# Non standard 8 tunings.



## facepalm66 (Jan 20, 2013)

I wonder if anyone else is fancy tuning differently except for stand or drop tuning on the 8?

So i tune my 8 low to high - E A D A D F# A D, and drop the E to D sometimes for some lower stuff, and get full open D. 
No, I don't usually play blues on the 8 with a slide.

Any other nice tunings while not going turbo low like C etc.?
Really would like to stumble upn something naturally jazzy maybe


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## MikeH (Jan 20, 2013)

Nothing too out of the ordinary for me. I tune to Drop Ab with a low D#. But I know Danza tunes to something like EBEBEBF#B, or something close.


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## Joshua (Jan 20, 2013)

When I had an 8, I did 7 string tuning in Dropped F, with a high F for the highest string


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## metal_sam14 (Jan 20, 2013)

I recently tried: F#, B, F#, B, E, G#, C#, F# (L-H)

It is drop-B on the inner 6 strings, with a high and low F# on either side.


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## jobarnrd (Jan 20, 2013)

Danzas tuning is a lot of fun. i went back to EBEADGBE for Jazz voicings made easy.


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## HOKENSTYFE (Jan 20, 2013)

I go EBEADGBE. I think it's in your style of play to get that jazzy-style to come out. If I'm not mistaken this tuning is Tosin's, as well. Makes sense to have the 3E's.

Working on getting an AEADGCEA tuning. Will update the findings when I get around to it.


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## Dayn (Jan 20, 2013)

Only GEBGDAEB, standard with a high G. I love that minor third so much, so many awesome voicing opportunities. But I use drop E and I only have one eight-string, so...

Then there's the other Animals As Leaders tuning, standard with a low A and C#. Just a semitone above your threshold. Nice low notes and interesting phrasing.


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## edonmelon (Jan 21, 2013)

I don't have an 8, but I once played a friend's RGA8 tuned to D#F#C#G#C#F#BE (low to high). Weird stuff, but fun as hell to play around with.
I don't know what led him to tune to that though!


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## Philligan (Jan 21, 2013)

MikeH said:


> Nothing too out of the ordinary for me. I tune to Drop Ab with a low D#. But I know Danza tunes to something like EBEBEBF#B, or something close.



EBEBEf#be  I've messed around with it, it's actually pretty cool, but having so many strings the same I found that I usually ended up playing the same thing in different octaves  I didn't spend too much time with it, so I'm sure once you get used to it more ideas would come out. I stumbled across one really cool riff on it, I tried to replicate it in drop E and it was a lot harder to play.



metal_sam14 said:


> I recently tried: F#, B, F#, B, E, G#, C#, F# (L-H)
> 
> It is drop-B on the inner 6 strings, with a high and low F# on either side.



That's a really cool one, I'm gonna give it a try. Thanks man 

My vote for jazzy stuff is drop E, too. I think standard tuning really lends itself to jazz voicings, and dropping your 7th or 8th string a step just lets you extend chords more easily. Standard 7 string tuning for jazz guys is drop A, same with the few guys playing 7 string acoustics. You could tune to a jazzy open chord, but then it's a lot more work to get outside of that one voicing. Standard gives you the best neutral base to hit lots of different voicings.

If you're feeling crazy, one of Josh's tunings with Glass Cloud is F, C, G, C, f, g, a, e, low to high. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one  I figured out, four of those strings are drop C, and the low F is a standard-style fourth below the C, so that kinda makes sense. Then the high strings go F, G, A  and somehow a regular high E ties into that


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## Rook (Jan 21, 2013)

I might start tuning to BEEFBEEF just because every time I read it I lol hard.

Otherwise I use double octave drop shape tunings an awful lot, EBEBEGBE on 8, FCFCFG#C on 7 and some of the best riffs I've written were in those tunings. 

I say best, I mean the ones I've written then thought 'how the fuck did I do that' the most times  The last 5 or 6 clips on my soundcloud are those tunings.


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## Rook (Jan 21, 2013)

I might start tuning to BEEFBEEF just because every time I read it I lol hard.

Otherwise I use double octave drop shape tunings an awful lot, EBEBEGBE on 8, FCFCFG#C on 7 and some of the best riffs I've written were in those tunings. 

I say best, I mean the ones I've written then thought 'how the fuck did I do that' the most times  The last 5 or 6 clips on my soundcloud are those tunings.


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## Solodini (Jan 21, 2013)

I recently played around with GADGBF#GD, which was really nice.


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## Kroaton (Jan 21, 2013)

FFAGDAD is particularly cool if you have a gay dad and a stutter.


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## ben_hurt (Jan 21, 2013)

personally I use:
(low-to-high)
C#G#C#G#C#F#A#D#

Basically, it's drop D, down a half step, add a low 'A', then drop again. I can't really get chords out of the low two strings and have them sound particularly nice, but I'm matched up with the bass player in my band so we can double riffs. doomysludgeygoodness. (we also both play through bass amps)


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## WaffleTheEpic (Jan 21, 2013)

F Bb F Bb Eb F Bb Eb, or Monuments 8 string tuning / TesseracT tuning with an extra F.

Sorta like the Danza tuning, just higher.


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## Kroaton (Jan 21, 2013)

WaffleTheEpic said:


> F Bb F Bb Eb F Bb Eb, or Monuments 8 string tuning / TesseracT tuning with an extra F.
> 
> Sorta like the Danza tuning, just higher.



Isn't that what Brown (bearded midget wizard master) tunes his 8s too anyhow?


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## WaffleTheEpic (Jan 21, 2013)

Kroaton said:


> Isn't that what Brown (bearded midget wizard master) tunes his 8s too anyhow?



Yep. But he plays in Monuments, so I just call it Monuments tuning. xD

Not to mention that tuning minus the low F is what TesseracT uses / what Acle Kahney (and I think Browne as well) used in FellSilent


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## Sean1242 (Jan 21, 2013)

My band uses F/Drop Ab (7 string). Nothing too out of the ordinary.


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## facepalm66 (Jan 22, 2013)

Philligan said:


> If you're feeling crazy, one of Josh's tunings with Glass Cloud is F, C, G, C, f, g, a, e, low to high. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one  I figured out, four of those strings are drop C, and the low F is a standard-style fourth below the C, so that kinda makes sense. Then the high strings go F, G, A  and somehow a regular high E ties into that



Man this stuff is just crazy..  a mandatory to mess around for a week or two

I tried to do the monuments tuning, but higher strings are too thick, need some thinner ones! 
I think I'm using 10's on the 28.2 scale, which is what I used on a 25.5 for D stand


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## facepalm66 (Jan 22, 2013)

Sean1242 said:


> My band uses F/Drop Ab (7 string). Nothing too out of the ordinary.


 
Noone ever said it has to be out of this world and something uberly magic about it... Just different, non standard tuning.
Cheers


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## TTWC Ben (Jan 22, 2013)

E A E A D G B E but up half a step. Love the double octave thing on the low strings.


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## Suho (Jan 23, 2013)

I use 7-string "lute" tuning and alternate the lowest string between E and F#. So, E-B-E-A-D-F#-B-E and F#-B-E-A-D-F#-B-E.


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## MikeH (Oct 24, 2013)

Necrobumping this thread to include the new tuning I'm trying out for a new project I'm working on:

CGDADFAD

So it's Opeth tuning (DADFAD), with an added Drop G, and then an added Drop C. Really low, but really fun. I'm currently using 74-10s, which is way too loose. But I'll be ordering a Circle K set with probably an 86-90 for the low C.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Oct 24, 2013)

Kroaton said:


> FFAGDAD is particularly cool if you have a gay dad and a stutter.


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## patata (Oct 25, 2013)

I don't think any guitar smaller than 27'' can handle the D though.


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## Roland777 (Oct 25, 2013)

patata said:


> handle the D









Hey now.


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## ElRay (Oct 25, 2013)

When I get around to getting an 8, I plan to go back to All-Major-3rds: C-E-Ab-C-E-Ab-C-E

I had this on my 7, but for the past bit I've been 7-less and needed to stay in semi-standard with what I have for my daughter's lessons, so my sixes are tuned C-G-D-G-B-E (Steve Tibbetts (top 4 standard, then down two 5ths)).

Ray


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## Fretless (Oct 25, 2013)

I also love to do unique tunings on my 6 string bass. G-C-G-C-F-A from l-h has been the one that I love the most. The lower strings are really heavy, and then with the upper strings I can get away with easy melody creation (not to mention using a whammy bar with it all is epic) and just ad an extra D for my 7 string. I want an 8 to play even more crazy tunings.


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## MikeH (Oct 25, 2013)

That's 7 strings.


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## stuglue (Oct 25, 2013)

Regular 7 string + high A tuning for me


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## Fretless (Oct 26, 2013)

MikeH said:


> That's 7 strings.



Right! Posted that just as I woke up from a long sleep! That's what my 7 string guitar is in XD I run my bass in the same tuning minus the extra high string.


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## Metal_Webb (Oct 26, 2013)

Currently got my 8:
A A E A D E A D
Yeah, that's a super low A. It's super flub but it's fun to play about with, plus it thickens up the tone a heap.


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## JPhoenix19 (Oct 26, 2013)

I used to tune ADGCAFAD when I had a 25.5" scale 8


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## ixlramp (Oct 27, 2013)

Try this for non-standard, all neutral thirds for quartertones http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/music-theory-lessons-techniques/161530-retune-play-quartertone-scales-microtonal-beginners-guide.html


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## GenghisCoyne (Oct 28, 2013)

The danza tuning grew on me. I was jamming with a guy that used it for a while, it would take a full day after practice to recover from the dissonance.


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## MannyMoonjava (Oct 28, 2013)

I've lately been playing with EBDADGBE


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## redstone (Oct 28, 2013)

A D A D G C E A


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## Sponge (Oct 28, 2013)

Low to high: DGDGDGBE

Why? Its has some very nice options. 

Breaking it down:

DGDGDG - Fret any of these octaves together and you get a wall of awesome.

GDGDGB - Same as a down tuned open C tuning.

DGBE - Same as standard tuning.


Using 1-3-5 chord structures in this tuning helps a lot with ERGs as well. When the basic major or minor chord are played in the same octave range, in standard tuning, the lower frequencies can muddy up the clarity of notes quite easily. This is even worse for lower tunes ERGs. When using this type open tuning, the root note is the lowest, the fifth is the next frequency closest to the root, and the major or minor third is on the next octave, so there is more dissonance and the ringing of each individual note comes out with clarity, even on the higher gains.

Standard minor shape:
A---
E---0 *fifth
B---1 *third
F#--3 *root

G-
D-11 *third
G-9 *fifth
D-7 *root 

Or, starting from G string:

Standard:

A--0 *fifth
E--1 *third
B--3 *root
F#-

G--10 *third
D--7 *fifth
G--7 *root
D-




For whatever its worth, its a fun tuning for writing music.


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## The Spanish Inquisition (Oct 28, 2013)

I've had my 8 in an open tuning for a while. 

F# A D A D F# G# C#


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## codycarter (Oct 29, 2013)

I used to tune to all A's when I played on 6 strings, then I went ebebcc#, then I got a 7 string and did a lot of drop a and bebebcc#, then I got an 8 string and did standard for a long while, then went to ebebebcc# and now tune fcfdegcf. I would say what I'm going to tune my Krappy 10 string, but I'm not quite sure


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## clintsal (Oct 29, 2013)

I have always turned to Drop C variants for techy metal playing, so I recently tuned my RG2228 as follows:

G [C G C F A D] g

Drop C in the middle six, low G down a fourth, and high g up a fourth. Having GCGC on the bottom lets you riff around with both drop and standard spacing, and having 3 strings on the top in fourths is crazy fun for chords and leads.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Oct 29, 2013)

clintsal said:


> I have always turned to Drop C variants for techy metal playing, so I recently tuned my RG2228 as follows:
> 
> G [C G C F A D] g
> 
> Drop C in the middle six, *low G down a fourth*, and high g up a fourth. Having GCGC on the bottom lets you riff around with both drop and standard spacing, and having 3 strings on the top in fourths is crazy fun for chords and leads.



Holy shit... like the low F# needed to go much past drop E. I bet that shit is heavier than 50 tons of metal. Ever play the low GCGC like an open tuning?


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## clintsal (Oct 29, 2013)

My low G is a half step higher than standard F#, not lower. I like the drop E Tosin tuning as well, but mostly just to play AAL, Mestis, and TRAM. I haven't been able to actually write anything good in drop E, but it's fun for messing around with chords!


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## svenlk (Oct 30, 2013)

my band uses DGDGCFAD which i think its a pretty interesting and beautiful tunning :3


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Oct 30, 2013)

E-A-E-A-E-A-C#-E - Open A, like Devin Townsend's Open tunings, but with a high and low string added. Arpeggios and easy triads for days.

Someone already mentioned both Josh Travis tunings that I'm aware of, as well as the TesseracT/Monuments tunings, all good ones to try.

I personally want to get a 9 string and try all major thirds, which could also be interesting on an 8 string.


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## ElRay (Oct 30, 2013)

ixlramp said:


> Try this for non-standard, all neutral thirds for quartertones http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/music-theory-lessons-techniques/161530-retune-play-quartertone-scales-microtonal-beginners-guide.html



Forgot about this one. May have to go this route when I eventually (finally) get an 8-string.

Ray


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## ElRay (Oct 30, 2013)

MikeH said:


> Necrobumping this thread to include the new tuning I'm trying out for a new project I'm working on:


How is it working so far?


MikeH said:


> CGDADFAD


Do you know the octave numbers for these pitches? It seems like this needs to be re-entrant or is that low-C super low? I'm assuming that the high FAD is a step down from standard, the middle AD are the same as standard, and then the CGD are all down by 5ths, correct? So, assuming that Middle C (C4) is still on your 2nd string, that low C is C1, an octave below the low C on a cello, Fripp's NST, Via's Low-C, Tibbette's Tuning, Open C, correct?

Ray


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## MikeH (Oct 30, 2013)

Correct. The low C is C1.


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## ixlramp (Oct 30, 2013)

ElRay said:


> Forgot about this one. May have to go this route when I eventually (finally) get an 8-string.


Woah brave  But then, it's so close to all-major thirds you could easily switch between the 2.


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## ElRay (Oct 31, 2013)

MikeH said:


> Correct. The low C is C1.





Ray


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## Clydefrog (Nov 1, 2013)

I have several songs on my upcoming Final Fantasy remix album in EAEADGBe. Feels really nice.


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## facepalm66 (Nov 2, 2013)

goonna try the danza tuning.


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## Wings of Obsidian (Dec 20, 2013)

patata said:


> I don't think any guitar smaller than 27'' can handle the D though.



I just died laughing. 

Not many thing can handle the D my friend.

I personally, was in F# B F# B E G# C# F# for a long time. This tuning is based on what Here Comes the Kraken used on their 7-strings for their album _Hate, Greed, & Death. _- Only thing I did to adapt it to an 8-string was add a high F#. - Someone on the first page mentioned this tuning and that it essentially is Drop-B with a high F# and low F# added on. *HIGH FIVE TO YOU, GOOD SIR!*

But I looked at the 7-string tuning the HCTK used... The F# B F# B E G# C# and I took it down a half step and got Infant Annihilator's tuning: E A E A D F# B! - Went back up half a step though.

So, like I said, I was stuck at F# B F# B E G# C# F# for awhile. I took the three highest strings and tuned them up (as though I were following the basic 5ths that everyone tunes to in standard), which put me at: F# B F# B E F# B E. And I have been stuck in this tuning ever since! I love it! 

(I sometimes alternate the 3rd string between G# and F#. Really helps me get a dissonant sound with one finger and is perfect for my band's stuff.)

But today I realized.......I am in Monuments tuning half a step up since they play in: F Bb F Bb Eb F Bb Eb.


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## Chuck (Dec 20, 2013)

I'm receiving a 2228 sometime next week and I plan on trying these:

F#-B-E-A-D-G-C-F

F-A#-D#-G#-C#-F#-B-E

E-B-E-A-D-G-C-F

I really like all-fourths


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 20, 2013)

I use E A E A D G B E and E B E A D G B E


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## Wings of Obsidian (Dec 20, 2013)

Konfyouzd said:


> I use E A E A D G B E and E B E A D G B E



Soo...that's just Drop-E. Or drop the B to A to go with it? (IA status, son!)


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 20, 2013)

Yup


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## AlejoV (Aug 31, 2014)

Any thoughts on 7 string Drop Ab with a low F or Eb?


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## facepalm66 (Sep 2, 2014)

it's doable for the sake of doing it, but i'm not a fan of short scale low tunings. 
If you use a classic 25.5", I fear that A is the lowest you should go. 

A lot of people tune quite low with 27", however I'm not a fan of this and therefore don't think it's a good idea tonewise. It'll be dull, flabby and 'dead'. 

Cheers


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## insanebassninja (Sep 2, 2014)

I was able to get too 7 stirng tuneing with a high G#. Any higher you going to break a stirng.


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## zombieritual (Sep 2, 2014)

since this got necrobumped already, i'll join in. i tune my 8 as follows from low to high: F Bb Eb Ab Db F Bb Eb
so it's like having a 6 string tuned to b flat standard with a low f and a high e flat. sometimes i'll tune the 3rd string back up to Gb and have it be standard half step down, sometimes i'll tune the 4th string down a half step to c and do low f standard with two higher strings, depends on the song


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## AliceLG (Sep 3, 2014)

Keep the necrobump aliiiiiiiive 

I have my 8 in F standard currently, but I ordered strings to try some F Bb F Bb Eb Ab C F on it. Basically dropping the 7th and 8th and then all half a step up. Thanks to this thread I might try the F Bb F Bb Eb F Bb Eb, it looks very interesting. Also might spin having the inner 6 in Drop Bb with a low and a high F, I'd just have to tune the Ab down to G


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## WiseSplinter (Sep 3, 2014)

Just got my kaliums, with a 90 for Eb (at 28" scale)
I'm going to try that double drop: EAEADGBE (all flat), should sound beastly


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## The Scenic View (Sep 5, 2014)

metal_sam14 said:


> I recently tried: F#, B, F#, B, E, G#, C#, F# (L-H)
> 
> It is drop-B on the inner 6 strings, with a high and low F# on either side.



This is what I tune to on my 8, for my band (with a C# instead of a B on the 7th string). I feel this tuning is really great, given you have an extended high range, with room to drop the low F# even lower if needed. Try this; E, C#, E, B, E, G#, C#, F#. It's another fun tuning I mess around with on occasion.


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## Alex Kenivel (Sep 5, 2014)

DADGCFAD, DGDGCFAD, EADGCFAD.

My three on a 30" scale with .090 being my lowest string, finding it a little loose for the low D. I just ordered a .096


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## Matt794 (Sep 5, 2014)

I'd been using drop E for a while but I just don't really care for E1 at 27" in scale and my rg8 hated the fat strings I'd have to use for it. Now I'm back to using my favorite 8 string tuning so far which is GDGCFA#DG (low to high). This tuning is pretty good at 27" and it's pretty versatile since picking up the low G to A or dropping the A# to A or a combination of the to changes the feel of the whole instrument.


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