How is the 7th string on a 7 string guitar used?

[Quickstep192]

I just looked at a beautiful guitar online and then noticed it's a seven string. Just what does one do with that 7th string?

Any information is appreciated.

[Wade Hampton]

It depends. Some 7 string guitars are set up to have a low A or B string, while the Martin HD-7 Roger McGuinn model has a high octave G string in an octave course with the regular G string.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[David Eastwood]

I have a 7-string acoustic.

I’ve been playing 6-string for so long, that my right hand just can’t seem to handle the 7th string not being the root note with E shapes. So, I tune mine to BEADF#BE - like a baritone, but with a high E on top.

That has produced some interesting results, and it’s proved to be the most productive tuning for me.

My understanding is that jazz players typically drop the 7th string to A, but I’m by no means a jazz player, and when I tried it, I could not make sense of it.

[Jimi2]

I have a 7 string acoustic, with an additional bass string that I tune down to A or G for open tunings. Then I can alternate pick in the bass much like you would do on a six string guitar, but obviously with more bass and more options for notes. Sometimes I’ll drone between a 7th string A and a fifth string A. This also lets me play 4 string seventh chords on the top four strings while droning in the bass.

Most seven string guitars are electrics, so my approach is a little unusual.

[Jim Comeaux]

Ask a Gypsy. No, I’m not being a smart Alec, it’s just that in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia and Romania, seven string guitars are referred to as Gypsy guitars.

[RLetson]

For a Van Eps (or Pizzarelli or Howard Alden) school player, the seventh string is a low bass note--often an A or B. For the Lenny Breau school, it's the first string, a high A above E.

You can hear the effect of the low-seventh layout pretty clearly in the playing of Bucky Pizzarelli and his son John.

[mr. beaumont]

Low A is probably the easiest adjustment, as now you can take the 5th string root of any chord and put it on the 7th, and it will be an octave lower. Sounds huge.

[Krab]

I used mine for a low B string. It helps when you are solo or in a string group with no bass player.