Someone teach me how to play a 7

[Mesheshuggah91]

yeah I dunno if something like this has been posted or not but whatever. I'm a fairly new guitarist, I've only been playing a year but you wouldn't know it if you heard me play. I just joined my buddies band and bought an Ibanez 7321, basically I can't play this thing for dick. so I guess my questions are:
how can I get away from that top string more often?
what are some good chord progressions/shapes to use?
what's a better amp setting for a good tone out of a seven?

I'm usually either tuned in drop A# for the band or when I jam alone I believe drop G#

much appreciated friends.

 

[Origin]

A seven was my first guitar but I learned on sixes too, and the best thing you can do in my experience is just treat it like a six string mentally. They're just notes, right? So adding chords and things like that isn't that big of a deal the less you treat it like another instrument.
I learned songs from bands like Dream Theater and Strapping Young Lad etc. that have songs with varied keys and string changes including the low B and requiring shaping from it, as well as bands that are very based on the low B like Unearth and Korn. Kept things varied and helped me adjust. Shapes would probably be similar; same notes different pitch. So I just play keynotes on a lower octave in songs that aren't on seven strings normally to normalize it in my head more.

For tone I'd say a lot of mids, but I always whore mids.

I know that doesn't technically help much haha but it worked really well psychologically for me.

 

[Customisbetter]

1 - Don't use it?
2 - all the shapes are the same. Just copy what you would play on the higher B string.
3 - what amp do you have?

 

[Mesheshuggah91]

alright thanks, I'm just stuck with a Line 6 HD 100 right now

 

[Mesheshuggah91]

the best thing you can do in my experience is just treat it like a six string mentally.

you have no idea how much that helped. treating it like a six made me think it wasn't a seven and I just made a kickass song...well more of an outline, but thanks bro.