Playing 8 String Electric
by
, Mar-07-2009 at 1:32am (7761 Views)
In terms of technique, playing an 8 string solid body electric is pretty much the same as playing a 4 string solid body electric. Except you don't bend notes.
Having 8 strings makes the tone more mandolinistic and less guitaristic [to invent a couple of words]. So I've been playing material I usually reserve for my Vessel F5, just to hear it come through an amp. And I've added songs to my mandolin repertoire, because I am crazy enough to stomp on some effects boxes too.
Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" is very cool with a little flange for the rhythm parts. Then I kick in the overdrive for the break. Yes, I purposely distort the signal coming out of an 8 string solid body mandolin. Sounds great!
Neil Young's "Powderfinger" gets distortion/overdrive for the whole song. But instead of flange, I use the chorus pedal. It better approximates the Les Paul-thick tone he always gets. You wouldn't think that an 8 string mandolin would ever need chorus, but this is a case of getting the right effect on the signal to create a tone. It's different than a double string tone.
For other songs I want a jangly tone. The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" comes to mind as does The Pretenders's "Back on the Chain Gang" and one of my songs, "Rolling with the Circus." For these I can go dry into the amp, or add in one or both the flange and the chorus.
[I haven't written a song that gets the kind of treatment required of a Jimi Hendrix or a Neil Young song, but I'm working on it.]
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To be quite honest I have no idea if anyone really cares about playing rock n' roll electric mandolin. But I like it. My band mates like it. Audience members are curious in a good way often. And perhaps most importantly of all, my wife likes it.
We had a little jam session tonight. Just like in the picture.
Let me know if you're out there.
Daniel