[Luan]

Well, I got my first seven string (ibby rg1527) two weeks ago and altough I can "play" it, I still don't see all the notes (on all the 7 strings).
I used to see all the notes perfectly, but the new string changed everything, the confusion sometimes it's there still.
I have practiced the drop 2 chords, I'm sight reading, practicing scales, everything in order to learn all again.
I don't have problem with the 3 high strings for example, but the D A and E strings confuses me the most.
I'm not exactly asking for help, since I know I will get through it, but did this happened to everybody?
I think the answer will be yes, but if someone doesn't care about what scale/note/chord is playing, the transition will be easier.
I love the seven string, and I don't have to use the extra string everytime, but it still confuses me about the other strings rather than just that string, it's really weird.

[guitarplayerone]

took me a little while too. don't worry, you'll get used to it. how long have you been playing guitar in general?

[stuh84]

Can't say I experienced that to be honest. I do have a mind that works quite abstractly though, so adding a low B made it no different for me to find notes on strings and the like.

Then again, I've owned a 7 string from less than 18 months of playing and I'm coming up to 7 years now, so I guess I am just incredibly used to it.

[Luan]

Originally Posted by guitarplayerone

took me a little while too. don't worry, you'll get used to it. how long have you been playing guitar in general?

I've been studying hard music and guitar since 5 years ago.

[Naren]

I didn't experience that. From the first time I got a seven, for notes and scales, I just saw the low B and low E and mirrors of the high B and high E, which I had already known for years. For chords, I just thought of it as another fourth interval added to a sixth-string. At first, I would hit the E string when I wanted to hit the A string or I'd hit the D string when I wanted to hit the G string, but I got over that pretty quickly. The spacing was also different from any of the guitars I'd owned before, but once I got used to it, I actually preferred the spacing.

I saw the top six strings on the guitar as the same guitar I'd been playing for the 5 years before I bought the seven. And I saw the extra low string the same way I viewed intervals between the E and A strings, the A and D strings, the D and G strings, and the high B and E strings (these more than anything else). At first, I just ignored the low B string a lot and only used it occasionally to extend scales or chords, but I eventually got into using it more and more and going lower where I had wanted to go lower on my six-strings but could and all that.

So, for me... I had a transition, but it was more of a physical one than a mental one and it didn't take too long to get used to it physically either. I found myself picking thin air more often than I just picked a wrong string, hitting the empty space inbetween strings.

[dream-thief]

I had no problems at all making the shift, and I'd been playing for about 5 years before I got my 7

[7 Dying Trees]

Best way to think about it is as follows:

The two top strings (BE treble) relate to the bottom two (BE bass)
. Another trick is that if you do your scales based of the root note, is to to shift everything by -5 and the same patterns then apply.

Basically, you'll get used to it

[kmanick]

I initially had a bit of a problem, but someone here (can't remember who it was though ) told me to look at the guitar
from the high E string up , not from the low B string down and that helped a huge amount.
At first I would routinely grab the D string thinking it was the G string, but once I starrted looking at the neck as mentioned, I adapted right away.
Now 1 1/2 years later I'm completely at home and actually prefer my 7 over my 6's. (like many others here).

[SplinteredSoul]

Originally Posted by Luan

Well, I got my first seven string (ibby rg1527) two weeks ago and altough I can "play" it, I still don't see all the notes (on all the 7 strings).
I used to see all the notes perfectly, but the new string changed everything, the confusion sometimes it's there still.
I have practiced the drop 2 chords, I'm sight reading, practicing scales, everything in order to learn all again.
I don't have problem with the 3 high strings for example, but the D A and E strings confuses me the most.
I'm not exactly asking for help, since I know I will get through it, but did this happened to everybody?
I think the answer will be yes, but if someone doesn't care about what scale/note/chord is playing, the transition will be easier.
I love the seven string, and I don't have to use the extra string everytime, but it still confuses me about the other strings rather than just that string, it's really weird.

The first time I picked up a 7 String was in 2001. I couldn't get my head/hand rount it either, so I stayed away. In 2006 I took the gamble to try again and bought a Schecter Hellraiser C-7, and it felt so natural, I never played a 6 string again (well, aside from my acoustic).

What you have to do is forget what you know and start again. For example, scales and arpeggios are MUCH easier and more convenient on a 7 string, than they ever were on a 6 string. I can arpeggiate through 4 octaves without moving my arm, and without my first finger ever leaving fret 12 (for example). If I was to pick up a 6 string now, I'd have to do a run from the High E down to the Low E, run out of fingers then try to drop 5 frets for the final note lol. Seriously, once you start getting used to it, you won't want to go back.

Not only that, no more drop-tuning for you You've got a standard tuned and a baritone guitar in one. Just spend a while learning your way around it, without going for current muscle memory, as it almost doesn't apply anymore. Think of it as going from a Casio keyboard to a Grand Piano