7 String Guitar Method: Book 1

Introduction

So, you’ve decided to venture into the world of guitar beyond six strings. Let me tell you that you’ve made a great decision, and one that will inspire as you journey into somewhat uncharted territory. My role on this journey is to help you navigate the 7-string fretboard by mapping out scales, arpeggios and chords to form a complete method that will enable you to move around the 7-string fretboard with ease.

We’ll be learning the 7-string fretboard in standard tuning (B, E, A, D, G, B, E), although you could easily adapt the ideas in this book to other 7-string tunings. This series of books goes beyond a mere reference guide for chord shapes, arpeggios and scales to form a comprehensive system for learning and accessing virtually any chord, scale, mode or arpeggio on a 7-string guitar.

In Book 1, we focus on making the shift from 6 to 7 strings, the major and minor scales, the major and minor pentatonic scales, the blues scale; plus, all their corresponding chords, triads and arpeggios.

The 7-string guitar is, after all, an instrument in its own right, and should be treated as such. This is what I set out to accomplish with this book, and I hope it inspires some of your best playing yet.

Graham Tippett

www.unlocktheguitar.net

Getting Used to a 7 String Guitar

Phase 1: Adaptation.

The low B string is somewhat disorienting to begin with, but this is more an optical illusion resulting from looking down at a regular guitar and seeing the lowest string as E. Your brain will continue to see the lowest string as E, even though it’s