Who here made the jump to a seven for the hell of it?

[Looneygah1]

I actually started playing a 7 because my friend Ryan was in a band when i first met him and got to know him and they used 7's. So about half a year down the road he asked me to join and play in his band and of course i said yes lol.

Then i started playing 7's. Glad i did. Never play a 6 hardly anymore lol.

7's FTW!

 

[MF_Kitten]

edit: wrong thread

but to contribute, i was inspired by the type of bands that are like on this forum, and initially wanted a seven string guitar to tune down to drop G.

 

[Adam Of Angels]

When I got out of highschool, a band that rehearsed near a friend's house asked me to jam with them. They played a very awesome, groovy-as-fuck form of stoner metal.. I call it stoner metal because a lot of the ideas were awesome and random, but catchy.. oh, and they smoked shit tons of pot. Anyway, after we jammed, they kicked their guitarist out and asked me to join the band. So I did, and since they played 7's in drop A, my buddy went out and got me a Squier Stagemaster 7. Surprisingly, those things aren't half-bad, while most squiers suck balls.

I had played a few 7's before that, but never got to spend much time with one. In less than a month from then, I picked up a Shecter Revenger 7, which was cool, but broke in only a few weeks because we were a bit wild.

My next 7 string was an RG7421 that I fell in love with and is now being painted with an epic forest or some shit... I dunno, my buddy is doing it and hasn't given me much detail, but I expect it to be grim as fuck.

Then I got ahold of a Carvin 727 recently, but didn't hold on to it for very long.

...same with an ESP M7. Both were awesome guitars.

Now, however, I have a Loomis sig and a maple boarded RG1527 coming to me in the mail. Expect a NGD when the weekend is over.

In any case, I still play 6 strings, but I treat 6's and 7's like different instruments. I tend to write far groovier stuff on a 7 string, and far more clean material as well. 6 strings bring the raging shredder out of me, so I tend to play more Sonata Arctica-style shred and Andy Timmons style spastic, heart-felt improv on them. I'd like to get some music recorded/filmed and share it with you guys some time soon - some people here are extremelly talented - this is a great place

 

[fretninjadave]

Just curious. I know a lot of people start playing sevens because they see a band they like using them and then typically some time down the road they develop in some other direction with it. I know personally I got my seven after I saw Nevermore doing some tasty things with them and nowdays I play seven stringed melodeath.

But did anyone here just play sixers and then go, "Well why the hell not?" and just get a seven without being inspired to do so by a favorite band or something? If so what was your thought behind making the switch?

I was @ a pawn shop here in el paso and I found a peice of shit Jay turser 7 string for 60 bucks.One of my friends got it for me to see if I was worthy.That began my love of 7 strings.

 

[Riff Obsessed]

Funnily enough, it wasn't until I joined my cover band which plays classic rock. In spite of this I have a massive amount of leeway in the guitar parts, so I try and make it as heavy and wild as I can get. When we were running through a few new songs, I was playing a few riffs on the 6-string and thought "Hey, if I had a 7-string that would sound absolutely massive..." And there it was. Got a Hellraiser as soon as I could after that and it's been there ever since!

 

[Felicitera]

Hope this isn't too much of a dredge...

I just bought mine on a whim. I absolutely love Deftones stuff, and two bands from NZ called Blindspott and Jakob, but I wouldn't say they were my driving influence. I'm mainly interested in heavy but textural sounds, and the extra string might just give me that extra breadth of sound...


I sure hope I'm right

 

[Varkatzas]

I have never owned anything but a 7. Started with a 7321, then moved up to my APEX2. I will never play a 6 string unless I am forced too, haha. It just doesn't feel right to me.

 

[Prydogga]

I jumped to sevens just because, I barely listen to music with seven strings but I use them all alot.

 

[signalgrey]

i was playing baritones almost exclusively for a while but i wanted to simply be able to get the higher strings. SO technically i bought a seven string for the HIGHER register not the lower.

also i have big hands so playing a seven is a bit more comfortable for me.

 

[shaneroo]

i think dream theater's "awake" inspired me to go there.... when i heard the heavy riffs of "caught in a web" and "mirror", i had to get one.

 

[Triple7]

I got my first 7 for my birthday in 2002. I had told my parents that I wanted a better guitar than the one that I had (GRX Ibanez). I had been listening to Korn since 94 and knew that they played 7-strings, so that idea popped into my head. Even though in 02 I didn't really listen to Korn that much anymore I wanted to tune my guitar as low as they did, so I figured the best way to do that was to grab a 7 and try it out. My parents ended up ordering the guitar (RG7420) before I even got to try one.

When I got it I didn't play it that much because I had shitty amps and the stock pickups sounded shitty, but over the next 2 years I picked it up more and more and overall I felt more comfortable playing it than I did my 6. Now I have a solid amp, and switched the pickups out for Blackouts, and it is the only guitar I play.

 

[Customisbetter]

TBH, i have always thought 7s with a low B made the most musical sense, but no stores near me carry any 7s.

Then came along Agile with their sweet cheap 7s, and then Keith started making Videos and i was hooked.

Right now, I'm building a Seven, i have a Seven being shipped to me now, and i have an Agile Seven being built for me.

 

[poopyalligator]

Honestly I got my first sevenstring in around 2000/2001 area. I had heard the song acid rain by liquid tension experiment, and wanted to do the low end stuff that john was doing (even though i wasnt nearly good enough to do it). I ended up getting a dillion 7 string for really cheap. It was piece of shit, and it never stuck. I got another one in 2005 it was a jackson rr7r, and got somewhat into it. Then in 2007 I got a ibanez rg7420, and that got me really into playing the seven string. After that the change felt right for me, plus i could really take advantage of it with the music I was making. I honestly dont see myself going back to six strings again.

 

[vampiregenocide]

I can't remember if anyone inspired me to get a 7, I just thought more strings = more br00talz = more poontang.

I used to tune down a lot, because I started as a bass player I like the low end, and tuning lower on a regular six string causes all sorts of problems for me (too thick strings = uncomfortable, longer scale = too much tension) so I wanted to gte a 7 string to enable me to tune lower and still keep thinsg comfortable.

I saw an ESP LTD M-107 in a pawn shop and bought it to see whether I wanted something more permanent. I loved it, and sold that on (which I kinda regret now) and got myself a 7321, which once upgraded will become my principle guitar.

 

[Scar Symmetry]

I used to crave a 7 string when I was about 12/13 because I was a massive Korn fan, then I started listening to Thrash instead of Nu-Metal and I forgot all about 7 strings... then when I re-realised my love for Steve Vai and Ion Dissonance I was like hey, 7 strings I'm coming back to you!

 

[Seebu]

I did. I was originally going to buy a six stringer Schecter Blackjack but then I saw an used C-7 Hellraiser and I thought "why not?".

 

[Adam Of Angels]

TBH, i have always thought 7s with a low B made the most musical sense

This, 100%

I love 6 strings because they are really fun to play, but a 7 string ALWAYS feels like more of a real guitar to me.

 

[ProgFanDave]

I kind of did it for the hell of it. I have this friend who is really, really against the idea of a 7 string guitar and before you know it I found myself looking cheap ones up on the internet and on Ebay.

 

[TreWatson]

getting a 7 broke me out of the "core" writing thing, and i'm glad for that. my riffs are usually way more tasteful and not always root fifth chords, or pedal notes.

band is making a lot of use of 7ths and 9ths now. hopefully you'll hear all that soon once carthage finishes writing.

 

[KahlerPlayer]

Yeah i did because everybody in my local area only player 6 string strat bodies so i became unique by getting a BLACK KNIGHT 7 string guitar.
Then everybody wanted one so when christmas came by everyone had a 7 string, what they didn't know is i got a 8 string for christmas GOOD TIMES