Favorite 7 String guitar tuning?

[Alex Kenivel]

Any particular reason for using F# in place of G?

Its called lute tuning. It's like B standard on a 6 string but with an extra higher string

 

[Aymara]

Its called lute tuning.

It's inspired by a Renaissance tenor lute E tuning:

http://www.lutesociety.org/pages/lute-tuning

 

[RuslanK]

B Standard

 

[Science_Penguin]

Drop A seems to be the one I keep coming back to.

For some reason, it makes taking songs that would be played on Drop C or Eb Standard on a six, and adapting them for a seven much easier. Also, when playing clean, it makes barre chords easier to achieve, because you've got a root note and its lower octave on the same fret.

 

[jerm]

Drop A for the savageness, anything in Drop tuning is awesome. Might try G# for my next album.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/horussound_jeremy/2016-07-09-song-6-v9[/SC]

 

[You]

Drop A seems to be the one I keep coming back to.

For some reason, it makes taking songs that would be played on Drop C or Eb Standard on a six, and adapting them for a seven much easier. Also, when playing clean, it makes barre chords easier to achieve, because you've got a root note and its lower octave on the same fret.

I gravitate to Drop A myself, for as I seem to make a good amount of riffs with the tuning.

 

[Zeus1907]

Favorite timing is
A D G C F A D. I've always preferred playing a step down, even on 6 strings.
G D G C F A D is fun as well. But it seems a little too easy to write in.
I was in a band that we played in Drop C (6 string) and one day I wrote a song in D standard and my second guitarist was completely confused by it. He literally could only play in Drop C or Drop D tuning. After that I've avoided any kind of drop tuning.

But..... By default I feel as though I have to say standard. BEADGBE. My top two favorite bands are Carcass and Sepultura. Which play in Standard, and in B tuning. I can cover those two bands on the same guitar. That's a win for me.

 

[MiahDrao]

I was loyal to drop A until I dropped the 6th string with it. I've been doing G# C# G# C# F# A# D# lately, and I'm tempted not to go back.

 

[Aymara]

He literally could only play in Drop C or Drop D tuning. After that I've avoided any kind of drop tuning.

Now we have it ... drop tunings are for beginners ... LOL

That reminds me of the day, I first tried Drop D ... I played E standard my whole life

 

[Dayn]

It's theoretical at this stage as I only have an 8-string, but I'm looking at getting a 7-string to play in open D minor.

That's a normal open D minor tuning, with a high F. I want to be able to play open D minor, but I don't want any strings lower than D. I think it'd get in the way. But, I like to add new things, so why not add a high F? That's a minor third, which plays into open D minor and provides similar new phrasing opportunities while being easily attainable.

 

[You]

bump

Let's keep it going.

 

[jaydough]

I basically stopped playing 7 until I started tuning it FCGCFAD, basically Drop C but with another 5th at the bottom.

If I'm playing down low I want to be able to play really angular lines, so having the bottom strings in fifths lets me think more in terms of triads than as scale shapes.

So instead of playing a scale line like 1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5 you could go 1-3-5-7-3-5-7-9 and outline a 9th chord instead of a whole scale, while also traveling much further within that scale. You get lines that you can actually orchestrate with other parts and that have particular melodic functions right out of the gate so you can focus more on fun stuff like rhythm.

It also has some of the same advantages of Devin Townsend's wonky Open-C tuning where all of the strings being more-or-less consonant means for some easier shapes for a lot of things.

I've been having some problems with string gauges but I guess that's kind of par for the course with metal. Really makes going the whole multiscale route look like heaven.

 

[Caleb Browning]

Drop G (GDGCFAd) is really fun, and super low. It's what Knocked Loose uses for all their songs.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

For me, it's a tie between drop G# or drop F with the 6th string also dropped down to A#

 

[Anquished]

Wow has it really been three years!? Time flies..

Funny that my main tuning is now A standard with B being my secondary tuning.

 

[lewis]

Drop G# OPEN

G# D# G# C# G# C# G#

 

[lurè]

Standard, Bb, drop G

 

[akinari]

I'm boring when it comes to 7 string tunings, so I use standard B/drop A/ADADGAD, Bb, A and F. I also have a 34" 7 string that's in A0. Gonna cop a 28" scale for DGCFA#DG or DADGCEA soon.

 

[gunch]

G# C# F# C# F# A# D# - Ion Dissonance 7 tuning

E E A D F# B E - Boreworm Tuning (Octave E put on lute tuning)

I want to take Gambale tuning and put a Low A on it

 

[MrWulf]

Drop A, Drop A#, Bb Standard, B Standard.