Baritone guitar

A guitar with a longer scale length and a lower tuning than standard, usually a fourth or a fifth below, sitting between a guitar and a bass.

The extra scale keeps the lower strings at something like normal tension, so they stay in tune and do not flop, while the body and neck stay guitar-shaped and the familiar chord shapes still work. Because the pitch is low and the strings are thick, the instrument favors single-note lines, riffing and chord work in a low register rather than big strummed voicings. Many baritones are also used in the same tuning as standard but a fourth down, which means the shapes transpose cleanly.

Example: tuned to B, a baritone plays a power chord shape that lands an octave-and-a-bit lower than the same shape on a standard guitar, filling the space under a normal guitar track.

Baritone guitar

See also