# Drop B 7 string



## PyramidSmasher (Sep 14, 2010)

Is it possible to tune every string but the B string up so that I can have a Drop B seven string?


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## SjPedro (Sep 14, 2010)

no idea man. I think there's no string gauge for that.
unless you add a bass string for the seventh but that might not be a good idea


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## Jeroenofzo (Sep 14, 2010)

ofcource, alot of people do it. I Reccomend a 0.09


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## Johnboy_Ice (Sep 14, 2010)

yes, but you will need to find the correct string guages that you find comfortable.

IIRC, the ex-guitarist of All Shall Perish (was his name Chris Storey?) used this tuning on a 7 string, drop B with an extra high F#


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## gstacey1 (Sep 14, 2010)

You'd probably want to use 9s or 10s and have a non baritone scale 7 but other wise it's easily do able.


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## vampiregenocide (Sep 14, 2010)

I tune drop Bb, you need light gauges and a standard scale.


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## wannabguitarist (Sep 14, 2010)

I use to tune to F# standard with an extra low B (All shall Perish tuning, B F# B E A C# F#) but you can also tune to regular drop-B and just have a high F# (B F# B E G# C# F#). I prefer the first one because it keeps all the scale patterns I know the same on the higher strings so noodling makes more sense to me. Drop-B with the extra high string just confuses my dumbass for leads



SjPedro said:


> no idea man. I think there's no string gauge for that.
> unless you add a bass string for the seventh but that might not be a good idea



Uh what?


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## Customisbetter (Sep 14, 2010)

I used to tune to Drop B. I used a D'Addario 9 guage set.


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## vhmetalx (Sep 14, 2010)

Yes. Chris Storey (and I) use a .08 -.38 set with a .56 for the B on a 25.5" scale guitar.
Tuning is B F# B E A C# F#
(I'm just a student of his but I've adopted his tuning for my writing and band endeavors.)


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## The Hiryuu (Sep 15, 2010)

I flirted with the idea briefly. Unfortunately, it was also at a point where I had 11's on the guitar. And I was trying out for a band on a week's notice. You can imagine how well that went over.


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## Jontain (Sep 16, 2010)

Maybe a noob question (dont have my 7 yet although have one incoming :O) Anyway can you not drop the strings as per a normal 6 string and tune the 7th string accordingly? or will it just be too loose?

Are there any good guides to the most common 7 tunings? i.e. (6 string names), Drop D, D standard, Drop C etc?


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## harvested (Sep 16, 2010)

or..you could do it like a 6s Drop B, but with two high C#, the way Wes Borland used to do it, and more recently Steph Carpendter does it, for his 6strings songs played on his 7s


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## ittoa666 (Sep 16, 2010)

Johnboy_Ice said:


> yes, but you will need to find the correct string guages that you find comfortable.
> 
> IIRC, the ex-guitarist of All Shall Perish (was his name Chris Storey?) used this tuning on a 7 string, drop B with an extra high F#


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## BlindingLight7 (Sep 16, 2010)

Yeah man, just use a .9 set.

Drop B on 7's > Demise Of All Reason Official on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads


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## chaosxcomplex (Sep 16, 2010)

Jontain said:


> Maybe a noob question (dont have my 7 yet although have one incoming :O) Anyway can you not drop the strings as per a normal 6 string and tune the 7th string accordingly? or will it just be too loose?



Of course you can drop the tuning. You may need to use slightly thicker strings, depending on how low you go. I'm using Bb, with a set of Ernie Ball 10's, and a 59 for the low Bb, on a 26.5'' scale, and it feels awesome.


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 16, 2010)

I have a question (and don't take this the wrong way)... If you're already in B...? I think you already see where I'm going with this... Why? 

And... Why use a drop tuning on a guitar just to have a duplicate top string? Do ppl actually have a practical application for this or is the duplicate string an indication that it's superfluous?


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## chaosxcomplex (Sep 16, 2010)

Konfyouzd said:


> I have a question (and don't take this the wrong way)... If you're already in B...? I think you already see where I'm going with this... Why?



Do you mean why go any lower?
If that's what you meant, I just happen to like the sound and feel of lower tunings as opposed to standard. I could be crazy, but the distortion actually seems to "feel" different as well. Almost like I can use less gain and have just as much distortion (in a lower tuning opposed to standard).


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## harvested (Sep 16, 2010)

chaosxcomplex said:


> Do you mean why go any lower?
> If that's what you meant, I just happen to like the sound and feel of lower tunings as opposed to standard. I could be crazy, but the distortion actually seems to "feel" different as well. Almost like I can use less gain and have just as much distortion (in a lower tuning opposed to standard).



I think he means why tune in Drop B, when you (not you personaly) already have the lower B??? 

and to answer.. I think it's about the feel, somebody may prefer the Drop tuning.. one is Steph from Deftones, who prefers the 6-string drop tuning but with the feel of the 7-string guitar...
for example he uses the drop D tuning: DADGBEE, with 2 high Es..at unison..it's about the feel...

this can be translated, also, for a Drop B, like: B F# B E G# C# C#, with 2 high C#s ..
I did this while learning some Machine Head songs... and as I have only one guitar, that is my EPI LP 7-string... this was the easyest way to tune it.. 

hope I didn't talk major BS ..


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## chaosxcomplex (Sep 16, 2010)

The way I understood the OP was that he wanted to do the sort of thing Keith Merrow does. Leave the B string alone, and raise everything else one full step, giving the "one finger power chord" thing on the low strings, without dropping the B to A.

I'm pretty sure Keith Merrow drpos his B to Bb, and raises everything else half step, giving "drop Bb"


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## DIOBOLIC5150 (Sep 16, 2010)

chaosxcomplex said:


> I'm pretty sure Keith Merrow drpos his B to Bb, and raises everything else half step, giving "drop Bb"




Yeah, that's what I do. I find it easier to work with than standard tuning (I like 5-string power chords). For strings, I just use 9s with a .062 low. Works great.


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## Winspear (Sep 16, 2010)

Konfyouzd said:


> And... Why use a drop tuning on a guitar just to have a duplicate top string? Do ppl actually have a practical application for this or is the duplicate string an indication that it's superfluous?



I personally feel it's a bit of a waste of a string because it's rather one dimensional..but:
You can play those atonal death metal type sounds very easily (two notes next to eachother) for example B string 16 E string 12 (E and Eb) can be tricky to finger quicky - particularly further down the fretboard. With two identical strings you can just play the tritone shape (fret 5 and 6) etc. Aside from this, it could be nice to get a slight chorus effect (like a 12 string guitar). I do feel like it's a waste of space though


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## Anthony (Sep 16, 2010)

My gripe with this tuning is that it limits a lot of songs that can be played on it. With lower tunings, you can always shift your hand up a few position. By tuning upwards however, you either have to shift your hand down, and if there aren't any frets left, you have to transpose whatever song you are playing to different strings, where the dropped interval can make things tricky.

To me it just seems like extra work for two higher notes that really aren't necessary. I feel like a low A would be much more useful for song writing than a high F#. Not to mention having E standard available whenever needed (which is quite often if you play with other people). 

I used to take lessons with Chris Storey, this was always a frustration . His lessons were top notch though.


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 16, 2010)

EtherealEntity said:


> I personally feel it's a bit of a waste of a string because it's rather one dimensional..but:
> You can play those atonal death metal type sounds very easily (two notes next to eachother) for example B string 16 E string 12 (E and Eb) can be tricky to finger quicky - particularly further down the fretboard. With two identical strings you can just play the tritone shape (fret 5 and 6) etc. Aside from this, it could be nice to get a slight chorus effect (like a 12 string guitar). I do feel like it's a waste of space though


 
This is more what I was getting at. I hadn't considered the "atonal death metal sounds"--as you put it. Good call. 

But it does kind of seem like for most applications a 6 would suffice for this kind of drop tuning. Then again, that's just my opinion.


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## Fzau (Sep 16, 2010)

It's very possible.

I tune my 26,5" Loomis to Drop A# with a high F on .011, so it shouldn't be a problem.


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## effigyofsorrow (Sep 16, 2012)

i know this is an old thread. i've just bought a dean rc7x similar to what chris storey uses, and i'm using this tuning but my floyd trem has raised out of the guitars trem cavity. any idea on what i should do?


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## apexiwildchild (Sep 16, 2012)

tighten the spring claw


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## Born4metal85 (Sep 17, 2012)

Chris Storey ex ASP guitarist uses that tuning. He uses 8-38 and a 56 for H if I remember well. Once I talked to him on youtube.


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## Jonathan20022 (Sep 17, 2012)

Born4metal85 said:


> Chris Storey ex ASP guitarist uses that tuning. He uses 8-38 and a 56 for H if I remember well. Once I talked to him on youtube.



H? 

Lol


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## elq (Sep 17, 2012)

Kenji20022 said:


> H?
> 
> Lol





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_(musical_note)


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## Jonathan20022 (Sep 17, 2012)

Well it's not like every musician you ever talk to will know what you mean when you reference a commonly known note as a different letter altogether. But then again I don't know much if any theory. Interesting though.


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## bob123 (Sep 17, 2012)

Tighten the screws on the trem claw...


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## 7stringDemon (Sep 17, 2012)

Learn to setup a trem.

I say this all the time. You can setup and guitar with any scale length, with any number of strings, with any number of frets, with any kind of bridge, to any tuning you want.

THERE. ARE. NO. LIMITATIONS!


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## Jonathan20022 (Sep 18, 2012)

7stringDemon said:


> Learn to setup a trem.
> 
> I say this all the time. You can setup and guitar with any scale length, with any number of strings, with any number of frets, with any kind of bridge, to any tuning you want.
> 
> THERE. ARE. NO. LIMITATIONS!



Do an Octave down on a Les Paul 24.75in scale.


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## Jakke (Sep 18, 2012)

effigyofsorrow said:


> i know this is an old thread. i've just bought a dean rc7x similar to what chris storey uses, and i'm using this tuning but my floyd trem has raised out of the guitars trem cavity. any idea on what i should do?




You should adjust the floyd to accommodate for the increased force that this tuning excercises. This is why floyd guitars ideally should stay in one tuning, because otherwise you'd have to adjust it everytime you change tuning.


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## purpledc (Sep 18, 2012)

its funny. I use drop B and Drop Bb tuning on my 7 almost exclusively. Anything lower than Bb and it sounds too mushy to me. But I actually use heavy core strings on a 25.5" scale 7. 10-60 dunlop heavy core.


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## jr1092 (Sep 18, 2012)

I have my one 7string tuned to drop B with the two highest strings tuned the same.


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## 7stringDemon (Sep 18, 2012)

Kenji20022 said:


> Do an Octave down on a Les Paul 24.75in scale.


 
I will. Get the right strings, and it will work. I can tune a childs 22" scale to E1 if I really want to.

But we're not talking about an octave down. We're talking about a step up. Very possible.


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Sep 18, 2012)

Tighten the trem springs in the back. Any time you change tuning with a floating trem unit, the bridge needs to be re-leveled to deal with the change in string vs. spring tension.


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## Jonathan20022 (Sep 18, 2012)

7stringDemon said:


> I will. Get the right strings, and it will work. I can tune a childs 22" scale to E1 if I really want to.
> 
> But we're not talking about an octave down. We're talking about a step up. Very possible.



Yeah definitely haha, just poking some fun at you. I stick to standard on all my instruments and never tuned down lower to Drop B just because I never felt like I could on my 6. I like to keep all my 6's in Standard and a single one in D Standard. I'll try this when I get home because my 7 is in B Standard and it has 9's so tuning the higher 6 strings up should be much of a chore.


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## -42- (Sep 18, 2012)

^Set it up properly or lock down the trem.


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