[Mastodon]

Not in the musical sense of raising it a half-step, but in the sense of making it larger and fuller sounding.

I always read about how you can add a bass note via the B to give it a richer sound.

But...how do you go about doing that?

Say for instance I have the Cm7 an F7 and a Bb (I'm terrible with pop symbols) delta sign 7 chords.

How could I incorporate a note from the B into those?

[darren]

This is one of the main reasons i drop mine to A. Any A-pattern chord i play, i can just barre across to the seventh string and it adds in a lower root and fifth on the two lower strings. Sounds massive. I'm probably one of the few guys here who actually plays full seven-string barre chords on a regular basis.

[All_¥our_Bass]

You can double a note already in the chord

Cm7
e|-8
b|-8
G|-8
D|-8
A|-10
E|-8
B|-8 <--5th has been doubled

or add another chord tone, not already present
Cm7 (add m6)
e|-8
b|-8
G|-8
D|-8
A|-10
E|-8
B|-9 <--a minor 6th has been added

Cm7 (add #4)
e|-8
b|-8
G|-8
D|-8
A|-10
E|-8
B|-7 <--a #4th has been added

Get the idea?

[distressed_romeo]

If that's what you're thinking of doing in this context, then I'd follow Darren's advice and tune to drop A. Virtually all 7 string jazzers use this tuning.

[cvinos]

Some more examples, in standard tuning. Could also try to replace the root note in a chord by a lower note played on the 7th string. To still have the root note you could use another inversion, keep it in the chord as well, or let the bass or another instrument play it.

For example in Ab7/b5 as shown below replace the ab on the 6th string with an e on the 7th. This would be a low minor 6th, if you keep referring to ab as the root of the chord. Since both the b5 and the 7 are a whole tone away from the minor six, the chord itself should not sound too dissonant.

But even if you'd add a 5 (i.e. an eb) instead, it would still sound not that dissonant, since the b5 is not played in the same octave. This would make the chord more of an Abm7(#11) though as far as the symbol is concerned.

You could also replace the note played on the 2nd string by a low note on the 7th string. This gives you an empty 2nd string to add some options, or just leave it to just have the lower voicing.

I'd say if this or that is applicable depends on the context and/or your taste.

 1.    2.    3.    4.
 -----|-----|-----|-----
 --3--|--3--|--3--|-----
 --4--|--4--|--4--|--4--
 --4--|--4--|--4--|--4--
 --x--|--x--|--x--|--x--
 --4--|--x--|--4--|--4--
 -----|--5--|--4--|--3--

 1. Ab7/b5
 2. Ab7(b5, b13)  (root absent in this voicing)
 3. Abm7(#11)
 4. Ab7/b5

Edit: I just have some more ways in mind that I want to mention here.

It is sometimes nice to have the 7 in the bass.

Another option is to lower a note one or more octaves. Other tones in the voicing could be doubled, lowered as well, or options added. That can be a bit more change though than extending a given chord. It becomes finding other voicings.

 1.    2.    3.    4.    5.    6.    7.    8.    9.    10.   11.
 -----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|--8--|-----|-----
 --6--|-----|--3--|--3--|--3--|--5--|-----|--6--|--8--|-10--|-----
 --3--|--3--|--3--|--3--|--2--|--5--|--5--|--9--|--9--|-10--|-----
 --5--|--5--|--2--|--2--|--2--|--3--|--x--|--7--|-10--|-10--|--3--
 --5--|--5--|--3--|--1--|--1--|--x--|--7--|--x--|--8--|--x--|--0--
 -----|--x--|-----|--x--|--x--|--5--|--5--|--8--|--8--|-12--|--0--
 -----|--6--|-----|--1--|--1--|-----|--6--|-----|-10--|-----|--1--

 1. Gm7       (5-1-b3-7 voicing)
 2. Gm7       (with the 7 in the bass)
 3. C7/9
 4. C7/9      (root lowered one octave, 7 doubled)
 5. C7(9,13)
 6. Fmaj7     (3-1-5-j7 voicing)
 7. Fmaj7     (root and j7 lowered)
 8. Fmaj7     (5-3-j7-1 voicing)
 9. Fmaj7(9)  (root and 3 lowered one octave, 5 tripled, 9 added, now 3-5-1-5-j7-9-5)
10. Fmaj7     (j7-5-1-3 voicing)
11. Fmaj7     (1 and j7 lowered one octave, 3 and 5 lowered two, now a 5-j7-3-1 voicing)

[Mastodon]

Thanks for the tips guys.

[cvinos]

Just having fun with this again. Heres more examples in standard tuning, I just take notes while I look for voicings.

 1.    2.    3.    4.    5.    6.    7.    8.    9.    10.   11.   12.   13.   14.
 -----|--7--|--7--|--5--|-----|--4--|--4--|-----|--4--|-----|--2--|--4--|-(2)-|-(2)-
 --9--|--9--|--9--|--9--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--7--|--7--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--0--|--0--
 --8--|--8--|--8--|--8--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--2--|--2--|--2--|--2--|--1--
 --7--|--7--|--7--|--9--|--6--|--6--|--4--|--7--|--7--|--4--|--4--|--4--|--1--|--1--
 --x--|-----|--9--|-----|--x--|--6--|--6--|--6--|--6--|--2--|--2--|--2--|--0--|--0--
 --7--|-----|--7--|-----|--5--|--5--|--5--|-----|--4--|-----|--2--|--2--|--2--|--2--
 -----|-----|--7--|-----|-----|--4--|--7--|-----|--4--|-----|--4--|--0--|--0--|--0--

 1. B7/13      (a basic voicing, 1-7-3-13)
 2. B7/13      (root on top)
 3. B7/13      (going barré, 5-1-5-7-3-13-1)
 4. B7/13      (in order, 1-3-13-7)
 5. B7/13      (7-13-1-3, equals Abm/A, minor triad with b9 in the bass)
 6. B7/13      (3-7-3-13-1-3-13)
 7. B7/13      (5-7-3-5-1-3-13)
 8. B7         (3-7-1-5, a common dominant seventh voicing)
 9. B7/13      (3-13-3-7-1-5-13)
10. B7         (1-5-7-3, common)
11. B7         (3-5-1-5-7-3-5)
12. B7/13      (1-5-1-5-7-3-13)
13. B7         (1-5-7-3-7-1-(5))
14. B7/13      (1-5-7-3-13-1-(5))

[Metal Ken]

I was thinking of making a thread of chords with the root on the b string that require most if not all of the strings.. something along the lines of chords like these, but without tuning to drop A. i've come up with a fair number of just standard major & minor:

D maj

-2-
-3-
-2-
-0-
-0-
-2-
-3-

but i dont want to hijack the thread ;p

[cvinos]

I am interested to see what you've got.

This particular D maj one looks like one of these large, challenging chords you find in piano songbooks, where the additional guitar fingering images seem generated, and chords are mostly located down at the first four frets. And this one is even for seven strings. ;-)

[Mastodon]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

I was thinking of making a thread of chords with the root on the b string that require most if not all of the strings.. something along the lines of chords like these, but without tuning to drop A. i've come up with a fair number of just standard major & minor:

D maj

-2-
-3-
-2-
-0-
-0-
-2-
-3-

but i dont want to hijack the thread ;p

Feel free to post away, I appreciate the contribution.