Acoustic bass guitar of acoustic bass guitars. The bajo sexto, with six pairs of strings, resembles a twelve-string guitar tuned an octave lower. The heavy gauge strings generate a large string tension, yet the guitar is built relatively lightly. Musicians began to use the bajo sexto in Texas in the 1920s with the rise of "Tex-Mex" music, and remains in common use to play parts that would be played by the piano in traditional American popular music. It matches the standard tuning of a 12-string guitar, one octave lower. The tuning of these instruments is (capital letters are an octave lower than small
Eight-string bass guitar Eight-string bass guitar An eight-string bass guitar is a type of bass guitar with double course strings normally tuned in octaves, with both strings in a course usually played simultaneously. As on a 12-string guitar, this produces a natural chorus effect due to the subtle differences in string timbre. Such approach has been extended with the introduction of 10-, 12-, 15- or more-string bass guitars, which either double the strings of standard 5- or 6-string basses or even triple the strings of normal 4-, 5- or 6-string basses. The 8-string bass guitar was invented by electrical engineer, bass player and