping from 6 to 10 is quite the feat! Kudos.
I love that you also tried non metal ideas as extended range instruments can do so much more than chug in the lower register.
Lastly, I'd recommend an easier tuning (all 4ths is great), and tapping, as I personally feel that's where you can get the most out of 9 or 10 string guitars.
thats insightful. I just bought my first 7, and i may go up to 8 in the future, but playing 9? wow! and attempting 10, oh jeez!
I saw an interesting bit where Narciso Yepes explains that with a 10 string classical guitar he has sympathy strings for all 12 notes and with a 6-string only 4 of the 12.
I've been looking at the 8 string Ortega as well it's a nice price and to get my feet wet with more than 6 strings.
Chugging on the low strings of a 10 string guitar!!!
What are you smoking???
I want some!!!!😆😆
I have this exact guitar, more as a side-guitar than anything, a studio tool of sorts... and I can't do all 4ths, the lowest string being a G#. The G# is unintelligible, it has to be a low B or higher. That low B is still the same otave as the low B on a 5 string bass, so it's still pretty sweet. But then you have to settle for an awkward interval jump between two strings at some point up to the highest string, because there's no way you're tuning that high string above E on a 27" scale. Unless you want to get into some seriously avant garde string guages. Now that I read that in writing, yeah the whole situation is already avant garde af.
Fellow 9 string player here too! And someone who uses the full range too. Personally, coming previously from the 7 string, I've settled on BEBEADGBE as my tuning. Straight forward and makes sense.
Hey it might not seem like much, but thanks for pointing out how it took you an hour and 254 takes to nail the riffs. sometimes I get discouraged when I've played something 50 times and it still doesn't sound right and I doubt myself, but knowing it takes someone as talented as you to that long to pull some of these riffs off helps with remembering how long it takes to build up skills :)
When I am trying to learn a new song, but I just can't keep playing it right, I tell myself "hey, I invented a new song!!". Keeps my positive all the time. In fact, I have actually invented my own songs from other songs i was trying to learn, but butchered...
@@-jank-willson honestly this is fantastic advice. I've used many mistakes as the base for some killer riffs lol.
@@dixiemcgee8535 I also have this one-string diatonically fretted 'canjo' I built in elementary school on a class about basic music theory, I actually still use it to come up with some very basic tunes, which I then fully flesh out for the ol' 6-string. That's my other main method of making my own music lol.
@ Jank Willson I mean if it works it works. Limitation breeds creativity as they say \m/
@@dixiemcgee8535 don't diss the canjo, I can play all kinds of (albeit simplified) rock songs on it🤣
That metal riff was really dope. Way to use the expanded range.
I love watching Ichika Nito go ham on something like this and then come back down to earth with a video like this and feel like I have a chance at being a decent normal guitarist
Ham? Aw hell no
Man this guitar has been making the rounds for so many years, I completely forgot about it. Seeing Sammy whip it out was a fun surprise
Being a short person, I've only recently discovered how much a short-scale instrument makes playing so much more comfortable to me; this, THIS is a nightmare LOL.
I vote for Brandon Acker to be the next UA-cam guitarist to suffer!
yes, Brandon Acker for the win!
YES!! That would be awesome! Especially since he actually has experience with classical instruments with a excessive amounts of strings! Hell yeah!
Bro you should check out strandberg guitars dude they make short scale headless guitars and they are sick asf
also being short, my tiny beginner’s six string is kinda making me glad i didn’t jump to a 7 string like i initially planned.
@@CK-3K yeah i figured it out after 20 years of playing full sized, full scale guitars, and then got a parlor acoustic, 23" scale, and now i have a Jaguar 24" scale electric, and both are so much more comfortable to play.
I'm very happy to see Narciso Yepes and his 10 string guitar get some recognition. The idea behind his 10-string guitar was to provide more sustain to notes such as C, Bb Ab and Gb on the E string, by means of sympathetic vibrations on the 4 additional strings tuned to these pitches. So you would mostly play it like a traditional 6-string, with the benefit of more sustain and the ability to play repertoire for the lute without the need for transcription and allowing more literal piano transcriptions. Yepes was an exceptional player, and I encourage everyone to check out his recording of Muñeira from Mompou's Suite Compostelana.
I’ve owned one of these since 2018. I find the lowest sting unusable (sounds like farts) so I tuned both that and the next string to double drop B and it’s a lot more manageable to play. When you hit an open chord with that tuning, it’s intense. I don’t recommend the guitar to most people because it’s tough to wrangle but isn’t without its uses. After all, it’s in pictures on my dating profile and it really is a conversation starter!
Actual 10 string giga chat
The thing with the lower-end chords is that eventually at that tuning even pleasant sounding intervals are gonna start getting shitty. There's an actual name for that musical phenomenon that I cannot recall currently tho.
@@davidhollowelljr949 Low interval limit
@@negativize_11 yes! Thank you!
Dating profile!!!!
We have a winner here!!!!!!😆😆😆😆
Got to watch out for that low STING, it farts!!!!!😆
Put that on your dating profile!!!🤣🤣
The only time I’ve ever seen a similar guitar, like this being played well, was in Portugal. A guy was on the street just blistering away on that thing selling CDs. A lot of tapping seems to be an Intercal part of using this particular guitar. At least that’s how he used it. It was mesmerizing because he would be doing blistering leads and stuff.
Love to see and hear your takes on everything! I recently purchased a Harley Benton fanned fret 8-string which I use to play solo guitar. Upping the string gauges on the lowest 3 strings makes the 8-string a completely different beast when played fingerstyle. Tuning the lowest 2 strings to E and A gets rid of the learning curve, all you need do is move whatever you are playing on the 5th and 6th strings over 2 strings. Quick and easy fun...
That's an interesting tuning for it, I always thought that a 10 string guitar would just follow the 4ths/5ths intervals that other extended range guitars use (extra B string on a 7 string, F# on an 8 string, C# on a 9 string) and have a low G# string as the lowest note, but having the 3 bottom strings be tuned as the 3 lowest strings on a regular bass actually makes a lot of sense and makes it way more manageable and musical, I think, it's basically having a 7 string guitar + a bass on the same body. That last tune sounded amazing, though! Definitely something I would've expected from a 10 string electric guitar
I would love to see Ryan deal with this monstrosity on 60 cycle hum...
Agreed
Agreed
He would play surf with it
60 octave psycho bum
Lmao
Would be cool to see Adam Neely make a video on this thing. it's kind of a bass and I've a feeling I'd learn some abstract musical tidbits.
he would start by snapping off all the treble strings lol
This one actually made me LOL. Because Adam wouldn't spend much time playing it, he would get all reflective about it, and manage to throw in some bizarre music theory about some kind of chord you can only play on that instrument or something.
That feeling of disorientation is what I felt when I switched to a 5 string bass in 1987. 18 years of muscle memory down the tube! What that taught me was to stop looking at the fretboard and just think intervals.
I picked up an 8 string Ibanez at GC. I didn’t enjoy playing it. I might like a 7 string though.
I used to own one of these!
I miss it.
I used to tune it to be a standard tuned bass and guitar and play it through my bass amp and switch between bass and guitar on the songs I enjoyed playing.
You really should at least try a 7-string some time!! Those are really fun and after a while they feel pretty much just like a usual 6-string in terms of comfort, yet they add lots of inspiring possibilities even with just that one extra string!
Keith Merrow woke me up to the possibilities of a 7 string. I always thought it was just a crutch for lower and "heavier" riffs, but what keith merrow plays in a 7 string inspired me to get one.
I love how honest you are about the struggles of getting that perfect take
Your final piece was actually really cool. Worth the struggle I'd say.
+1
+2
0:04 Djent. You djent.
I recently played an 8 string guitar and my experience was the same as yours: confused, uncomfortable, unable to do what I normally do - very not-fun. I can truly appreciate those guitarists that do the work to make these things their own and progress into new territories🤘, but yeah it’s just not for me.
I owned a 7-string for about a year and that's about what it was like. I played the high strings more than anything on it. I enjoyed the longer scale length (26.5") it made me really want a baritone 6-string.
I've got an Ibanez RGD - like a normal RG, but a bit curvier and with a 26.5" neck.
I *_LOVE_* it! It's tuned BEADF#B most of the time. Low and heavy, but still very bright, lively and clear - no mushy notes.
If I can ever find one (and justify spending the money) I'd really like to get one of the RGIBs: six strings, 28" scale.
Awesome video, for once I like the honesty on those guitars. Most videos make it seems as if it was playing a 6 strings.
For the next one, I’d vote for Brandon Acker who is already used to weird stringed instruments but on the classical side. Would be fun to see what he can do with an electric.
Oh my Brandon would be cool
He also has a metalhead past, he's been a shredder
Dude that heavy riff you came up with was bangin!
You know, I've been playing exclusively 7 or 8 strings for over 10 years now, and I feel exactly what you mentioned in reverse. When I pick up a 6, my brain breaks 🤣
@samuraiguitarist HELP, I NEED AN ADULT.
Weird, when I pick up a six string, everything just feels like easy mode.
6-strings are easy but I feel VERY limited. I can't play as many things because I've learned a lot of riffs specific to extended range instruments.
@@clenchedfistsyndrome1439 I dont know about easy, but a 6 string definitely feels a bit 'toy-ish' to me after playing 7 string nearly exclusively for decades.
7:34 I used to take my guitars to a tech named Ralph Novak in Emeryville (next to Berkeley Ca) back in the 80's.
There I saw some of the first fanned fret guitars ever made. Ralph was the inventor of Novax Guitars.
I think he lives in Washington state now.
That was Charlie Hunter's luthier for a long time. Those things were famous!
I would love to hear him compose a country song with that surfboard
Yup, I was thinking he could attach some wheels and go skate on it!
I recommend Brandon Acker to send this to. He plays not just guitar but also the 14-stringed Theorbo, which I imagine is how this instrument should be used akin to.
He'd pull it off with is Theorbo skills, way too easy
BA is a beast would love to see that
I was going to say Brandon as well! He started off playing metal on electric guitar in high school.
The thing that helped me with extended range guitars is to treat it like a totally seperate instrument, approach it as you would learning something for the first time & throw out all your preconceptions about the instrument before you start.
I'm a bassist/guitarist. That thing is such a hybrid of both I'd love to try one. Think the string spacing would be weird like you brought up. Thanks for the review,now I definitely gotta check one out.
Ah! The Agile Pendulum Pro 102730. Very nice! I've had mine since 2017, and I love it. The only crappy things are it's hard to find certain hardware and strings for this behemoth.
It all actually sounded really good, esp the metal part and the last song. Beautiful.
I love mine, i got it because it was cheaper than the baritones, 8 and 9 strings at the time for the scale length i wanted. I love it, i can play and or cover just about any song without having to change tuning completely. The extra last high string is always used as an accent or dissonance. It feels wonderful for how monstrous it is. Once you get used to hand positions and what strings to skip.. it's a breeze to play.
I always forget that guitar youtubers like Sammy G. and other don't do everything with one take, it's just a whole new world and it demonstrates that they are human too.
I certainly would had more trouble even coming up with riffs (let alone record them, lol), even tho i just got my first 7 string a few months ago.
btw
Associating 7 or more strings with metal is almost like the equivalent of linking found footage to horror movies. It's not a bad thing, it just somehow come to my mind.
With that being said, i would love to see what would Nik Nocturnal do with 2 more strings :)
Thank you for your transparency. You are clearly a tremendous guitarist. This is exactly how I feel when I pick up my 8-string, which I’ve had for about 4 months…
I SO much appreciate Sammy G. admitting how many takes it took to hammer out something for us to listen to! I guess it goes to show, just because you can drive a car doesn't mean you can drive a tank! 😆
this is so relatable. I'm a bass player who dabbles in guitar, and for whatever reason when i went from 4 strings to 5 it was so great and natural, and from a 6 string guitar to a 7 was easy, but when i hit that 6 string bass mark or the 8 string guitar, my brain stops working, the neck is too wide, and i start losing the connection between the string i'm fretting and where to pluck to hit that same string. that's just one extra string, i cant imagine adding 3 extra strings and making anything coherent. this struggle is too real.
My first guitar was a 7-string, even though I mostly play regular guitars now, it still feels like a string is missing
same, i play a 8 string currently. love my 6 strings and 7 string but something always feels missing
My first guitar was a 6 string, and I am waiting for my first 7 string guitar to arrive, it's and Ibanez. And I'm really excited, It will be a challenge but I can't wait
@@506hunterst hope you have fun with it, my first 7 string was a ibanez rg series i bought second hand and i love it to death
@@Pengulin I tried out in the store, and I just kinda fell in love with it lol, can't wait to play it. Idk what model it is though
man totally. i actually just can’t go back to 6-string at this point. every once in a while I happen to play someone’s instrument (99% it’s 6-string obviously), all i can think of is “damn, there should be at least another one”.
to be fair, I’m not a metal guy and play my instrument clean most of the time, so really for that part I don’t rely that much on a lower register, but damn it so handy when it’s there - just to add extra fatness occasionally with some inversions for otherwise all-too-common chord voicings. the devil is truly in the small details and it shows.
btw my machine is South Korean Schekter C-7 Custom. loving it for all the years I own it, every time i pick it up still.
Imagine the stress on the neck… a 6 string bass has like 350kg between the bridge and neck, this thing would be off the charts!
it's at best 80 kg.
As someone who makes music for UA-cam/Instagram. It was really nice seeing your first and last takes.
This is the second video I watch with you playing an extended range guitar. The other video being the "Boomer guitar vs. Millennial Guitar" with the 7-string. I love that you don't immediately go to metal because that is what I see everywhere else on UA-cam. I'd actually love to see you play an 8-string guitar if you haven't already done so and hear your thoughts on that.
Send it to Andy Rehfeldt! He's definitely underrated and underutilized in the guitar community. The guy shreds and would be nice to see a fresh face in a series like this.
That guy is a wizard
But I believe Andy is a lefty
Andy Rehfeldt is a gift to humanity. i still come back to his stuff after over 10 years
@@DugNastyMusic uh oh!!!
He will die early and is not nearly as smart as a righty!!!
Can’t stand left handed guitarists!!!
Play the damn thing like it’s meant to be played! Like Kiko does!!! 😆
I love how you're completely honest about how it's hard to play this thing. It definitely is and I think most of us would feel the exact same way 😂
But it's really soothing that you're not showing us how you just shred right away but emphasise that there's a lot of work behind it and it's okay to not be instantly brilliant at every single aspect of the guitar universe.
By the way - I would recommend to send it to either Bernth or Bradley Ball 😁🤘
I'd love to see Mary Spender struggle with this thing 😂
she would probably come up with a killer song!
Mary Spender is a great suggestion! No doubt she'd do something magnificent with it.
SG: I feel your pain on this one. It's not that you can't make music on the 10-string; rather, it's a question of how much time and effort it takes to get there. BTW, your original piece at the end was by far the most enjoyable part of the entire video - a blend of what Aaron Copland called "the familiar and the unexpected" that is characteristic of all great music. Superb. Subscribed. - Vito
Just bought a 7 string acoustic and played it. It’s an Agile, it’s fan fret. And I absolutely love it. This guitar though, seems like hell. I can only understand adding more strings (like you mentioned) in classical or metal, I’m doing 60’s singer songwriter folk, Nick Drake like stuff. It’s perfect for adding more texture and harmony between notes in an alternate tuning.
I actually would like to see what Bernth would do with this thing! dont know if you know him. He is a really great Guitarist from Austria
Yeah! I wanna see Bernth shred that axe
You should try a strandberg for this series, you can better explore the fanned frets and also you can talk about that weird neck profile they do, would be interesting!
Well done SammyG! It was fun to see the creative struggle.
I think Darrell Braun would probably have a good time frustrating himself with this, as you did. Or maybe Max Carlisle from Guitar Max. These guys do some great 6 string work, so seeing what they could do with 10 should be fun.
Edit: Ryan from 60 Cycle Hum would be fun too I think. This was on the tip of my brain and I just couldn't find it when I first posted. 😋
One thing i've noticed having made the jump from 6 to 8 string was that the more you think about it, the more difficult it is to play because of overthinking it. just acknowledge that your standard scales now go lower by however many strings you got and leave it at that.
In the 80's in my late teens,I used to tune my lower two or three strings down super low on my 6 string electric and would Dgent. On my clean channels,or acoustic,i would sometimes swap heavier gauge strings and tune down my lower 2 strings and play as much bass as I could along with my other strings. Very complicated at times with use of finger tapping,pull-offs,hammer-ons and sometimes trilling partial chords and using right hand to hold certain strings down to help form chords and,or separate notes. I wish I could afford one of these,but I'm far from having fully explored 6 strings. And mastery is beyond my life cycle. Fantastic playing and vid.
8:56 "Best encompasses what the instrument does"
*Proceeds to play the literal opposite of djent*
To be fair, the purpose of extended range guitars isn't only to play djent/thall/extreme metal. Like, there are multiple people who write really beautiful guitar songs with 8 and 9 strings like Rob Scallon and Ichika Nito
But yeah, the fact that he didn't go directly to 00000000 also annoyed me a lil bit cuz I'm a metal nerd lol
@@meloxdeath I get what you're saying, but this 10 string guitar (and you cannot deny it) was made for djent. I know that some in the jazz scene like 7s and 8s for the extended range, but this is a 10 string and we both know only 1 kind of person buys a 10 string lol
I do like the idea of 7+ string guitar being used for more diverse things than just Metal or Jazz. I think it would take a company brave enough to make a 7/8/9 string that really compliments more genre and could be a more general work-horse. Hell, I'd love to someone use this for Shoegaze or Country, using the lower strings as accompanying drones for chords played further up. I really liked the funk example you gave, so there's potential there too. Overall, I'd like to see more people pick it up and try different things.
I love my 8 string more for its clean tones than it’s distorted metal ones.
What would change other than the pickups to make this viable for different genres? The same applies to 6 strings, where the only real differences in tone come from the pickups, bridge style, and scale length.
Strandberg bodens come in 6-8 strings with floating or hard tail bridges, basically every major pickup type, and are incredibly ergonomic, only weighing about 6-7lbs and having every cutout you need for different playing positions. They're about 2 grand but after you play one it definitely makes sense why, but their endurneck shape can take some getting used to and some people don't like it.
Schecter made jazz 7 strings in the 90s/00s with huuuuuge bodies. Awesome instruments!
This struggle reminds me of when I had to go from playing an extremely shreddy style of heavy metal to playing pure classical guitar. I was pretty floored at how little of my skill transferred over, even if it seems obvious now why they wouldn't.
It's actually easier if you cam afford a 20 000 classical guitar
@@adaptercrash That's actually what my instructor told me lol
Samurai has reached full uncanny valley for music instruments
"Normally when I'm playing a guitar, I'm enjoying myself. This has been the one exception I've ever come across." That remark pretty much summed it up for me.
Your channel is such a breath of fresh air compared to all the channels that just try to shred and impress people. You're classy.
Classy is the word!
As a teacher, showing his process is fundamental.
It's awesome to show how you learn to get to the impress levels
I mean.. you HAVE to send it to Trogly! I would love to see him struggle with that!
It took me ages to get used to 8 strings and it melted my brain for a while. Definitely worth the struggle in the end.
Thank you for suffering for our amusement, and thanks again for sticking with it long enough to produce some good sounding samples, even if it took 254 attempts. I've never played a 7 or 8 string, but was curious. That beast does not tempt me even a little. You basically described the uncanny valley, but for guitar: Close enough to familiar that it should be okay except that no no no no no it is not okay. Good work as always.
The last example you played sounded the best to my ears. Musical, felt great and used the range of this instrument well. I'm curious if you improvised that last musical excerpt or was it a written piece?
I think you did great! I mean, sure it's a guitar, but it might an entire different instrument considering the different techniques, playing style and musical style it requires 👍
For anyone who might not know his sponsor for the episode isn’t just a sponsor trying to get their product out there however they can. They really are the gold standard for luthier tools.
I’m glad you included Narciso Yepes as the classical example of 10 string guitar playing. He was a master who added many works to the 10 string guitar.
Anytime anyone asks me what the point if my 8 string is…is say “think of it like a piano, you have access to a much larger range…” to add accompaniment without needing another instrument it gives the ability to add more fulfillment to what your playing….i went from a Gibson Black Beauty 57 Reissue to an 8….and i never want to go back to a 6…8s feel better to play …especially with its fan frets…they are more practical than a 6 and take no time at all to get used to…Listen to Animals as Leaders and you will HEAR what the point of an extended range guitar is…they are not just for metal….hell listen to Javier Reyes play his 8 string Ortega classical ….
Dude nice work…. Love that you didn’t try to sell it. I think I kept my 7 string for a couple months before I convinced myself that I simply didn’t enjoy it!
Dude, it’s not his. He’s supposed to send it to another youtuber now.
I had my 7 string for 20 years before i sold it. I much prefer 6
Ichika Nito is a highly adaptive player, and I think he would have an absolute field day with this weird guitar.
this is the best suggestion so far
Yes, perfect
I also think this is a great suggestion
He already has a 14 string so this isn't so exciting. He should send it to someone who has never experienced something like this
ITS A DJENT STICK
I went and bought the samurai guitar course, and I gotta say it has completely elevated my skills as a guitar player. Finally, I understand what the modes of the major scale are and how to play them in any key on guitar. 10/10 do recommend
There are very good reasons why the six is so popular. A seven string is a nice convenience when you want to play all of the rock genres without having to tune down or have a differently tuned axe. But even a seven string is more difficult to play, because the higher strings are out of your line of sight unless you lean over a bit more.
Having a friend to play bass is the best way to get another four strings in the song.
I was awful on an 8 string but after 2 weeks it became my go to
Thanks for telling it like it is. Now get a Chapman stick and see what happens. I bet it is better because you will be holding it differently and aren't picking/plucking the strings so your brain won't be trying to apply your guitar muscle memory. And rather than being a novelty instrument, Chapman sticks have a long, legitimate history (the first time I heard one was Tony Levin's work on Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers", and that was 1980).
Also on Cynic's album Focus on a few tracks like Textures
That metal attempt was crazy good and that last piece was great! You definitely made the best out of the additional real estate!
The original patent for multiscale guitars (and thus fanned frets) was issued about 1900-1910. The metal sounded decent, and drop tuned dissonant metal being what it is, the audience would never notice a missed note. Thanks to you I just bought my 93rd guitar - an Agile 10 Pendulum Pro in Wine Red. I try to limit my G.A.S to "one of each type". I have an Ibanez 8 string multi-scale, and a 20 string electro-acoustic harp guiiar, but nothing in-between - until now. If you think $65 is bad to re-string that thing, check out the prices for decent Fender Jazz 5 string bass strings - over $100 a set!
I am comfortable playing on a 7 string. Playing on an 8 string threw me off, until I played riffs in the key of A minor. The F# 8th string was weird but just playing A on the 3rd fret and using the G on the 1st fret as the subtonic, suddenly made playing on it make sense. Then trying to figure out the modes helped. If you tune the rest of the strings in 4ths, it probably would have made more sense. G#, C#, F#, B and then the rest EADGBE.
I think we need a BASS master to play this one
A certain SLAPPER
A superbass master?
Epico!
Rabea Massaad would be a super cool one! Not sure if he’s up for it but you should consider!
That was unironically the most original and interesting metal riff I've heard on a 7+ string guitar in decades.
uhhh listen to any revocation riff. or beyond creation riff. or spawn of possession riff. or any other band.
what an incredibly ignorant thing to say
lol
What was the coral strat with the lipstick pickups? I really dug the sound of that! Great work as always!!
dude you fucking killed it at the end! I feel like besides metal its meant to be played that way. String skip slappy stuff! Got my sub!
This is clearly not for you.
Your comment about muscle memory is pretty spot on. I can play nearly any stringed instrument upon first picking it up. EXCEPT banjo... fuck the banjo. Nothing feels weirder as a guitarist than to move your hand up a string and the pitch get higher. Other instruments like ukelele and mandolin take a bit to get used to the different intervals between the strings, but they still feel fairly natural once you figure that part out.
.
Idk if I even want 10 strings. Might as well just buy a grand piano at that point lol.
Started on 6 strings. During the lockdowns I got myself an Ibanez 7 string and spent 2 years learning it. Got myself an 8 string for Christmas the muscle memory is definitely all messed up lol. After a month I’m finally getting somewhat comfortable with it.
I've been playing 7-string for a little over a year, and I think having the extra range is definitely worth it. You might not use the extra string on every song, but it's great to add a little bit of that lower register. I can even see the benefit of an 8-string to add a low E, but it's hard to wrap my head around the idea of a 10-string, or what the purpose of that would be. I love the ingenuity of Agile's instruments, and I think I could find ways to use the 10-string, but it definitely wouldn't be my first choice.
Thank you for this! My 7 string Strandberg was something to really get used to. The end sounded great!
Just an awesome episode🤘🏿🤘🏿🤘🏿🤘🏿💯💯💯
I’m not sure what to do?
5:16 Sounds like the music from the video game “Toe Jam & Earl” for the Sega Genesis.
I had a 9 string for 6 months... loved it, but found the difficulty of playing anything I had played on a 6 too much. Playing things that had no relation to 6 strings was a little more manageable... my hats off to those that rock these beasts...
“I’m sure there are tens of people in the world who would enjoy this.” 😂
I recently picked up an 8 string guitar, moving up from 6 string guitar / 5 string bass..
it feels really good knowing what I sound like now, is what you sound like on your first couple of takes too :)