It’s easier than you think! 7-string guitar recommendations.

Nice to meet you, I'm uki. I play in a band, and I also support others as a guitarist.

I'd like to write about 7-string guitars, which I've been playing for more than half of my band life.

This is my first post, and I'm going to introduce what I felt "is good" about 7-string guitars despite being an inexperienced player.

What is a 7-string guitar?

Literally, it's a guitar with 7 strings. The world demands particularly heavy sounds like the recent trend of heavy music and down tuning culture, etc., and it has a longer history than you would think. It's said that the origin is 7-string acoustic guitars.

The basic tuning is "1E-2B-3G-4D-5A-6E-7B" from the 1st string, with a low B.

A major feature is that the addition of a lower string has made it possible to produce a heavier sound than normal 6-string guitars.

Recommended tuning

When I first started playing a 7-string guitar, I felt quite uncomfortable, and there was a "unfamiliar playing feel" that music theory alone couldn't explain.

Therefore, I would like to introduce a tuning that solves that discomfort in one shot.

It's 7th string dropped A tuning!

As some of you may already know, dropping the 7th string enables a barre chord using 5A, 6E, and 7A, so you can use it as an additional string to normal 6-string guitars and play heavier riffs, and it's easy because you have a reference on the higher 5th string.

In other words, it can be said that you can even handle ultra-down-tuned songs with the feelings of 6-string guitar scaling and chords.

Good and bad points

○ Good points

- Being able to make heavier sounds than normal 6-string guitars.
- Some songs can be played without changing the tuning.
- Somehow, it makes you look like a great guitarist.

× Bad points

- If muting is insufficient, noise will be generated by the strings not being played.
- The guitar itself is heavy.
- Strings and replacement parts are a little expensive.

And so on.

Things I'm glad about due to playing a 7-string guitar

A few years ago, I often copied songs from various bands in college club activities, but surprisingly many songs were in irregular tuning, and I often had to change the tuning on my 6-string guitars.

However, since a wide range of sounds can be covered after the introduction of the 7-string guitar with the dropped A tuning, I was able to cover most songs with just one guitar without changing the tuning.

There were many songs to copy that I needed to practice with the 7th string dropped A tuning from the start, and I was able to copy them more easily than I expected.

Personally, this was the best point, and now I could play low riffs with a regularly tuned chord feeling without down-tuning each time.
Since a wide range from bass to treble can be covered, I think that it is a big merit in that the song gets swells by mixing phrases with extended treble-bass movement.

Since the range of tuning is rather fixed in my band, the frequency of these songs has been decreasing recently, but the 7-string still does an excellent job for some songs.

At first glance, the 7-string guitar looks like it's difficult to play, with invisible walls holding you back, but why don't you introduce one to your arsenal?