Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

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Question is in the title. I'm considering getting a 7 string but I'm worried it'll make me worse at playing my 6 strings. I have no intention of becoming a 7 string only player, but there are plenty of times where I'd like to experiment with a lower range and extended chords.

I found some threads online but mostly on the seven string forum, which doesn't seem to be a useful sample.

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[DavidRavenMoon]

Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

I don’t own a seven string. But I do play both 5 and 4 string basses. For about 33 years I exclusively played 5 string basses. I had been playing 4 string bass for about 18 years.

This past month I started playing a 4 string Jazz bass tuned down to C#. Just made more sense than using the 5 string in this band. The guitarist is in low C#.

It took me a rehearsal or two to not feel disoriented (also the tuning), but I play both equally as well.

So I think if you spend time on both you will adjust just fine.

I also play guitar in another band (a three piece with a singer), so it’s a similar way to compartmentalize going from one instrument to another.


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[Der Oberherr]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

In my experience, it doesn't. I have one 7 string, and when I go back to 6, it feels like home. I feel I play just as well on a 6 string as I ever did (I'm not that great IMO). You may, however find yourself missing those couple of extra low notes occassionally, but that can be solved by just picking the 7 string up or by tuning down.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

Just the opposite in my case. Don't own a 7 right now but have thought about picking another one up, I still as one example think about scales using root 7 patterns and it opened up the fretboard for me on my 6 strings playing melodic lines. Makes me think differently now even while I am playing a 6 about the fretboard.I lost nothing and actually gained a lot after playing 7s for a while. Miss in particular my Carvin 747 as it made the rest of the 7s I have owned feel like cheap toys!!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

I think it is no different that learning another instrument altogether. Does learning piano hurt your guitar playing? If anything, it makes you think a little bit differently. A lifetime is long enough to appreciate both 6 and 7 (or more) string guitar.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

No reason it should.

Now - if you become "dependent" on things you do easily on a 7 and never go back to playing 6...sure. But for your purposes - not a thing.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

The biggest problem I have found with playing a 7-string is you need to adjust your chording and you need to rethink your approach when using a 7-string on a 6-string song. A lot of 7-string guitars are just warmed over 6-string guitars when they need to be redesigned to actually work correctly. For instance Ibanez has ruled the marketplace for 7-string guitars and their guitars use basswood bodies and necks with rosewood fretboards and 25.5 inch scale length. That may work for a 6-string but it's too dark for a 7-string and the bottom string ends up a fart factory. The bottom string is hard to intonate properly and scale-length for that string needs to be longer. The pickups also need be designed to work with the extended frequency range of the low string. Otherwise you just make tonal deficiencies in the orginal pickups worse by modifying them to be used for 7-strings.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Does playing a 7-string make you worse at 6 string guitars?

Playing a 7 string or 8 string for a while will make a 6 string fell like a little toy when you switch back. I have no trouble transitioning between 6, 7, and 8 strings, even with drastically different scale lengths. It takes a few minutes for your brain to readjust, but then you are fine. I will say that picking up a 7 string has improved my playing significantly. Scales make SO much more sense on a 7 because your top two and bottom two strings are the same. It is so much more symmetric when thinking about scales that I sometimes wonder why 6 strings still exist. I do like them all though. When it comes to chords, you do have to figure out how to integrate that 7th string, but again, whatever you are doing with your high B string, you can do with that 7th string too, so it isn't very difficult.
I remember being very narrow minded when I began playing decades ago, not wanting anything that differed from a traditional Fender Strat in any detail. After all these years playing, I now like variety. I like to switch back and forth and see how it changes my approach to playing. It seems really weird to admit, being someone who began on Fender Strats and then spent decades playing Gibson Les Pauls, SG's, and PRS guitars..... but if I had to pick just ONE guitar to keep, it would be an Ibanez 7 string.