personally, for lower tunings I'm a seven string guy. I think more companies should make good baritone guitars, there's definitely a rise in popularity for them.
Hello from snowy New England..First time first one in...Im loving the channel...Ive never seen someone sooo happy when they play...Who needs the stink face when ur beaming a smile the whole set...? Im a drummer but watch all different types of music content because as a musician you never stop learning...Thx for all the positity and thx for STAYING METAL RAY!!!.Peace from the Northeast...
I was a 7 string player for 5 years 2012-17, once I grasped the purpose of baritones in 2017 I accepted I'm not disciplined enough to be a fast shredder & got my Jazzmaster baritone early 2018, converted my squier tele to a baritone 3 months ago & enjoy both of them very much. By this point I wanna experiment w/ a 7 string again to see how I can be creative w/ it now vs then
You by far look like the happiest person in the world when you're jamming. Pure motivation. Great video too, thank you. I've been curious about baritones for a while now and figured I'd finally do some research, and you answered every question I had.
depends on what kind of standard but generally yes. If you mean E standard then you could technically but you'd need extremely thin strings. Why would you need e standard on a baritone though? b standard is the usual baritone standard
I really wish more companies would make super affordable baritones, like Jackson JS series pricing. I'd love to get one and literally play the clean interlude part of Master Of Puppets an octave down. The only downside of baritones for me is my hand size: I don't have particularly small hands, but I don't have Mick Thomson level of stretch. Lol. :)
You and the Bunn are easily the best baritone channels on RU-vid, if you havent checked The Bunn out please do he's a wealth of technical baritone knowledge that goes in depth. Seems like a pretty righteous character. You got a ton of info all around whereas the Bunn goes more in depth on baritones then anyone else I've seen on the YT platform. Worth a watch
I never tune lower then D and I use a digitec drop tune pedal for my drop tunings works great and I can keep all my guitars tuned to standard except when I play some drop D stuff. I think the Baritone guitars are cool but I just do not have a real need for one. But I did learn a lot from this video about them more then I actually new so great video Ray.
Love that baritone single cut by ESP, the EC-1000. Les Paul style with a proper scale length always was my dream as a teen, and boom, suddenly it was there
hey man. i appreciate the vid. i've played since 73 and only just now found my way to baritone-land. i got onto it after watching mark lettieri w/ Fearless Flyers and their recent Europe release on youtube. Soooo, i bought a Squire w/ soapbars to get started. i'm not a metal guy at all, but have had a good time doing what i do, but on a baritone. keep up the good work! cheers...
So, to expand on what Ray said earlier with there not being a set start and endpoint for baritone scale lengths, there's honestly also not really a set definition, more just, guidelines. For me, baritones are both a scale length and a tuning. Anywhere from 26.5"-30" on a 6-string (minimum increases on a 7- or 8-string, but I'm focusing on 6s) and tuned anywhere from B standard/drop A to F standard/drop Eb. I cut it off there, bc once you get to E standard/drop D1 and lower, it's what's known as a bass vi (vi as in the roman numeral for 6, not as in the first syllable of, say, violet, for those unaware). Any 6-string in that scale range is a baritone guitar, yes, but they can also be used for normal tunings. For example, Austin, from Trogly's Guitar Show, tunes his baritones up to E standard, because he likes the increased string tension. Buckethead tunes his to Eb standard, because he doesn't have a baritone to tune low, he has a baritone because the dude's tall as hell. Similarly, normal guitars can be put in baritone tunings, though it's ill-advised beyond drop A. That said, I've seen people do drop G on Gibson scales. In fact, actually, I think Lee Malia of Bring Me The Horizon is one of those people. Don't quote me, my memory's trash. But, a baritone tuning doesn't make it a baritone guitar. Simply put, baritone guitars are just *optimized* for baritone tunings. They don't need to be used for those tunings exclusively, and they aren't the only ones that can be tuned that low. There's another youtube channel, The Bunn. Dude's all about baritones and tuning low, has been for years, and is an amazing source of info and entertainment. Anyways, that's my unintentional mini essay on baritones. All y'all take care, and stay metal \m/
Your channel has made me buy a baritone( Well not made) lol. I've only played standard scale guitars. Watched many of your videos over the last 2 years and decided I wanted something different.
Send Thanks Scott Bunn for literally covering this topic on RU-vid for 5 years prior to this and starting the Baritone Obsessed group that you joined in the last 12 months. I’ve been covering baritone for the last 2 years as well. It’s cool to see you guys with bigger audiences bringing awareness. It would be great if the others who have a history on this topic would be credited.
I have always played a 6 string along with bass. Although I tried an Ibanez 8 string out at a shop the neck width is my issue. It was thicker than my Fender P-bass.
I just got a Fender Blacktop Baritone Tele, the Ghost Silver one. Super cool guitar, it's my first baritone though so Ray is my new best friend on RU-vid lol.
Thank you so much for this! This is the video that I wanted to watch and been waiting for quite a long... and Im just a random drummer from South America! Thanks again!
Don't see Douglas guitars often these days. I actually bought a Douglas 6string 27" scale from Rondo a decade ago to make it my first project guitar to tinker with. It was B-stock, so I just jumped on the deal, I didn't know about baritone differences. I have finally gotten around to it, and I just got some Bill and Becky wilde pickups to get started. Thanks for sharing your insights on baritone guitar, I'm glad I didn't make a shit choice when deciding to use it for down-tuned rhythm stuff.
The only baritone I've played is a Danelectro 29.75" Baritone and that thing was unplayable. It was so painful for me to reach the first fret. Felt like I had to stretch so far to even play the thing. Maybe a 27" baritone would be better for me. I do love me some drop A. But I find a 25.5" scale to be way easier to play but sounds a lot worse for super down tuned stuff. It could also be that my pickups aren't that good for low tunings.
@@xanderraymondcharles I've been looking at some but haven't dared to pull the trigger. This video probably pushes me over the edge 😁 I'll start with a cheaper one to see how it grows on me.
@@SteinG if ur just lookin to dip ur toes with 30" scale lengths, I just ordered a subzero rogue VI baritone . they go for like $350 and apart from some QC issues I heard good things
@@TheCatalystOS that is EXACTLY the one I've been looking at!! Especially that white one 😂 thanks for pushing me even closer to the edge of baritones 🤘
Baritone guitars are great if you're used to the neck thickness of a regular 6 string guitar, extended range guitars can be a little cumbersome to play with the wider neck. Plus changing strings is cheaper and easier with 6 strings!
I guess PRS has the 277 and Fender's got the Cabronita, but imagine having models like Subsonic Strats get their overdue rerelease. Hell seeing the big brands commit to new baritone models would be so sick, like a Fender Subsonic Tele/Jazz, PRS SC277 or McCarty 277, and possibly a reissue of those beefy Gibson LP baritones from the early 00s
I just sold my Squier Cabro Barry. Just didn't really vibe with it. Didn't help that the first baritone I ever played was my buddy's semi-hollow PRS 227. LMAO! I think the non-Bigsby Gretsch 29.75" Barry's going to be the next one for me.
Thank you for finally telling us what gauge you like to use. I run my baritone with the EB 13-72's as well, I like the feeling and the resonance of them down in drop G. Stay Metal 🤘
My 29.75 inch gretsch baritone is going to be done at the luthier tomorrow. Got some fishman will adler's put in. I can not WAIT to hear the difference from those cheaper mini humbuckers to the best I can get. Drop G is going to be very tasty
my next guitar will be a baritone for sure! I was thinking a 7 string to do lower tunings, but I think I'm going to go the baritone route since I'm used to 6 strings and I won't have to really learn anything different but I will get a 7 string down the road.
Great explanation, man. I've been looking to get into playing doom metal, and when I upgrade guitars to something WITHOUT a Floyd Rose, I'm going to downtune it to C# Standard, on a skinny top heavy bottom set of strings. I see no point in going down lower than that on a regular scale lenght guitar, but I've been wanting more and more a baritone. I know they'll already sound HUGE under distortion on B standard,but you downtune even lower! I'm amazed.
64 yrs young and interested in the baritone guitar,I love the crunch ...( I'm a drummer btw ). I play bass also, but next is baritone guitar 😏 ...still
Dumb question but I learned to play by ear and not real savvy on chords. That being said I built a custom baritone for myself and would really like someone to help me out on transposing your basic standard chords such as G, C, D, Em, Am, Bm, F. That way I have an idea when I’m creating music or playing along with standard tuned folks. By the way my baritone is tuned in basic B to B tuning. Any help much appreciated!🤘🏼🫶🏼
Hey, to add on a limitations of baritone guitar surprisingly it is a bass! In range from drop G# to drop E it is pretty hard to get good sounding bass on octave lower and in unison bass would be too high to beef up mix. IMHO best tuning range would be up from standard to drop A for octave bass and then drop e and lower so you can get unison bass. Second thing I would say is that certain chords sound better and some sound worse on a baritone. I mean something like a Am chord would sound pretty dark one octave down so you would need adjust position which would be around 7 fret on 4th string and it would not sound more tense than on standard scale in basic position. For me personally, best of both worlds is seven string in drop d tuning with low E.
With a 7 string baritone would you run the lowest string F# like your low tuned 6 string baritone? I just got an esp black metal 7 and messing with tunings looking for the right sound
Top 5 Baritones under $1,000? I have been looking, and trying to find one that is a quality build for the price. PRS 277, is that a good one for an intermediate player on a budget?
I just got my Bass VI. I understand most people use em for low tunings, but the idea of having a lower octave rhythm guitar is extremely appealing to me. But I predominantly play in Dropped C#, any idea what string gauge would be good for a 30inch scale length? The Bass VI kinda uses all wound strings for a full octave lower than standard E. But I think Loathe and other bands use the Bass VI with baritone strings. Trying to find a baritone set that can get me to a comfortable Dropped C# without being full wounds like the typical Bass VI string set.
Just picked up Squier Paranormal Series Baritone Cabronita Telecaster felt so good. Only have at it at a B right now but might try A sharp after watching this video
I play in Drop B on a standard 6 string guitar with a floyd rose, anything lower than that is too low for me. I use GHS Boomers 10 thru 60 gauge. BTW, My guitar is a LTD Model F-200
Awesome video bro , I appreciate it. I can't stop buying guitars and wanted to get a HB Amarok but they are pretty much copies of a c1 platinum and I have one. Then I find out they make a baritone Amarok and was gonna order it but was unsure whether I would like it. I just ordered it thanks to you 🎸🤘🍻
I want to start playing more in the drop B and maybe lower like A, but all my guitars struggle to stay in tune that low. I don’t know what guitar would be best for it
Hreat post, thank you for this info. My question is, I love tuning low, and I own a seven string. What are the benefits to going baritone guitars VS. like eight strings of modified seven?
Hey Ray! I'm from the mouth of the Yukon River in Alaska. I've been watching your channel for a couple years now and that fender baritone you have is one of my dream guitars. Are there different baritone scales that you like for different tunings? I've never played one because I'm a Les Paul or any single cut type of guitar player. I really like 25½" scale guitars though but don't own one. What string gauge would you prefer for a Les Paul type guitar?
GREAT video. I'm torn between trying a 7-string or a baritone. I'm bored of the standard 6 string and want to gravitate towards slow thick, meaty, sludgy riffs. Why did you go with baritone instead of 7-string? THANKS!
I have a subzero rougue vi guitar that also has a 30" scale, and the low wound string on the baritone slinky set from ernie ball was too short for the reverse headstock. I feel like this is important to point out when buying string for scraaaazy scale lenghts like this.
Nice! Been in drop C for around 22yrs. Wanting to build a baritone to get more massive low-end to complement the C tuning. What would you tune the baritone to for that? Herndon.
I'm a bassist that likes to play guitar as well, I've got a baritone cabronita (B-B tuning ) it's kind of a natural counterpart to my 5 string basses. I also have a Bass VI but I find the baritone more useful
If you use a baritone and tune it to drop F ( F C F A# D# G) for example, how can you pair it with a bass, you just use the same tunning for the bass? Or you just tune the bass to C F A# D# G?
I had a Ben Burnley Sig BB-600 for a while that I kept in A# but didn't like how long and awkward it felt to me. I'm not a tall guy standing at 5'8''. So I sold it last year. I'm really getting the itch again to play Breaking Benjamin, Slipknot and Chevelle. But I really don't want to buy another long neck guitar. In your opinion, is it possible to tune down a 25.5 scale length guitar to Drop A# with a set of like 12-60s or 12-62s or something like that? Or would there be too many issues to deal with such as the ability to keep it in tune or intonation problems? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Hello Ray, thank you, and may I ask what it is you are playing at about 5:45? is it on one of your albums?? Ive just rented a Gretsch JET baritone, its lots of fun! thanks again
Hi bud, I'm not a complete beginner but tried to play several times over many years but its only now I'm truly getting the hang of playing after all these years, so i have a schecter hellraiser c-1 six string and love it but i want the heavy brutal sound. (carcass /paradise lost sound) But my big question is do i go baritone or 7 string plus im 6`6" big guy so yeah I'm really torn on what road to go down??? thanks for the cool content peace out!
Help me please! I play 11-56 strings in E standard on a 25.5 inch scale length (6 string); relative to the tuning those strings are pretty thick (I like the resistance) and I play fast leads. I would like to have the ability to tune low (only as low as A flat standard) and shred without the need of super heavy gauges or an extra string. Should I buy a short scale baritone like 26.3 or should I compromise on pickup options and go for a 27-25.5 multi scale?
Hi Ray :) I've been playing for 30 years, but I'm new to the baritone. I have an Ibanez RGD320 26.5" scale guitar(Drop A# tuning). I think the pickups are too weak. I've only one chance because of my budget. Actives, passives, EMG, Bare Knucle, Seymour Duncan, Fishman Fluence...? I'm so confused. I need your advice. Thank you for this beautiful channel by the way 😎
Love this video. I really have been debating on getting a baritone. Also I hope you get a chance to check out some of the Chapman baritones this year. They have 3 or 4 different ones on their website available.
I got a 26.75 neck for my 25.5 guitar build by mistake. fret to 12 center is 12.75" 12 center to bridge post center (G style) is 14". Never had a baritone so will this neck even work? I checked it at 1 1/4" linger from 12th to heel. than my 25.5" neck.
As someone new to playing would you recommend a baritone. I can only justify getting 1 guitar atm, but they definitely produce the sound and type of music I want to play. Should I play it safe and buy a more standard guitar, or go for "the deep end" and a baritone.
Hello from West London. I’ve a MiM VI Pawn Shop which is baritone set. It’s backed up with a new-ish Squier Bari-Tele. But my question is AMPS!! What amp for heavy baritone guitar ?? I play heavy rock in a stoner doom Sabbath type vibe with a bit of metal and indie thrown in. Any suggestions welcome as I’m frankly baffled. Currently playing an Ampeg Rocket and a Peavey Bandit. This due to current budget rather than choice. That said it sounds ok.
Greetings from Vermont 🍁 I’ve missed playing a multi scale guitar and I am about to grab a baritone guitar by Gretsch. Can’t beat $500 for a decent guitar!
Gday Ray cheers for the awesome content mate love from Australia I’m a big Van Halen fan, on the topic of baritone have you seen the epic ‘Spanked’ baritone double neck? Keep killing it with the content mate 🔥🤟🏻
I just got my 30" SubZero baritone and I love it so far but idk what is but I get a LOT of noise and sometimes palm muting sounds weird. Note that my setup is really simple: The guitar is just straight up plugged into a atandard Vox Valvetronic amp, that's it. Sounds pretty good with my 8-string Legator so idk what I'm doing wrong. Help a fellow chugger out
Thanks for this video! (Well, all of them haha) Just got my first baritone guitar (Squier Jazzmaster, prob your fault LOL) and wow, it feels like a new toy hehe, getting inspired and getting ready to create!
Hey brother I have a yamaha pacifica strat style thing... I'm looking for a baritone conversion neck like you did on your strat. Do you know anyone that could help? Fender necks won't fit apparently.
Is it really scale about length though? I mean it helps. I thought it was just the range of notes. The same with vocal range. Typical baritone is B and lower.
