Why Move to a 7-String Guitar?

Question

So, I play a lot of death/heavy metal(core) and I've finally gotten to a place where people tell me they enjoy listening to me play.

I've been getting suggestions from other musicians (maybe musical enthusiast is a better term for me) about what equipment to experiment with next and I keep hearing that I should buy a 7-string guitar.

I'm not really sure about the advantage of the extra string. I get that having another string will add more range potential but is there something less obvious I might be missing?

Answer 1

A seven string guitar might have longer scale length to accommodate lower tunings. A six stringed guitar can usually be made to handle B tuning, but there might be intonation issues, especially with Gibson measure, which is 24.75". If one wants to go lower, a longer scale is preferred. That can be another benefit with a seven string guitar. Seven string guitars have different scale lengths, some are normal scale with just an added string. For low tunings with six strings you can look at a baritone guitar.

A lot of the modern metal material is performed with a seven string, if you want to play those songs it might be hard with a six string. On the other hand, there are much more good six string guitars than seven string, so there is a trade off with "locking" oneself to a seven string.

I play both kinds, but I tend to prefer six strings these days.

Answer 2

I have my main gigging 7-string guitar tuned to A-D-A-D-G-B-E, which gives me the benefits of a normal Drop-D tuned 6 string, with a duplicated AD AD at the bottom end, which allows for some very full octave barre chords.

Where this really comes into its own is three areas:

• Covering some of the bass range - when the bass is doing something else, I can step into the gap
• Allowing for some fairly wild two handed tapping patterns
• The low tension on the bottom string lets me easily bend up 7 or 8 semitones without even going near my Floyd Rose

And I do just love the low end chug that is possible. I was intending to buy an 8-string, but had difficulty with the width of the neck.

Answer 3

You have summed it up pretty well. Normally a 7 string guitar will have an extra low B string under the low E. This can be useful for rock and metal because you can add extra low metal tonalities to your power chords without having to tune your whole guitar lower.

I'm primarily a jazz player and I have always wanted an extra high A string for better soloing range, but for chords the lower B would be more useful. I guess it depends what your main musical role in a band is as to which end you should extend the seventh string on.

Answer 4

Why I have one? I play metal and death metal and metal core, mainly the really crazy stuff, being able to drop tune it into drop A and still have your high E string is a major gain.

Another thing is, I'm tired of tuning to different tunings, so if I leave it in drop A (A-E-A-D-G-B-E), I can just use a guitar capo to go to drop B and Drop C etc. It will sound about the same bc 7 strings usually have a longer scale length, mine has a 26.5 inch length (23.75" Les Paul).

I was always tuning between standard, D, C, B, And A all the time with my thick strings bc of the different songs I play for fun, but tuning down, you lose your higher notes so with an added string, you can still play pretty high with 24 Frets and your high E string.

A 7 string neck inst too hard to get used to or play. I played one for 2 hours at a guitar store and got so familiar so quick. It felt like drop A with another high E string. It will take a full week or two to fully get used to it, but with a lower end makes a wider view in playing.

It could also be useful such as on a Acoustic guitar for smooth full range barre chords, or for some of that Metallica slow-reggae-metal stuff, low strings and harmonics sound reallly good with that stuff. If you don't like the 7th string or use it every once and a wile, you could simply take it off, add a high A, or Ignore it and play the E string below it :)

It just depends on your style and role, go try one out and see for yourself, hope I helped! :)