DrNewcenstein
He Did the Monster Mash
Re: 7 string guitars
In the time I've spent with my 7-strings, I've come to the conclusion that unless you're using it to also do covers of 6-string songs, it would probably be best to simply stick with a 6-string and go with thicker strings and a lower tuning. If you continually add lower and lower-toned strings so that you're encroaching on the bass guitar's territory, then the bass has to drop down to the drums' territory, and you end up needing a ton of power to push those lower freqs live, as well as compression leveling to make recordings audible. Not to mention finding a pair of speakers (or earbuds) that can accurately reproduce the recording on the consumer-side of things.
Obviously that's from a Metal perspective. With Jazz, which is not going to rely as much on distortion and chugga-jigga-juggas, you can drop in a lower-tuned interval and keep things interesting.
However, there's no denying the target market for extended-range guitars these days is indeed the Metal crowd, so it's all going to be about the jigga-jugga-wuggas.
Riffing on a low-tuned standard-scale 6-string worked just fine for Black Sabbath; I can't see how it wouldn't work just fine for anyone else.
In the time I've spent with my 7-strings, I've come to the conclusion that unless you're using it to also do covers of 6-string songs, it would probably be best to simply stick with a 6-string and go with thicker strings and a lower tuning. If you continually add lower and lower-toned strings so that you're encroaching on the bass guitar's territory, then the bass has to drop down to the drums' territory, and you end up needing a ton of power to push those lower freqs live, as well as compression leveling to make recordings audible. Not to mention finding a pair of speakers (or earbuds) that can accurately reproduce the recording on the consumer-side of things.
Obviously that's from a Metal perspective. With Jazz, which is not going to rely as much on distortion and chugga-jigga-juggas, you can drop in a lower-tuned interval and keep things interesting.
However, there's no denying the target market for extended-range guitars these days is indeed the Metal crowd, so it's all going to be about the jigga-jugga-wuggas.
Riffing on a low-tuned standard-scale 6-string worked just fine for Black Sabbath; I can't see how it wouldn't work just fine for anyone else.