What is 8-string guitar tuning?

Standard 8-string tuning is F#-B-E-A-D-G-B-E, adding a low F# and a low B below the standard 6-string guitar. This gives you a full octave of extra range below standard tuning.

What scales work on an 8-string guitar?

All scales apply across the full range. F# minor, F# Phrygian, and the diminished scale are popular for exploiting the low range. The extended fretboard also opens up massive arpeggio patterns spanning multiple octaves.

Who plays 8-string guitar?

Meshuggah pioneered 8-string guitar in extreme metal. Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) brought it to progressive metal. Other notable players include Misha Mansoor (Periphery), Javier Reyes, and many djent/progressive metal artists.

A# Super Locrian Pentatonic Guitar Scale

Guitar scale in 8-string tuning — fretboard diagram

Tuning

Frets

A# Super Locrian Pentatonic in 8-string — Notes and Intervals

The A# Super Locrian Pentatonic scale is an aggressive and highly dissonant subset of the altered scale. On Guitar, it contains the notes A#, C#, D, E, G#. It is a primary tool for advanced jazz guitarists and horn players to create outside tension over altered dominant chords before resolving back to the tonic. Commonly used in Jazz, Avant-Garde, Fusion. Notable players include John Coltrane, Michael Brecker. Use over 7alt, 7#9b13 chords. The pentatonic shortcut for maximum 'outside' tension over altered dominants.

Notes: A#, C#, D, E, G#

Intervals: 1P, 3m, 4d, 5d, 7m

Degrees: 1 b2 3 4 b5

Formula: WH-H-W-4-W

Number of notes: 5

Tuning: 8-string (F#-B-E-A-D-G-B-E)

About 8-string Tuning

The 8-string guitar adds both a low B and a low F# string (F#-B-E-A-D-G-B-E), pushing the instrument's range almost into bass guitar territory. This massive tonal range has become the weapon of choice for djent, progressive metal, and experimental composers who need bone-crushing low-end and soaring highs in a single instrument.

With artists like Tosin Abasi, Meshuggah, and After the Burial leading the charge, the 8-string guitar has redefined what's possible in modern heavy music. The low F# string delivers subsonic heaviness that you can feel in your chest, while the upper strings maintain standard guitar voicings for leads and clean passages. Extended-range compositions often exploit the full span of the instrument, creating a wall of sound that covers bass, rhythm, and lead guitar roles simultaneously.

DjentProgressive MetalTechnical Death MetalExperimentalAmbient

Notable artists: Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders, After the Burial, Intervals, Monuments

Best for: Djent polyrhythms, extended-range metal riffs, experimental compositions, and one-instrument arrangements spanning bass to lead

Musical Character

AggressiveDissonantOutsideTense

The most dissonant pentatonic — a 5-note distillation of the Altered scale. Every note creates tension against a dominant chord.

Explore This Scale in Other Tunings

← All Guitar scales in 8-string tuning