Instrument / history / repertoire / practice
The eight-string Brahms Guitar is a classical guitar developed in the 1990s through the collaboration between guitarist Paul Galbraith and luthier David Rubio. It features a fan-fretted fingerboard and an extended range, with one additional bass string and one additional treble string beyond the traditional six-string configuration.
The usual tuning, from lowest to highest, is B–E–A–D–G–B–E–A. Two additional strings extend the six-string guitar in both directions: a low B below the standard sixth string and a high A above the first.
An extended range that offers the performer new ways of shaping dynamics, harmony and counterpoint, resonance, and melodic direction. It allows musical material to be distributed across the instrument in different ways, opening new possibilities of balance and colour.
The frets are arranged in a fan rather than parallel lines. The bass side uses a longer effective string length and the treble side a shorter one, helping the extended strings speak with greater balance while keeping the hand position playable.
Galbraith’s well-known vertical setup places the guitar on an endpin and uses a resonance box beneath it. This can affect projection, physical alignment and the player’s relationship with the instrument.
Although Galbraith’s approach has historically become closely associated with the Brahms Guitar, it should not be understood as a prescribed playing position. The instrument was originally conceived to be played in a conventional classical-guitar position, and several performers continue to use it in this way.
The name reflects the repertoire Galbraith was performing around the time the instrument was built. David Rubio gave it the name “Brahms Guitar” in reference to Galbraith’s work on Brahms’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21a. Listen here.
This overview is based on interviews, guitar-maker documentation, recordings and doctoral research. Individual instruments may vary in construction and setup.