You only get 5 extra notes on a 7 string.

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MetalDestroyer

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A low tuned 6 is all fun and games until Petrucci plays a regular ol' G chord and your "g string" is the wrong note
 

tedtan

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I think someone mentioned it already, but there are only 12 notes in western music, so you’re not actually getting any new notes, you’re getting five new pitches. But, importantly, you’re getting those five extra pitches in every position you play, so the first position, the fifth position, the twelfth position, etc. all have five new pitches without having to shift out of position to reach them.
 

Neon_Knight_

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Nope, just aleph-one more notes, or aleph-one notes in total.

Since you can't even start to count the original notes nor the added notes, the countability is still the same.
If you're not careful, the OP will think you're confirming that a 7-string doesn't offer any meaningful benefit over a 6-string (both have "aleph-one" notes, if fretless). :rofl:
 
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The problem with thicker gauge strings is that the shorter the vibration length the worse they sound.

Test it yourself and hear what I am describing.

Play a B note at the 12 fret on the low "B" string and then play a B at the 7th fret on the low "E" string. Compare the two sounds, listen very closely to the quality in sound between the two.
Well, better and worst can be very subjetive... they require context... and I'm detecting some ingenuity on your behalf regarding context.

... so, you post in a web guitar forum specifically called SEVEN STRING, that is almost as old as Google, where many to most users play 7 string guitars regularly (if not daily) for several years already wouldn't know anything about this? What is your point/purpose in this communication?


Only 5 extra notes????

Who ever plays above the 5th fret anyway? Chuga, Chuga, Chuga!

:)
This is the way!

... not the only one though...


If you're not careful, the OP will think you're confirming that a 7-string doesn't offer any meaningful benefit over a 6-string (both have "aleph-one" notes, if fretless). :rofl:
... so what if I have a fretless 7 stringer?... where do I fit?
 

bostjan

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If you're not careful, the OP will think you're confirming that a 7-string doesn't offer any meaningful benefit over a 6-string (both have "aleph-one" notes, if fretless). :rofl:
I'm okay with OP thinking that.

Maybe OP will find a niche playing two-string guitars with only a high E and low E, since it's the same range of notes as a six string tuned standard. I don't want to stand in anyone's way of accomplishing their dreams.
 

Drew

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On a 7 string you only get 5 extra notes, B,C,C#,D,D#.

Compared to a standard tuned 6 string, with the 7 string tuned standard B,E,A,D,G,B,E.

I've played 7 string for over 10 years, tuned E,A,D,G,C,F,Bb.

Yes, with a high treble string, but still only 5 extra notes compared to my 6 string.

I have to buy a special string for the high treble string.

I'm asking myself, is 7 string really worth it?
You get five extra notes in every scale position on the neck on a seven string. Sure, there are only five additional unique pitches... but you try playing a F on the first fret of the low E and a C on the 8th fret of the high E, vs simply playing that F on the 6th fret of the B string.

I play as much six as I do seven too.... but it's a bit of an oversimplification to focus on the number of unique new pitches, vs the usable range in any position on the neck.
 

dmlinger

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More than that, you have uncountable notes.

Stay with me for a second. Infinity implies that you can count how many, there is just no end to the counting, mathematicians call the size of an infinite set of countable numbers "aleph-naught". The concept of "aleph-one" is demonstrably bigger than infinity, because you can't even start counting (chose any "real number" and then try to count starting with the next real number). You have aleph-one notes!

mind-blown-explosion.gif
Someone else watched that Netflix documentary about infinity?? It was good

Technically a fretted guitar has infinite notes, because if we bend a string, there are infinite Hz between notes. Just like how there are an infinite number of decimal places between 0 and 1.

I don't have a point I'm making...just enjoyed that doc :lol:
 

Pietjepieter

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More than that, you have uncountable notes.

Stay with me for a second. Infinity implies that you can count how many, there is just no end to the counting, mathematicians call the size of an infinite set of countable numbers "aleph-naught". The concept of "aleph-one" is demonstrably bigger than infinity, because you can't even start counting (chose any "real number" and then try to count starting with the next real number). You have aleph-one notes!

mind-blown-explosion.gif
Right after reading this I ran up the stairs ready to remove all the frets from my guitars.... they suddenly seems so limiting. But then I realized I can bend within the frets so basically every guitars has uncountable notes, meaning that a seven strings gives uncountable more options....

EDIT: damn to late
 

bostjan

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Someone else watched that Netflix documentary about infinity?? It was good

Technically a fretted guitar has infinite notes, because if we bend a string, there are infinite Hz between notes. Just like how there are an infinite number of decimal places between 0 and 1.

I don't have a point I'm making...just enjoyed that doc :lol:
Haven't seen it. I minored in mathematics (one class short of a major), which I guess is roughly equivalent to watching a halfway decent docuseries. :lol:

Yeah, I guess if you consider that each tone is not just an idealized sine wave with a frequency of a nominal frequency in Hz, but rather, an infinite series of fourier coefficients and real frequencies, then the situation is even crazier. Each time you play a note, even the same fret on the same string, it's never going to be exactly the same. So, the number of sounds you can make on a guitar is profoundly less countable than I initially represented.
 

Neon_Knight_

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If you're not careful, the OP will think you're confirming that a 7-string doesn't offer any meaningful benefit over a 6-string (both have "aleph-one" notes, if fretless). :rofl:

... so what if I have a fretless 7 stringer?... where do I fit?
You'll have the same number of notes at your disposal as if you had a a fretless 6 stringer - "aleph-one". I think that means you need to get a fretless 9 stringer. ;)
 
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