Who inspired you to play 7-stringers??

[xxvicarious]

DEVIN TOWNSEND. He does it all. Shreds like a mad man, he's a great composer, has some insane vocal skills... After hearing SYL's "Alien" album, I ran out and bought a Schecter Revenger
just so I could jam along to Skeksis. That album has the 'biggest sound' I've still ever heard from
any band on the face of the earth \m/

 

[MAJ Meadows SF]

Steve Vai was a great influence definitely, but Emperor's "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise" was a great revelation to me... He used his 7 string so melodically imho instead of that breakdownish sound so often used with tuned down guitars...

Great minds think alike! I first got into guitar period after playing classical Suzuki method violin for 9 years, and a little piano, and being bored with it (teens, no appreciation for classics). I discovered Satriani, Vai, John Petrucci, and everyone related all in one shot, got into 6's, but didn't have big enough hands for a 7 at the time. I also waded through popular metal acts, and Kirk Hammet and Tom Morello (early RATM) were a big influence outside of the virtuoso camp. Living in central Florida I had the fortune to meet Chuck Schuldiner and Trey Azagthoth, and a few other "legends". I liked Death tremendously and learned a lot about atonal sounds and hybrid theory.

I always gravitated towards the classics, or neo-classical sounding music. Eventually, with the help of my encounters, I got back into extreme metal and between tech death and black metal I was at home. I listen to it all, but I love huge epic melodies. Opeth was huge to me at this time and I can easily say they are still my favorite band overall. It bridged a few styles while not sitting into one particular, and I was inspired to reach further into doom, gothic, and black metal. Enter Emperor. When I heard "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise", it was a life changing listen. I was blown away by the epic size of the record, the sound, the brutal yet melodic leads and solos, and how utterly chaotic it was as well. Listening to that record from start to finish while driving on snowy back roads and highways through Ohio, at night, was a landmark moment for me, as great as when I first listened to a Satriani record. As humans we learn to associate music with a place in time, and the setting for that Emperor record is emblazened into my mind forever. I quickly bought a cheap Kramer 7 from Musicyo.com, slapped an Emperor sticker on it (the only guitar I ever put a sticker on), and learned as much of this record as I could. Eventually I would get more and more into heavier music, play in some local bands, meet more musicians, and gain influence from all circles. But I dropped the 7 after a while, and only until the recent boom of seven string and ERG users of late have I gotten back into them. It's serisous now, as I have a BRJ and Daemoness customs on order.

This website is also a huge help, and a curse ! Yeah I'm long winded but thus is when deployments get boring .

 

[TheBloodstained]

Back when I first showed interest in 7 strings I heard a lot of Mnemic and KoRn. I think that Mnemic where the main reason I bought my first 7 string.

Both Mircea and Rune (Mnemic) played Caparison Dellinger 7's back then, and I still have GAS for one of those. They switched to Jackson in the "Sons Of The System" era, and now, with the new lineup, they've used some nice Ibanez 7's.

 

[Chris O]

I met Brian from KoRn about a year ago in an airport. I have always thought KoRn was alright, but hadn't listened to them in a while. Anyway, after meeting Brian, I thought I'd give 7s another shot (failed back @ 1999 or so), and have had some fun. I had started with an Ibanez RGD, but quickly snagged a couple K7s, and then my awesome wife bought me a biker black Apex 7. I let the K7s go (STUPID!!!), but still have the Apex, and have an RGD2120 coming next week for 6-string low tunings.

Really digging KoRn up to where Brian left, and his "Love & Death" stuff isn't half bad either. Inspiring player with an interesting life story.

 

[Valennic]

Back when I first showed interest in 7 strings I heard a lot of Mnemic and KoRn. I think that Mnemic where the main reason I bought my first 7 string.

Both Mircea and Rune (Mnemic) played Caparison Dellinger 7's back then, and I still have GAS for one of those. They switched to Jackson in the "Sons Of The System" era, and now, with the new lineup, they've used some nice Ibanez 7's.

Robert Downey Jr is a guitarist?

 

[kn1feparty]

Carcass inspired me to tune my 6ers to B.
Then i saw Trey with Morbid Angel and I've been playing 7s ever since.

Dino got me doing that back in the day . Love Carcass, though. Heartwork is still probably one of my favorite metal records.

 

[Cremated]

A local band called Flaw got me into sevens back in like 02. Then it was Unearth, Scott Hull, Emperor, etc. I ended up getting my first seven in 03 or 04. Once I got one, I never looked back. Not really into many of the bands that initially got me into sevens though.

 

[maximummetal288]

I ended up playing 7's on my own. When I first started learning guitar my younger brother and I would mess with wacky tunings in Guitar Pro. Iced Earth tuned to Eb, so I figured let's try that and when St. Anger came out (and being a 14 year old boy at the time) I wanted to learn the songs so I started to mess with Drop C. Then on guitar pro I started messing with 7 strings and something about the low B plus the ability to still play the high E just really inspired me, I thought it was really cool! My brother and I wrote a bunch of 7 string songs and in order to play them I bought myself an RG7321 for my 15th birthday.

 

[xshreditupx]

for me it was fear factory. there was something about the simplicity and heaviness they provided in a way that changed the game. they were the first band i realllyyyyy noticed playing sevens. i feel like they are the forgotten 7 string OGs

 

[xshreditupx]

hahah after this post i went to itunes and re bought demanufacture and obsolete

 

[seraphim]

oddly enough this guy was my first 7 string inspiration. don't hate. i wanted my audience to look like his!

 

[Ocara-Jacob]

Misha. Dur hur. Also Kevin Sherwood.

 

[wilch]

Have always been a huge fan of Steve Vai, and John Petrucci for the past 20+ years.

BUT, the reason why I recently put an order in for my first 7 string is Keith Merrow and Ola Englund.

Found them on youtube and was blown away.

 

[Buddha92]

2words. Stephen.Carpenter.

Deftones fanboii for life

 

[Gilbertsgotbrootz]

Ola Englund because I was watching engl amp demos and then bulb from watching engl amps demos .... So technically engl lead to me ola and misha ...... and fred brum as well

 

[keithhagel]

Stephen Carpenter from the Deftones and the dudes from Unearth were the first people I really listened to that used 7's.

 

[Bandersnatch]

For me, it was mainly Cooley and Petrucci. My old guitar teacher, who I've remained friends with, was also a driving force behind my want of a 7.

 

[danger5oh]

Carpenter.

 

[Ultraussie]

Of course I was deeply interested in 7's and 8's as soon as I heard bands like Messhugah, Dream Theater, Nevermore, Divine Heresy/Fear Factory and of course Trivium! (Shogun)

But the reason I actually brought one was simply because I wanted extra scale length for tuning lowwwww, and the extra string would be a bonus (in this case, I saw it as an extra high E, not the low B/A I was getting myself lol).

 

[Seanthesheep]

Triviums album Shogun, amd Scale the Summits album The Collective.

Even with that I struggling to get and stay in 7. It just feels wierd playing in a standard tuning (outside of 7s, I only play in Drop Db) and both those albums are in B standard. Ill wirk on learning the songs but actually getting inspiration to write on a 7 is tougher