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7-string Guitar Information

A seven-string guitar is a guitar with seven strings instead of the usual six. Some types of seven-string guitars are specific to certain cultures (i.e. the Russian and Brazilian guitars).

Seven-string electric guitars are particularly used in certain styles of music, and have been popular over the past few decades in the heavy metal genre. Mainstream artists such as Steve Vai, Muse, Dream Theater, Trivium, Staind, Rush, and Metallica have all experimented with seven-string guitars over the years on different albums. Some artists, such as Korn, Suicide Silence, Emmure, Meshuggah, have created an identifiable, signature, and distinctively heavy sound using them almost exclusively in their music.

Contents

History

In the renaissance period, the guitar was generally strung with four pairs of strings, termed courses. Each string in a course was tuned to the same pitch. By the baroque period it had five courses and used a variety of tunings, some of the tunings re-entrant. During the eighteenth century six courses became common and the modern practice of using six single strings became the standard practice after 1800. These developments illustrate an ongoing desire on behalf of players to increase the range of the instrument. Seven-string guitars arose from such a desire and have been in use for over 150 years. French guitarist Napoleon Coste (1805–1883) composed works with a seven-string guitar specifically in mind. In Mexico a guitarra séptima or guitarra sétima with fourteen strings, strung in seven double courses has been used for an even longer time and descriptions of it date back to 1776 (Antonio Vargas). This makes the history of the seven-string guitar more than 230 years old.

Extra strings are usually added to extend the bass range of the modern 6-string guitar. These strings are commonly added in two different ways. The first and most common construction is to increase the width of the fingerboard such that the extra string (or strings) may be stopped by the left hand. The second method is to leave the fingerboard unchanged such that the extra bass strings lie next to the existing bass strings and free of the fingerboard in the same fashion in which the archlute and theorbo are constructed. Such unfrettable bass strings were historically known as diapasons or bourdons. The Italian guitarist Mario Maccaferri (b 1899) was a celebrated advocate of the second type of construction.

The Russian guitar

Main article: Russian guitar

The Russian guitar, a seven-string acoustic guitar tuned to the Open G tuning, (DGBDGbd) arrived in the beginning of the 19th century in Russia, most probably as a development of the cittern, the kobza and the torban. It is known in Russia as the semistrunnaya gitara (семиструнная гитара) or affectionately as the semistrunka (семиструнка).

Its invention is attributed to Andrei Sychra, who also wrote a method for the guitar, as well as over one thousand compositions, seventy-five of which were republished in the 1840s by Stellovsky, and then again in the 1880s by Gutheil. Some of these were published again in the Soviet Union in 1926.

This type of guitar has been called a 'Russian guitar,' as it has been primarily played in Russia and later the Soviet Union.

The Russian version of the seven-string guitar has been used by professionals, because of its great flexibility and its sound, but has also been popular with amateurs for accompaniment (especially Russian bards) due to the relative simplicity of some basic chords and the ease of playing alternating bass lines.

The Russian guitar is traditionally played without a pick, using fingers for either strumming or picking.

The earliest music published for a seven-string guitar was in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 15 December 1798. The school was owned by Ignác František Held (1766, Třebechovice pod Orebem, Bohemia – 1816, Brest-Litovsk, Russia).

Alternate tunings include:

The Brazilian guitar

Sofres porque queres Example of seven-string guitar "baixaria" in the choro "Sofres porque queres" (Pixinguinha) recorded in 1919.
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The Brazilian seven-string guitar (Portuguese: violão de sete cordas) is an acoustic guitar used primarily in choro and samba. It was introduced to Brazil in the early 20th century as a steel string guitar. The style of "baixaria" counterpoint and accompaniment technique was developed throughout the 20th century, especially by Dino 7 Cordas and Raphael Rabello. In the early 1980s, guitarist Luiz Otavio Braga had a nylon string version made, and this has become the norm for most contemporary choro musicians such as Yamandu Costa.

The Brazilian seven-string guitar is typically tuned like a classical guitar, but with an additional C below the low E as follows: C-E-A-D-G-b-e; although some musicians tune the C down to a B resulting in B-E-A-D-G-b-e.

In addition to playing choro, seven-string guitarists are utilizing the instrument's extended range to play classical repertoire, often leading to new arrangements of known pieces.

Electric guitar

Seven-string electric guitar Ibanez RG7321BK First seven-string patent ever issued

Hollowbody and semi-hollow electric guitars

In the United States, the jazz guitarist George Van Eps had a seven-string guitar built for him by Epiphone Guitars in the late 1930s and a signature Gretsch seven-string in the late 60s and early 70s. The Van Eps signature guitar may be the first regular-production seven-string electric guitar.

Several others began using seven-string guitars after Van Eps, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Ron Eschete, Chance Russell, Lenny Breau, and John Pizzarelli, son of jazz legend Bucky Pizzarelli.

The first seven-string guitars were built in the "hollowbody" or "semi-hollow" archtop styles, where the guitar has a central resonating chamber, or a central block with resonant chambers on the sides. This gave the guitar the dark woodiness, breath, and richness that is associated with traditional "jazz" tone, but made it too prone to feedback to be practical for rock guitar playing.

Solidbody electric guitars

The first solidbody seven-string electric guitar was possibly an instrument conceived by Lenny Breau and built by the Californian luthier Kirk Sand in 1982.[1] This instrument featured a high A string and was allegedly played by Breau at the 1983 NAMM convention.[2] This guitar was never patented, which is understandable in view of the fact that it featured a 22.75 inch scale, a scale typically recommended for children ages 6 to 11.[3]

Alex Gregory was the first person to successfully patent a seven-string solid body electric guitar design, Gregory received two utility patents for his model which named him as the "inventor" of the "Seven String Electric Guitar" according the United States Patent Office, and according to the exact legal wording on the patent.[4] A small number of prototypes were made, however the unit was never put into production by Fender.[5].[6]. Unlike the Prior Art Hollowbody Jazz Guitars that added a low B string, the guitar described in the patent is a solid body 7-string guitar with a "Top A" string instead. Also known as the Guitolin, the model was designed to allow Gregory to transpose Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin on guitar. After Gregory signed an artist endorsement deal with Fender, two prototype seven-string Maestro Alex Gregory signature Stratocaster guitars were produced in 1987, one with a regular headstock, the other with a reverse headstock.[7][8][9]. The prototypes of the Maestro Alex Gregory signature seven-string Stratocaster were displayed to the public at the January 1988 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.[10]. At the same time, they were listed in the U.S. Signature Series of the Fender Price List effective April 1, 1988[11]. Despite this, these signature guitars never went into full-scale production except for a seven-string Squier Stratocaster run in the late 1990s and a few produced by the Fender Custom Shop.[12] This was due to Fender having problems manufacturing the extremely thin high A strings for the guitar.

The first mass-produced seven-string was the Ibanez UV7 played by Steve Vai and Reb Beach.[13] Vai was drawn to the idea for much of the same reasons seven-string classical and jazz players were - the extended range the additional string offered. After initial experimentation with a high A, a low B was added as the high A proved to be too prone to breaking. Vai began touring with Whitesnake with a seven-string prototype, and then used the guitars for his 1990 release Passion and Warfare.

The seven-string guitar became more prominent when the band Korn featured Ibanez Universe guitars on their 1994 debut album, capitalizing on the massive low end produced by the seventh string (typically a low A). This period marked a highwater point in the popularity of the seven-string guitar, as manufacturers jumped on the seven string bandwagon that they had previously steered clear of including such "traditional" brands as Fender subsidiary Squier and Gibson subsidiary Epiphone, and manufacturers who had been producing sevens expanded their offerings. The trend eventually passed, but many guitarists were introduced to the extended range offered by a seven-string guitar during this period who might not have otherwise been. This was somewhat offset by a growing stigma that a seven-string guitar was a "nu metal" instrument, fit only for heavy riffing. This was ironic as Korn guitarists Munky and Head remember being told in their early days that the seven-string guitar couldn't be used for riffing, as it was a guitar for technical guitar players.

In the 1990s, several other heavy metal guitarists began using seven-string instruments (notably John Petrucci, Trey Azagthoth, and Erik Rutan), seeing the possibility for detuned riffing while preserving the full upper range of the guitar for solos. However, the seven-string guitar failed to really catch on at this phase in its development, and the Universe model was discontinued briefly in 1995; notable users of the Universe also include Korn. Matt Bellamy from Muse uses a custom red Manson seven-string to play just one song, "Citizen Erased", with a AADDGBE tuning (the song was originally recorded on a detuned six-string). Dino Cazares uses custom seven-string Ibanez guitars; Christian Olde Wolbers has his own signature Jackson seven-string guitar, Jeff Loomis has a signature model made by Schecter and Stephen Carpenter has several of his own models released by ESP.

Other seven-string guitars

Springtime, Yuri Landman, 2008

In the early 2000s, Roger McGuinn (renowned for his skills on the twelve-string guitar and for his long association with The Byrds) worked with C. F. Martin & Company to develop a seven-string folk guitar. McGuinn's guitar (currently being marketed by Martin) is tuned the same as a standard folk guitar with steel strings, but the third (G) string is augmented with a high octave string. Many of McGuinn's notable guitar solos utilize the G string of the twelve-string guitar to perform the main melody, and therefore the Martin seven-string guitar was designed to achieve this extended range playing without the need for doubling all six of the guitar's strings. In 2008 experimental luthier Yuri Landman built the Springtime, a 3-way stereo seven string guitar for Blood Red Shoes.

In 2010, Inox Guitars has created a mix of the Brazilian Viola caipira and the Russian semistrunka (семиструнка). This instrument has 2 bass strings (as the 6th and 7th strings of the semistrunka) and five treble courses (as the Viola caipira) and it is used in open tuning (GDGDGBD) as a slide guitar.

The Mexican guitarra séptima

There is a guitar of seven courses with double string guitar, totalizing 14 strings, known as Guitarra séptima. Alan Aldo from the band Mariachi Terror is known for using this particular guitar.

Notable users

For a more comprehensive list, see List of extended-range guitar players.

See also

Guitar portal

References

  1. ^ Lenny Breau Remembered, Guitar Player, November 1984
  2. ^ Kirk Sand Profile, Premier Guitar Magazine, September 2010
  3. ^ http://www.funkykids.com/p--EM.031-0100-558
  4. ^ United States of America Patent Office, patent number 5,113,737 and 5,175,387
  5. ^ Duchossoir AR. "The Fender Stratocaster" Hal Leonard Corporation 1995, p34
  6. ^ United States of America Patent Office, patent number 5,113,737 and 5,175,387
  7. ^ Duchossoir, A. R. (1988) The Fender Stratocaster. Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, Milwaukee, WI. pp. 28 & 36 ISBN 0-88188-880-X
  8. ^ Duchossoir, A. R. (1994) The Fender Stratocaster: 40th Anniversary Edition. Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, Milwaukee, WI. pp. 28 & 36
  9. ^ Bacon, T., Day, P. (1992) The Fender Book. GPI Books, San Francisco, CA. pp. 59 ISBN 0-87930-259-3
  10. ^ (1988) Fender jams at NAMM. Fender Facts. Fender Musical Instruments, Brea, CA. vol. 3, number 1, pp. 4
  11. ^ (1988) Fender Suggested Retail Price List. Fender Musical Instruments, Brea, CA. pp. 1
  12. ^ http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=460
  13. ^ Sullivan, L. (1990) What’s hot in guitars. Guitar School Magazine. New York City, NY. pp. 15

External links

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