(heavy guitar music)
- What's up guys? Andrew Baena here.
And I'll be the host for today's video.
If you're unfamiliar with me or my content,
I have a YouTube channel where I do a lot of
extended range guitar related content
mostly using seven, eight, nine string guitars
and sometimes a ten string guitar
just for a little bit of memes.
(heavy guitar music)
- But I'm most well-known for doing tuned-down videos
where I do basically a compilation of guitar riffs
from a certain band and just tune them down.
I also do a lot of other things on my channel
such as gear reviews, demos, guitar riff evolution videos,
pop covers, and a bunch of other stuff.
- [Andrew] But with all that being said
I am most well-known for doing
extended range guitar content.
So that's what I'm going to be talking to you guys
about today.
So today's lesson is geared towards people that are
thinking about entering the world of extended range guitars.
So for those of you that might not know what an
extended range guitar is, that means,
a seven string guitar, eight string guitar,
nine string guitar, and so on.
There's a lot of things that people might not know about
extended range guitars before going into buying one,
or thinking that they might want an eight string guitar
when they actually don't want one,
and they want something like an extended scale guitar.
So we're going to be talking about all of that stuff today,
we're going to be going over what is the difference between
an extended range guitar and an extended scale guitar,
and we're also going to be going over how to decide
which extended range or extended scale guitar might be
right for you.
So, before we start anything, I want to clear up
the definition between an extended scale guitar
and an extended range guitar
because they're not necessarily the same thing.
So, the standard scale length on most guitars
is either 25.50 inches
or 24.75 inches if you're using like a Gibson scale.
So to determine the scale length of a guitar,
it is typically measured by going from the end of the nut,
which is the thing at the top of the guitar,
to the middle of the twelfth fret,
and then doubling that measurement.
So again, for most guitars, it's going to be
25.50 inches or 24.75 inches.
Now, what an extended scale means is that
instead of 25.50 inches, it is longer. Quite simple.
So, for example, you can get things such as
26.50 inch scale length, 27 inches, 28 inches, 30 inches,
so on and so forth.
Pretty much, anything you can imagine.
But the thing that most people don't know
is that extended scale length and extended range
are not necessarily the same thing.
You can get a seven string guitar
that's still 25.50 inch scale length
and you can even get a six string guitar that's up to like
30 in scale length.
And I think that's where a lot of the confusion about
extended range guitars comes in.
A lot of people think that the only way to tune lower
is to get an eight string guitar when that's not
actually the case.
So, essentially if you're scale length is longer
than 25.50 inches,
it allows you to tune down easier.
So again, you could technically have a six string guitar
that has a way longer scale length that you could
tune to the exact same tuning as an eight string guitar
just obviously minus two strings.
So to give you guys an example of what I'm talking about,
here's a six string guitar that I have,
where the scale length of the lowest string is actually
27 inches. Now 27 inches is typically the scale length range
you would find on like an eight string guitar.
So I actually can tune this six string guitar all the way
down to a low F, F#, or E if I want to.
And the low E meaning an octave below a standard
six string guitar.
(heavy guitar music)
So I wanted to get that out of the way, first and foremost,
because once again, most people do not know that there's
a difference between the two things.
So keep that in mind. In my opinion, the scaling is
the absolute most important thing to look out for when
considering what you want to buy as your first
extended range or extended scale guitar.
The second thing I want to talk about is choosing how many
strings you actually want.
So this next section is where it gets a little tricky.
This is where you're actually going to be choosing
which guitar might be right for you or which guitar
you would want to go for.
There's not really a clear, concise answer to
you don't have to do a seven string guitar,
you don't have to do an eight string guitar.
There's multiple different ways to achieve the same thing.
And this is the area where you should really
be paying attention and picking accordingly
to what you might actually need.
So let's say you've been playing a six string guitar
for a really long time, and you've decided
that you want to tune lower.
Well, how low do you actually want to go?
Because if you only want to go to something like, let's say,
Drop B, or Drop A, or Drop G#,
and all those tunings are just a half step away
from each other, well, you might not actually need
a seven string guitar.
For example, you can definitely tune a six string guitar
that's with a standard 25.50 inch scale length
down to Drop A or Drop G#, or maybe even Drop G,
that might be pushing it a little bit,
but you can certainly do it if you just get thicker strings.
So this is the area where you want to maybe
stop for a second and consider,
do you actually want that seven string or
do you just want it to lower?
Because by tuning lower, all you would actually
be sacrificing is the high string.
So let's use Drop A, for example.
So you want to tune to Drop A.
The standard tuning of a seven string guitar is B standard.
So to tune to Drop A, all you have to do is drop the low B
to an A which is just a full step down
No big deal. You don't even need new strings for that.
Easy. But you could also definitely tune to Drop A
on a six string guitar with a 25.50 inch scale length,
because that scale length would still be totally fine
at that tuning.
You would need slightly thicker strings because
it's not longer, but you can still definitely do it.
And I would say, in my opinion, you can probably
get down to, like, about the G# or G range on a standard
25.50 inch scaling.
So again, if you just want to tune lower,
if you're just going to G, G#, A or approximately that area,
you might not need a new guitar,
you might just need a new set of strings
that are way thicker, and just throw them on your
existing six string and you're probably good to go!
(heavy guitar music)
- So now let's talk about even lower.
Let's say you want to go to F#, F, or E.
Now, the standard guitar tuning for an eight string guitar
is F# standard.
So, obviously the easiest way to get there,
which is technically to buy an eight string
because it's already in that tuning,
however, if you don't actually need all eight strings,
again, you can definitely tune that low
on a six or seven string guitar,
if they have an appropriate scale length.
- [Andrew] For this tuning range, again,
being like F# to E approximately,
I would definitely recommend getting something around
the 27 inch scale length range.
You can probably get away with it
at a 26.50 inch scale length,
but it might get a little worrisome around E.
Again, E being an octave below a standard six string guitar.
It's doable but once again, you'll need quite a bit thicker
strings to accomplish that,
and you could potentially run into intonation issues,
so, I would definitely stick around the F# to E area
if you're using a 26.50 inch scale guitar.
If you're using 27 inch, that should be no problem.
You could maybe even push it even farther to D# or D.
Again, even lower than the Drop E tuning
that I was mentioning earlier.
So I know this is a lot of information
and a lot of weird numbers and weird tunings
that you may not be used to hearing,
but the whole point of this segment is
to teach you guys about scale length
and what guitar might be right for you.
So I figured that this would be valuable information.
So, once again, do you really need that eight string guitar,
do you really need that seven string guitar,
or would you rather just keep your existing
six string guitar and just tune lower?
That's always an option. You might not need a new guitar,
even though I know it's always fun buying a new guitar.
- [Andrew] As you can see, I have too many as it is.
But I still am very guilty of this.
And of course it all comes down
to your personal preference in the end.
I personally like playing an eight string guitar
even though I definitely don't use all eight strings
almost ever.
Usually I'm sticking around the low five strings,
so technically, yeah, I could probably just get a weird
six string guitar and do that,
but I find myself wanting to grab an eight string anyways,
just because I kind of like the aesthetic, the look,
and the feel of an eight string.
But again, the whole purpose of this segment is
to teach you some tools that might be useful
when buying a new guitar
or just using your preexisting guitar.
The next thing that I want to cover is something called
fan fret guitars.
So what a fan fret guitar is where a guitar has
multiple scale lengths.
So this actually might be even more confusing,
but it's basically, if you've ever seen a guitar
that looks like it has crooked frets,
that would be called fan frets or multi-scale guitar.
So essentially the idea behind a fan fret or multi-scale
instrument is again, that you can have multiple different
scale lengths on one instrument.
So I have this eight string guitar here, for example,
where as you can notice, it fans out
as the strings get lower.
So on the top high E string,
it's actually 25.50 inch scale length,
which again, if you go back to the beginning of the video,
is the standard scale length for most six string guitars.
But as it gets lower, the scale length gradually increases,
and then by the eighth string, it goes up to 27 inches.
Now, this has been official in terms of string tension,
because as you make your scale length longer,
the higher strings actually become more tense,
and a little bit harder to play,
but the low strings benefit from it greatly
by being a longer scale length,
because then you don't need to buy
ridiculously thick strings to get the same good
sounding tone and the low notes that you want.
Now, with the fan fret instrument,
this is kind of the best of both worlds
where your high strings are still a standard scale length
such as 25.50 inches
and your low scale length is way longer.
So, it kind of gives you that balanced tension,
and it just will feel a lot better because
your high strings won't be super tight,
and your low strings won't be super wobbly,
or vice versa.
Now the problem with fan fret instruments is
they're usually quite a bit more expensive.
They're not super mainstream just yet,
however, there are more options than ever before.
I don't think I've ever seen a fan fret instrument
that's like less than maybe
five or six hundred dollars Canadian.
That's usually about the price of
a low end fan fret instrument,
so, it's quite a bit more expensive than
a cheap eight string, for example,
but the benefits are potentially worth it.
But with that saying, fan fret instruments
do come with a negative, and that is the pickups.
Now these pickups are awesome,
but they had to be custom ordered because
as you notice, the pickups are also slanted.
So this could potentially be a problem for you
because if you get a fan fret instrument,
and you don't like the pickups,
it's going to be very very hard and very costly
to replace the pickups,
because your options are going to be very limited,
and you'll probably end up having to go
with a custom shop option,
which is obviously much more expensive than just getting
some off the shelf pickup that you can get anywhere.
So I just wanted to point that out
so you can keep that in mind.
So if you're going to go for a fan fret,
keep in mind that whatever pickups you choose
in the beginning are probably going to be the ones
you're going to stick with unless you really want to
shell out a ton of money to get something else.
It's not impossible, it's just more costly.
That's all I'm trying to say.
But other than the potential pickup problem,
assuming you like your pickups,
everything else about having a fan fret instrument,
in my opinion, is kind of the best of both worlds,
as I was saying.
It's super nice to have that even balanced tension,
and this is kind of a side effect,
but it actually is kind of nice to play
a fan fret instrument because it kind of matches
the natural curve of your hand as you go
up and down the neck of the instrument.
Because if you notice your hand isn't straight all the time,
when you get up here, your hand naturally curves that way,
and when you get down here,
your hand naturally curves that way
and the fan frets, depending on the angle,
can actually kind of assist with that.
And I've heard of some people with, having like tendinitis,
where they say that playing a fan fret instrument
is actually super beneficial to them, so,
that's another thing to potentially keep in mind
when looking for a new instrument.
Alright guys, that's pretty much it for this lesson.
I know this wasn't about guitar playing
or theory or anything like that,
but there's a lot of confusion out there
about extended range instruments,
and I thought it would help to clear a little bit of that up
So I really hope you guys found this useful.
If you did, definitely give this video a thumbs up,
and subscribe to guitar lessons for more content like this.
If you liked me and want to see more about what I do,
definitely go check my channel out as well.
It's just my name which is Andrew Baena.
You can find that in the description below
or on the cards on the screen right about....now.
Also be sure to let me know in the comments below
if you found this video helpful,
if you want to see more content about
extended range guitars or anything like that.
Thank you guys so much for watching,
and I'll see you soon!
(Electric guitar music)