tuning a guitar

8 String Guitar Tunings (Standard & Alternate Tunings)

The idea of tuning an 8 string guitar can be very intimidating for beginners. There are many ways to tweak the tuning on your 8 string guitar with step by step guides, but in this article, we will go over 3 that are most common and straightforward to learn.

8 String Guitar Standard Tuning

How is an 8 string guitar tuned? For an 8 string guitar notes, the standard tuning from lowest to highest string is – F# – B – E – A – D – G – B – E.

How Do You Tune An 8 String Guitar?

The process of tuning an eight string guitar is no different than a regular 6 string. You just have two more strings to tune.

A List Of Alternate Tunings For 8 String Guitars

Since you have a relatively large number of strings to create tunings, there are a number of cool alternative tuning options that you can use as well.

Here are some alternate tunings that you can try on your 8 string guitar. This should help you to not only learn a few of the different alternate tunings, but also to start building your own riffs and songs as well. I hope you enjoy these!

  • Drop D tuning – D – A – D – G – C – F – A – D
  • E tuning – E – A – D – G – C – F – A – D
  • F tuning – F – B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – B♭ – E♭
  • A tuning – A – D – G – C – F – A – D – G
  • High A tuning – B – E – A – D – G – B – E – A
  • Drop E♭ tuning – E♭ – B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – B♭ – E♭

I would recommend checking all these out and experimenting with them. You can get some cool riffs with these!

Conclusion

Looking for more information on 8 string guitars?  Look here:

These are just some of the most common and easiest to learn, but there are many different ways to tune an 8 string guitar. Just like with a 6 string, you can completely re-invent yourself by learning these cool alternate tunings.

All in all, I hope that this article helps to demystify the idea of tuning an 8 string guitar.

If you are looking for other songs to learn, take a look at these songs tuned a half step down to e flat.