# 6 string drop C vs 7 string standard B



## Arkon (Jul 31, 2019)

I currently have only 6 string guitars in standard tuning, but am looking for something that goes deeper for a more powerful sound. My idea was to get a 7 string and leave it in standard B tuning, so that I could keep all my current fretboard knowledge, and transfer it to the 7 string by just adding one string.

What I am looking for is a more powerful sound than standard tuning, and I think that low C is fine for my taste, whereas I found my old 7 string guitar, which I sold, in drop A to be more "brutal" than just powerful. 

Drop C has many advantages, such as smaller neck and lower scale (25.5'', which I prefer) compared to 7 string guitars (most are 26.5''+). Also, I wouldn't have to buy a new guitar, but just convert my current ones to drop C.

My greatest concern is that my fretboard knowledge is wholly based on the CAGED system, and I'm afraid that the dropped 6th string would confuse me. I cannot even find many books that teach scales and chords in drop C.

Many people use dropped tuning, especially drop D and C. How confortable are you learning songs that are in standard tuning on your dropped tuning guitar? As many use do indeed use dropped tunings, could it be that with time I will be perfectly comfortable with it, and be able to instantly transpose songs I learn in standard tuning to mine?


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## littlebadboy (Jul 31, 2019)

Hi!

I am also mainly a 6-string player. I had a 7-string guitar for low tunes but I did not like the idea of being stuck on one guitar for the purpose. I wanted to grab any of my guitars and play low tunes as well as standard. I looked into pitch shifters and I really liked the Digitech Drop. It goes down by semi-tones until an octave lower. However, I think it sounds best with strumming and chugging and soloing sounding closely to natural down to 4 or 5 semitones as it tends to get wobbly if you go lower. However, for single notes, it tracks well down each step to an octave lower. Having that said, it is perfect to turn your guitar into bass sounds. Try to look into it if it is good enough for you.

Here's my demo, part 1. A more thorough Part 2 is coming within the week.



Splitting a guitar to play bass and guitar lines, here is demo:


Part 2 of the video showcases how the Digitech Drop sounds to an octave lower.


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## odibrom (Jul 31, 2019)

Our brain is pretty plastic and one will have no trouble adapting to new situations with enough (subjective measure) effort.

There are lots of 7 stringers with 25.5" scale length, so don't let that stop you.

There are several advantages of 7s over 6s, the first 2 that pop up in my mind are:

The possibility to make longer runs within the same fretting hand position - meaning one doesn't have to move the hand up and down the neck that much.
A crazy amount of chords that suddenly appear under our fingers and different fingerings for those already known.
There are also some disadvantages:

Fretting hand may get hurt faster due to bad position habits
A huge amount of hardware options will fly out the window (way less pickups offerings for example).
Bigger difficulty in achieving a balanced tone due to the broader soundscape (way more lows to balance with the rest of the frequencies).
IMO, get a 7 stringer.

I assume you have several 6s, considering the matter of tuning to Drop C, consider not doing that to all your guitars, so you can play regular 6 string stuff on them...?


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## Arkon (Jul 31, 2019)

Yeah I could try drop c on a guitar and see how I feel with it.


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## diagrammatiks (Jul 31, 2019)

I mean this is really a problem that can be solved by having many many guitars each in their own tuning.

Why would you ever need to play a standard tuning song on a drop c tuned guitar. You play drop c tuned songs on the drop c tuned guitar.


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## odibrom (Jul 31, 2019)

diagrammatiks said:


> I mean this is really a problem that can be solved by having many many guitars each in their own tuning.
> (...)



The only true and irrefutably perfect excuse to buy more guitars!


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## gunch (Jul 31, 2019)

I'm kind of struggling with this myself, and while mostly 7 string bands _used_ inspire me to be into guitar (Danza, Ion Dissonance, Meshuggah, etc) my tastes are more in the 90's death metal (Old Gorguts, Lykathea Aflame and Suffocation) and modern dissonant/tech DM (Flourishing, Krallice, Ulcerate) range which usually hangs out in the C and C# realm and rarely goes below B

Getting a 7 is cool if you don't have a lot of open notes to play from a different tuning, then it gets like wtf

Low tunings are cool and I blast my meat to Meshuggah's _I_ all the time but IMO you can still crush guts with tunings as high as D standard


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## Arkon (Jul 31, 2019)

The point is that I'm afraid I may have problems navigating the neck switching from one tuning to another constantly, instead of fixing on one.

I would probably only keep the acoustic guitar in standard tuning, for easier strumming of the usual chords, but since you don't often strum full chords on an electric guitar, it shouldn't be a problem.



Instea, what's the main difference between drop D# and C? Why the 2 tunings?


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## gunch (Jul 31, 2019)

you just have to move whatever's going on on the 6th string up 2 frets (a whole tone)

which, admittedly, could get pretty fucking hairy


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## Chris Bowsman (Jul 31, 2019)

Unless we're talking floating trem guitars, there's no reason any of them have to be "devoted" to a tuning. My PRS and Schecter at strung 10-52 and can go from standard down to drop C. My 7 string is 10-52 + 62 or 64 and goes from standard down to drop G. The 8 stays in standard because I don't like how it sounds below F.

If you get used to strings that are a little heavier than you're used to, you can bounce around several tunings as your mood suits.

Do you mean drop C#? Drop D# would involve tuning the top 5 strings up half a step. As far as being thrown off by the tuning... I don't know man, maybe you're thinking about it too much. I've been playing in drop D (and progressively lower) and standard since like the second day I played guitar, so it's hard to go back 25 years, but I'm betting it has to do with the precious little thinking I've ever done while playing


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## diagrammatiks (Jul 31, 2019)

Arkon said:


> The point is that I'm afraid I may have problems navigating the neck switching from one tuning to another constantly, instead of fixing on one.
> 
> I would probably only keep the acoustic guitar in standard tuning, for easier strumming of the usual chords, but since you don't often strum full chords on an electric guitar, it shouldn't be a problem.
> 
> ...




I don’t really understand the question. 

One tuning is for songs written in that tuning. 

The other tuning is for songs written in the other tuning.


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## couverdure (Aug 1, 2019)

If you're trying out the 7-string, just tune down the sixth string, get a Digitech Drop and set it to 2 (or just manually tune down if you want flappier strings), and ignore the seventh string while playing, or use it if you wanna get more creative.

That way, you can play in Drop C, or ACGCFAD for the matter, on your 7-string without getting confused about your fretboard positions.

Drop C is just Drop D tuned down a whole step, so playing in BDADGBE/ACGCFAD would help you with your Drop D/C chord shapes on the highest six strings.

ADADGBE would be nice too since you get two octaves of A and D. You could also try BEADF#BE/AEADF#BE (six-string B standard/Drop A with a high E) to utilize the same chord shapes on the lower six strings.


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## KailM (Aug 2, 2019)

Why does it have to be a _drop_ tuning? Why can't you just get the appropriate strings and tune to C Standard? You can play all the same chord voicings you know, but it'll sound two steps lower than E Standard.

Also, tuning lower and lower can have diminishing returns. At first, dropping from E standard down to D standard or C# standard, you'll definitely notice a heavier sound. However, as you go lower than that, you are starting to get into lower frequencies that your equipment was not designed to optimize, so you'll have to start changing your EQ. Namely, you can't run your bass as high the lower you go, because it will sound muddy. This is where djent tone originated from. People were tuning lower and lower and lower, but their amps just couldn't reproduce the low fundamentals clearly, so they found that they had to keep trimming off the bass.

In my opinion, C and C# are amazing tunings where you can still run quite a bit of non-muddy bass in your EQ, it sounds powerful and clear, and doesn't have to have that djent twang.


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## Arkon (Aug 3, 2019)

In any case,
I think I'm gonna try drop C for a while, and see how I adjust to it.


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## diagrammatiks (Aug 3, 2019)

Arkon said:


> In any case,
> I think I'm gonna try drop C for a while, and see how I adjust to it.




Ya bb. Just make sure your guitar doesn’t get stuck that way.


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