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.

F# Whole Tone Pentatonic Guitar Scale

Guitar scale in 8-string tuning — fretboard diagram

Tuning

Frets

F# Whole Tone Pentatonic in 8-string — Notes and Intervals

The F# Whole Tone Pentatonic scale is a weightless and tonally ambiguous five-note scale. On Guitar, the notes are F#, A#, C, D, E. Because it lacks a traditional center, it creates a blurring effect, making it highly effective for dream sequences, transitions, and creating a sense of suspended reality in film scores. Commonly used in Film Scores, Ambient, Impressionist, Experimental. Notable players include Claude Debussy, Bill Frisell. Use over augmented chords, whole tone passages. Effective for creating a sense of suspended reality.

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

Intervals: 1P, 3M, 5d, 6m, 7m

Degrees: 1 2 3 b4 b5

Formula: 4-W-W-W-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

WeightlessBlurryDreamySuspended

Lacks any tonal center — every note is equidistant. Creates a blurring, impressionistic effect perfect for transitions and dream sequences.

Explore This Scale in Other Tunings

← All Guitar scales in 8-string tuning