Prejudice against 7 strings

[leonardo7]

I've gotten some stares at GC for playing a 7 and I really don't care.

Its because they tried one out themselves but had a personal feeling of failure and of trying to be someone they arent. What they need to realize is that some of us actually enjoy the 7 string for our own reasons. In addition, theres a reason why they are working at GC. Sorry to you guys who work there, I was only stating that with that kind of close mindedness, you will always be working at GC.

 

[explosivo]

I also always hear this statement....

''wow 7 string! God dammit, its already hard enough for me to play with 6 strings''

This statement makes no sens what so ever.....

And always makes me LOL so bad

Better than the good old "7 strings are for people that can't play on a 6 string"

 

[gorsch]

People expect playing 7 strings to be much harder than 6 for some insane reason.


It makes me laugh when people like Mick Tompson tune down to drop c or b or w.e and have to use these massive strings on their 25.5" 6 strings and then diss 7 strings? Its the logical solution to wanting to drop tune a guitar.

You know what, most of those players who use thick guages and who never go in the treble range must have 4 string guitars built for them

what guage do you use on your 7. Unless it's a baritone 7 I bet it's close to the same gauge if not THE SAME I use on my 6's dropped.

 

[Rick]

It's one extra string and it's just extra notes. What's the big fucking deal?

 

[hufschmid]

what guage do you use on your 7. Unless it's a baritone 7 I bet it's close to the same gauge if not THE SAME I use on my 6's dropped.

10 - 59 but I'm also using the high E when I play....

It's one extra string and it's just extra notes. What's the big fucking deal?

 

[caughtinamosh]

My beef with 7 string prejudice is that many of the critics consider the seventh string to be outwith the guitar's normal "tonal palette." This in nonsense, as you can play any Metallica riff on the low B, and still have it come out crystal clear (provided you tweak your amp's settings slightly to compliment the darker fundamental). The same cannot be said of the 8 string, where it is generally inadvisable to power chord the low F# string. If on 7s, the low B is within the rest of the guitar's "tonal palette," where is the problem? It's simply more range.

 

[mikecallaway]

I used to play 6 string tuned to drop b. and I just wasnt happy.

I switched to seven string and my dynamics greatly increased because I was able to tune to standard and still have the extra string tuned drop for the heavier stuff

 

[TomAwesome]

While there are a lot of other valid factors, I think the main reasons that most guitarists play six-string guitars are that it has been the standard for hundreds of years, extended range instruments are somewhat of a specialty/niche kind of thing, and as far as widely available production instruments, they are still relatively new. I think most of the other factors originate with those facts, too.

 

[PlagueX1]

"Jimi Hendrix never played a 7 string" That statement makes me want to kill. Hendrix could also never play with Jeff Loomis plays. It's a retarded debate. If you have no use for lower notes then by all means people should stay with a 6 string, but if your like us and play a wide variety of stuff then 7's own.

 

[Scar Symmetry]

I enjoy both 6 strings and 7 strings immensely, but I remember when I first got into guitar I had a 6 which I tuned down to A to play Korn tunes coz really I wanted a K7 more than anything in the world.

I appreciate both for their suitability to the types of music I love playing, but in the long term I see myself more of a seven string man

EDIT:

as far as widely available production instruments, they are still relatively new.

+1, this is exactly what I was saying earlier.

 

[hufschmid]

I always love this video because its a perfect exemple of historical extended range instruments...

See, this music was written by Sylvius Leopold Weiss which was a luth composer, so this guitar must have much more range in order to play this music...

Its a 13 string guitar....

 

[caughtinamosh]

"Jimi Hendrix never played a 7 string" That statement makes me want to kill. Hendrix could also never play with Jeff Loomis plays. It's a retarded debate. If you have no use for lower notes then by all means people should stay with a 6 string, but if your like us and play a wide variety of stuff then 7's own.

+1

Back in his time, hendrix was among the "be all, end all" guitar elite. Times have changed, and music has progressed. So too should the guitar.

 

[a7stringkilla]

6 strings are far more popular cause you can play a power chord with one finger and there are alot of lazy mother fuckers in the world!

 

[caughtinamosh]

6 strings are far more popular cause you can play a power chord with one finger and there are alot of lazy mother fuckers in the world!

Drop A on a 7? Personally, I wouldn't call it "lazy" to drop tune, depending on the playing style.

 

[hufschmid]

6 strings are far more popular cause you can play a power chord with one finger and there are alot of lazy mother fuckers in the world!

You can play a power chord with 1 finger on a 7

 

[gorsch]

10 - 59 but I'm also using the high E when I play....

See I use the same set of strings, D'adarrio 7 string set, on my 25.5 scale 6's in dropped A. If I need the high E I have my 7 with me. If I dont I prefer and am more comforatable with my 6's.

If it's any of my 24.75 scale 6's then I use a 64 (not much of a difference) for the A then just go with a standard 10 guage set and toss the high E. It's odd at first going from a 64 to a 46 (low A to E) but you get used to it. Probably would like a 64, 50,38,28,17,13 more but I'd have to special order all my strings instead of just the single 64's.

keep in mind I have nothing against 7's. Just cant find one I really like.

 

[hufschmid]

If I need the high E I have my 7 with me.

You just said it, with a 7 you have it all........

Then if its less confortable to play for you, then of course this is only a question of personal preferences, nothing can be said about that...

''Better have it and not need it, then to need it and to not have it''

 

[TheHandOfStone]

I agree there's some degree of prejudice for the reasons you've mentioned, but as it was already said the 6 string is simply more established than the 7 string.

Welcome btw.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

I'd bet you a considerable amount of money that if 7strings had been around as a production instrument at the end of the 70's, and available, that a lot of virtuoso shredders in the 80's would have had one and used one. ALthough, I'd be guessing that they'd have all been using a high A instead.

It's only becuase 7strings became production guitars when grunge came along and started to kill off 80's virtuouso shredding, and the nu metal movement which was not virtuoso like in the public eye that actually attached a stigma to them.

It's all about the place and the time, and I think production 7strings just missed the boat.

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

I've never understood the argument about using larger gauge strings on a 6 being somehow worse than playing a 7 which is supposedly built with the lower notes in mind. If you're playing a 7 in standard and a 6 in B standard, and both are 25.5" scale, wouldn't you logically be using exactly the same gauges for the 6 lower strings on the 7 as you would for the 6?

Also, D'Addario only seems to try to perpetuate this ridiculousness. They sell the EXL-110-7 set for 7-strings, which is .10-.59 (it used to be .10-.56), but also sell the EXL-158 set, which is .13-.62, and intended for baritone 6s. If you get the EXL-158 set and a single .10 (what I use), you end up with exactly the same gauges as the EXL-110-7 set, but with a low B that isn't floppy shit. I emailed them once to ask why they don't use the .62 in their 7-string sets, and the answer they gave me was some bullshit about how they're intended for different uses (even though they'd be tuned the same, and all the other gauges are the same? ). Clearly they have no idea what they're on about.