What's the point of a 7 string guitar

[SH73]

Lots of You Tubers and newbies are almost obsessed with the idea of a 7 string guitar. Steve Vai masters 6 strings with one hand. I remember seeing him at Hammersmith.There are " shredders" and there is Steve Vai.

 

 

 

 

[ezbass]

Of course Steve Vai is a famous user of the 7 string guitar, not so much these days perhaps. I think, like a 5 string bass, it’s for the  extra low notes, so you can go down to a B. Therefore, I guess it would be popular with certain metal players who use that lower register on guitar, but still want the high notes for solos, etc. I also imagine a sweep picked arpeggio over 7 strings would sound rather effective.

[NickD]

One word.... Grunt!

I bought one to finish some demos, figuring I could double some of the bass riffs more easily. As it turned out I ended up ditching the idea as that approach made the songs heavier than I wanted, I mean instantly 'bloody' heavy.... which is not what we're really after. It was fun though, and If I were a younger man, doing metal type stuff I'd be all over it.

I'm moving the guitar on, as I can't imagine playing stuff that hardcore at my age, and I've established that it's not for our current project, but I had some fun. Really heavy, fast Low powerchord riffs, without the need to tune down would have been really handy over the years in some bands, and I can't imagine them disappearing for that reason.

Oddly enough, it's believed that the first use of a 7 string guitar on a rock record was actually Steve Vai, on Whitesnake's Slip of the Tongue, with a prototype he subsequently toured with, and there's 7 string on his solo material as far back as Passion and Warfare... so as (phenomenally) adept as he is on 6 strings, he's not opposed to a bit of 7 here and there. As with the age old, incredibly dull, 'Jaco Pastorius only needed 4 strings' crap that keeps coming up in the bass world (to which the obvious retort is 'Bottesini only needed three strings, and everything he wrote makes Jaco's work look like a 5 year old painting by numbers')... It's art, and it depends entirely on the sound you want to make.

[SH73]

My point is that Steve Vai's single handed playing is far more superior than the boring 7 string djent stuff. As for the 5 plus string bass Steve Harris was asked. 

Do you ever mess around with a 5-string?

Nah, that’s one too many, haha. In my opinion a bass player does not need five strings or more. But everyone to their own. If someone feels extra special by having more strings, that’s fine. But it’s not my cup of tea.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Yip, as said above, exactly like a five string bass - more low notes. 

As to Vai - technically a very gifted musician, though TBH not a player I take any pleasure in watching/ listening to. The Shred thing always left me cold. It's hugely impressive from a skill point of view, but as art it stirs nothing in me. 

[ubit]

Just listen to some Korn. They have mastered the seven string guitar. They are actually tuned down to a low A

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 07/08/2021 at 08:30, ubit said:

Just listen to some Korn. They have mastered the seven string guitar. They are actually tuned down to a low A

It does seem that the players I see using them more do tend to be in the hardcore metal arena more often than not. It certainly allows for those really deep tunings a lot of those guys prefer. I suspect that the lower notes available for detuning also work better with string tension -= only so low you can go with a standard low E before it flaps and doesn't resonate...  Me, I'd prefer to go the six string baritone route, but I'm sure that has its own differences in feel too. Though an extra string would take some getting used to, I can see that some players (particularly shredders who often prefer a noticeably wider neck anyhow) might prefer the more standard scale length over the slightly longer one of a baritone.