# 8 string for Death Metal or Doom?



## StormyC93 (Feb 9, 2013)

So surely somebody with an 8 string has used it for some straight up Death or Doom. What were the results?


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## Infamous Impact (Feb 9, 2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK4mjx_A8G0


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## Basti (Feb 9, 2013)

Does it count?


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## Infamous Impact (Feb 9, 2013)

Basti said:


> Does it count?



They play in drop A on 7s.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 9, 2013)

Infamous Impact said:


> They play in drop A on 7s.



Completely slipped my mind even though I have been listening to this non stop for days.  Singer/guitarist has custom 8 string.


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## r3tr0sp3ct1v3 (Feb 9, 2013)

StormyC93 said:


> Completely slipped my mind even though I have been listening to this non stop for days.  Singer/guitarist has custom 8 string.




That bass tone is amazing. xD


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## The Grief Hole (Feb 9, 2013)

Portal use 8's now.


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## crg123 (Feb 9, 2013)

This thread is awesome just found two new favorite bands >.<


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## pestilentdecay (Feb 9, 2013)

I'm pretty sure Scott Hull from Agoraphobic Nosebleed/Pig Destroyer uses an 8 string, but I'm not sure how extensively he uses the 8th string...


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## Infamous Impact (Feb 9, 2013)

This isn't strictly death metal, more tech death wankery, but it's 8 string.


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## The Scenic View (Feb 9, 2013)

Infamous Impact said:


> This isn't strictly death metal, more tech death wankery, but it's 8 string.




Fucking yes! I'm so happy these guys have recognition. They're truly some of the best death metal I've heard in a while. I'm also proud to say my band has became good friends with them!


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## SP1N3SPL1TT3R (Feb 9, 2013)

IMO, 8 strings are not really for death metal. DM's generally to fast and uses too much distortion, for the low register of the 8th string. Tuning to G#, is the lowest I'd ever go for playing DM, especially if I had a bass player.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 10, 2013)

Well I like the idea of a super low end in a death metal song but especially in a doom song. I want a crushingly heavy doom sound. And I love Beyond Creation and Agoraphobic Nosebleed. I've heard great things about Portal and I'm digging Archspire.


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## MindDusk (Feb 10, 2013)

For doom metal, even extreme doom, funeral doom etc, there is no band that tune as low as a 8 string, that is for a good reason, it is true, the guitar sounds very heavy with that low tuning, but the problem is, you play both bass and guitar at the same time... The bass can't be one octave lower to cover the low frequencies, I tried myself, and I have come to the conclusion that Ab is the lowest doom tuning you should use. One more reason to not tune lower if you play doom is you need good string tension and sustain. You will not get a heaver sound just cause you tune lower and lower... I promise you that..especially not for doom..there is limits.. the heaviness you get of how the guitar and bass sound together... 

For doom metal I would go with a 28.5 inch scale guitar, 060 strings and Ab tuning. 
I have tried strings up to 080, they sound like a joke with power chords... especially non harmonic dissonant chords sounds like a joke, so try to not use thicker strings then you have too.. try to find the right balance..but I am telling you if you go above 060 there will be muddy as fuck.. I am sure none of the djent guys agree..but they do not play doom and long sustaining stuff etc.. I think it is 10 times harder to find the right guitar for doom metal, because for death metal the tempo is much higher and in general..and you use a lot of "high attack" sounds, and not as much sustain, so it is less demanding of what guitar/strings you use etc... that is my opinion. You can check out my guitar here, I play doom. http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/227421-my-gng-morgoth-nn7.html

I had the Ibanez 8 string first, I thought it would be perfect for doom, I just found it useful when I was jamming around and playing alone without a full band, cause you play both bass and guitar at the same time so it sounds more heavy, but with a full mix and bass, it sounds just better if you tune up the guitar..cause you need the sustain.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 10, 2013)

Well there is a Doom band around where I live that uses two bassist and I got the idea to emulate that will a 5-6 string bass and a 8 string guitar but I can understand the logic of why this wouldn't work.


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## Brohoodofsteel75 (Feb 10, 2013)

Works fine. Why wouldn't it? I say get a 9. Its much more Brutal.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 10, 2013)

Brohoodofsteel75 said:


> Works fine. Why wouldn't it? I say get a 9. Its much more Brutal.



I would imagine that 9th string literally just clangs when you hit it.


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## abandonist (Feb 10, 2013)

I've been playing doom, death, and grind for 18 years. 

I used to play with bass strings on a baritone and tune way the fuck down to wobbly noise. Now I tune way the fuck down to wobbly noise on an 8 string.

Fuck what anyone tells you. Do that shit and make it sound gross - like death and doom should.

abandonist


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## Brohoodofsteel75 (Feb 10, 2013)

StormyC93 said:


> I would imagine that 9th string literally just clangs when you hit it.



Up the string gauge and Scale length.


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## 8StringX (Feb 10, 2013)

They don't use an 8-string, but Mortician has tuned down to G on their last couple albums and even down to E on some songs on Re-Animated Dead Flesh.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 10, 2013)

Well I had already decided on it but this even more so makes me want to buy an 8 string. Going to order a RG8 when I get the money and through in some BNP Warpig 8 string.


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## crg123 (Feb 10, 2013)

^ Do it! The Warpig 8 sounds great, my friend has it in his Strictly 7+1, AnarchyDivine88 on here if you want to talk to him about it.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 10, 2013)

crg123 said:


> ^ Do it! The Warpig 8 sounds great, my friend has it in his Strictly 7+1, AnarchyDivine88 on here if you want to talk to him about it.



Yeah, I made a thread about it which he answered. I'm hoping he could make a video for it


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## AmbienT (Feb 10, 2013)

Infamous Impact said:


> This isn't strictly death metal, more tech death wankery, but it's 8 string.




Holy fuark! It's so refreshing to see some tech death stuff played on 8's as opposed to the huge wave of djent bands that I've seen recently.

Now to go nag the guys for guitar pro tabs for this


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## Qersty (Feb 11, 2013)

MindDusk said:


> For doom metal, even extreme doom, funeral doom etc, there is no band that tune as low as a 8 string.



Bongripper - Worship - YouTube

Let me introduce you to a band called Bongripper. F standard on cheap Les Paul knockoffs, i think one of the guitarists also plays a seven string flying v-ish guitar.


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## StormyC93 (Feb 11, 2013)

Some of the stuff I want to do is Cannibal Corpse classic death, Beyond Creation tech death, Bongripper sludge, and Woods of Ypres doom. I will even try to make some heavy thrash.


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## OmegaDoyle (Feb 11, 2013)

Warhorse gets down low and whenever they fear that the bass may go undetected, they simply stop playing their guitars for a while and the bass keeps going. Ingenious.

I should also mention that they do not use 8 strings, but they use a tuning that isn't far off from 8 tuning and I think it sounds great for Doom!


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Feb 11, 2013)

Qersty said:


> Bongripper - Worship - YouTube
> 
> Let me introduce you to a band called Bongripper. F standard on cheap Les Paul knockoffs, i think one of the guitarists also plays a seven string flying v-ish guitar.


I came in to post this.


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## crg123 (Feb 11, 2013)

Wow I'm so happy about this thread, I've been looking for stuff like this for awhile.


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## MetalBuddah (Feb 11, 2013)

Only thing I can seem to write on my 8 string is some down and dirty death metal


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## Pedantic (Feb 11, 2013)

Does anyone know if the bass in bongripper goes an octave down or does it match the guitars?


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## mishabasi (Feb 11, 2013)

Def not for everyone but portal uses 8's. I personally love how fucked up and abstract they are. They go for lo-fi sounds on purpose btw.
Portal - "Larvae" - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1FA-m0C_iI


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## jwade (Feb 12, 2013)

I've been tuning my 7 down to dropped D#, and it works really well for doom. It's an RG7621 with a 68 for the low D#, and I'll probably get a 70 or 72 pretty soon to tighten it up a bit for a little more definition on palm-muted parts, but it's completely convinced me to get an 8 in the very near future. Looking forward to writing an entire album based around D#/A#/D#/G#/C#/F#/A#/D#


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## Pandemican (Feb 12, 2013)

Pedantic said:


> Does anyone know if the bass in bongripper goes an octave down or does it match the guitars?



It goes an octave lower.


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## Arcanerain (Feb 12, 2013)

StormyC93 said:


> Some of the stuff I want to do is Cannibal Corpse classic death, Beyond Creation tech death, Bongripper sludge, and Woods of Ypres doom. I will even try to make some heavy thrash.



It should sound fine, I play a bit of doom bow and again usually stuff by draconian, paradise lost (old stuff), novembers doom and I tried playing some daylight dies songs but I didn't manage to pick them up. These bands are probably more death-doom and they don't tune quite as low as drop G,F and E. I have tried tuning to drop D1 to try and play some of draconians songs a they tune to D2 standard, but the 8th string was too muddy and floppy ad went out of tune pretty quickly. 

Though I think you should do it, mainly to experiment and have fun with. I intended to buy an 8-string for playing doom and you can get some great sounds out of it. I sometimes play some of Metallicas old thrash songs and play some of the heavier riffs on the lower strings and I really like how it sounds. Theoretically and 8-string does enter the bass register but an 8-string tuned to E1 doesn't sound the same as E1 on a bass, but maybe it will be a different story when I start using bass strings on my guitar. Hope this has been of some help.


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## Winspear (Feb 12, 2013)

I'm writing a fully orchestrated tech death solo EP right now, just give me a couple years  90% of the parts that come into my head I am surprised to find are in F or Eb..I did not expect to be writing down there so much but it sounds nothing but awesome!



StormyC93 said:


> I would imagine that 9th string literally just clangs when you hit it.


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## kris_jammage (Feb 12, 2013)

There is a Death Metal band from Ireland called Putrefy who use 8's, but mostly tuned down 7's. check them out, pretty brutal/gorey stuff, and stupidly heavy!


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## Stealthdjentstic (Feb 12, 2013)

Infamous Impact said:


> This isn't strictly death metal, more tech death wankery, but it's 8 string.




All of their stuff is actually in B standard for 7's. Only one guitarist uses an 8 and incorporates the low notes once a blue moon. 

They are great though amd Dean used to teach me!


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## Rap Hat (Feb 18, 2013)

In terms of Doom, there's tons of bands that do super low shit, usually on 6's though. Bongripper's already been mentioned, but they're a shining example of what you can do tuned low.


Oh, and Thou!


I mainly play doom/sludge (like Yob, Thou, Bongripper, etc.) stuff, and it's usually on an 8-string multiscale. Though I've been working on some songs using a 6-string tuned to drop F&#9839; and drop-A.

If an 8 will be better than a low tuned six, that's completely dependent on what you're looking for. Getting the floppy, basslike sludge tone that Bongripper has is a lot easier on a six, as the short scale plays a huge role in that.


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## AmishRefugee (Feb 18, 2013)

In terms of more classic death/black metal, Ihsahn has been using 8-strings on his last two albums with pretty fantastic results


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## Francis978 (Feb 18, 2013)

Just took a listen to Bongripper

...Dat low end O.O


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## CrownofWorms (Feb 19, 2013)

I'd recommend the Cursed record by Ion Dissonance





It's like a Grindocre record with modern tech death influences with some Dillinger Escape Plan. Really over the top. Not your average 8 string band that knocks off Meshuggah


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## mike90t09 (Feb 19, 2013)

Disfiguring the Goddess' new stuff is going to be on 8 strings if you are into him.


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## obZenity (Feb 19, 2013)

I'm actually working on some Prog Doom stuff that mainly focuses around my 6 string dropped and a half step down, with my 8 used for really low parts and accents, etc.

Also, check out the new Tony Danza if you want some good 8 string shtuff.


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## CrownofWorms (Feb 19, 2013)

mike90t09 said:


> Disfiguring the Goddess' new stuff is going to be on 8 strings if you are into him.



Actually all of their stuff is tuned to F# standard or Drop F. Its not specific on what is what.


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## mike90t09 (Feb 20, 2013)

CrownofWorms said:


> Actually all of their stuff is tuned to F# standard or Drop F. Its not specific on what is what.



Oh cool I didn't know that.


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