Best way to use low strings

[Ben Alt]

I'm a little perplexed about the best ways to put my lowest two strings of an A6 8 string to good use (tuned to F# A C# E F# A C# E). I'm finding that the woofy tone of them makes melody work not super pleasing, the same for chords. I'll occasionally use the 7th string, but almost never the 8th for anything except running scales or practicing grips. I'm happy with playing melody up top, but feel like I'm missing whatever rationale there is for having the extra notes.


Almost all the material I've been working with is geared towards 6 strings, so I'm struggling to find examples that smart players put them to use. I wonder if anyone here has any ideas about where I can start digging for answers.

[David Matzenik]

It's a good question. I always admire arrangements that bring in the lower strings, and there are some YT videos that show this. Generally, I tune the 8th string in A6th to a G for the flat 7, but only use it in the upper half of the neck. In other tunings I use the lower strings to fill our chords like Paradise Isle C#m7, or Rainbows Over Paradise in B11th.

[Allan Revich]

Have you considered a reentrant string for the. 8th string? Perhaps a Bb.

[David M Brown]

I have 2 options for the A6 tuning:

Drop the low string to E

E A C# E F# A C# E

Raise the 2 lower strings a half step

G Bb C# E F# A C# E

[Tim Toberer]

I know what you mean, it is tough to get these notes to ring. Sometimes I use the low strings while damping them like a percussive effect. 10 string C6 goes down to low C! I like Davids tuning with the low E for A6. You have an alternating bass with this one. I have a tendency, coming from guitar and playing mostly Travis style picking, to always want to add in bass notes as a kind of self accompaniment. I play solo mostly. It also works with C6 skipping the A. For playing with a band I don't see using them as much.

[David Matzenik]

Here's Doug Beaumier's "Walking After Midnight." Very tasty. At about 1:37 he gets some nice use out of the low strings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY7UehpsaFQ

[Joe A. Roberts]

Try lighter gauge strings on the low strings, sometimes if they are heavy they can sound thuddy and wolfy.
Lighter gauge low strings can sometimes counter intuitively improve clarity, especially on higher frets.
Tuning up to a G on the lowest string is worth a shot if you want to experiment with more utility!
Mikiya Matsuda tunes to E C# A F# E C# Bb G (which, for reference, in C would be G E C A G E C# Bb). I think Billy Hew Len did too.
Those two changes would give you all sorts of new sounds to experiment with if you are looking for a change from those bottom two strings. The bottom 4 become a fat diminished, for instance.

[David M Brown]

Raise the 2 lower strings a half step

G Bb C# E F# A C# E

Mikiya Matsuda tunes to E C# A F# E C# Bb G .... I think Billy Hew Len did too.

yes, it's a Billy Hew Len tuning, that's where I first heard of it. thanks.

[David Matzenik]

I get the low G as a flat 7. How do you use the Bb?

[Paul Seager]

I like and use the lower strings for funky minor chord stuff. Examples: 16 Tons, Green Onions, Cantaloupe Island.

I have occasionally tuned #8 to G for songs with a lot of dom7 chords, e.g., Limehouse Blues, but found that to be too muddy on the lower half of the neck.

I could imagine a low E would be good for power chords but I don't have a need for that kind of sound.

When, for portability reasons, I switch to a 6 string, I really, really miss the lower strings but my overriding preference is to have a 5th on the 1st string and just avoid chordal work on the low end.

[Tim Toberer]

Mikiya Matsuda tunes to E C# A F# E C# Bb G (which, for reference, in C would be G E C A G E C# Bb). I think Billy Hew Len did too.

I have tinkered with this tuning and it really has a ton going for it, aside from the fact that I can't easily find any examples of people using it. I hear Billy Hew Len mentioned all the time in relation to A6 tuning, and I cannot really find much about him. Didn't he play pedal steel?? I am starting a new thread cause this is starting to drift.

[David Matzenik]

Yes, Billy played pedal, but it does not seem to have been his main instrument going on photos and his interview recording.

[Chris Templeton]

I first heard Billy at Jerry Byrd's Ho'olaulea.
For those of you that don't know about Billy, He was a promising guitar player in his youth, and while working on a car engine, it fell on his left hand.
He loved playing music so much and his doctor recognized that and went to a saddlery shop and had a leather a leather "hand" with a bar sewn in it made.
I recorded two years at Jerry's show, for Scotty, and he sold cassettes. Billy was on them.
If any of you have either of those, please PM me. I'd love to hear them.
Alan Akaka?, ("Aloha")

[Fred]

I get the low G as a flat 7. How do you use the Bb?

Look at it as A# and you have an F#7 chord. It's the same as the Jerry Byrd C6/A7 but in A: A6/F#7 with an extra b7 making your A6 an A13.

[Lloyd Graves]

I stopped playing in 6th tunings before trying it out, but I always liked Kayton Robert's approach of adding an extra low-low A as the 8th string, which he seems to have used mostly as a sound effects string. He played C6, but it woulnd't be out of place in A6, I reckon. Bass is bass...

[Paul Strojan]

I found the best way to utilize the extra strings is to fill out the notes within the existing tuning instead of going lower. Jerry Byrds- 8 string C6/ A7 tuning was E, C, A, G, E, C#, C, A with both the major and minor third.

[Ben Alt]

After poking at this for a while I've found a couple of things that have worked out well for me.

1.) On an A6th tuning, tuning the 8th string to a G, adding a b7 below the A chord. This was one of the first replies and I've read stuff from a few players I admire like Mikiya Matsuda mentioning this approach. To me this is most useful while playing backup and or rhythm, where I can get a nice sounding dominant chord with the core meat of the chord - 3rd and a b7. This also gives me the trick where the when I want to get to a 4 chord I can move the bar down a fret and get the 3rd and 7th of that chord. (i.e. if I'm playing a c7 on the 3rd fret with E on string 6 and Bb on string 8, I can move that down a fret and get the F7 sound with Eb on 6 and A on 8.) This can be moved up a fret to get the 5 chord. I really like the way this sounds when I play a minor 2 chord followed by a dominant 5 chord - like Cm7 on strings 7-4 on fret 6 to F7 on fret 8 using strings 8-6-5 (thinking in Bb).

2.) A _reeeeealy low_ string to get some big intervals. This is an idea that was mentioned here and also heard in a Chris Scruggs interview where he talked about A7/C6 tuning with an A an octave below the 7th string. It's kind of a special effect, but I found it's also pretty cool with B11 and to do some cool fills in other tunings. Chris Scruggs also talked about Jerry Byrd using a _flatwound 64 or 68_ string as the really low note and I like that a lot, as it dramatically reduces the bar noise/screech and it sounds a little less bright.

I tried the Jerry Byrd C and C# in A7/C6 and just couldn't come to terms with it, as well as an reentrant string, but that was just too much of a mind twister for me.

[Fred Treece]

If it is the sound of the lower strings and not the tuning that is bugging you, it might be worth your time to change your amp settings to strike a better balance. As others have indicated here, the lower register can be put to very good use for extending chords and melodies, adding interest to improvisation, etc. It’s not just a sound effect.