The number of strings on the guitar<\/p><\/li>
How they are tuned<\/p><\/li><\/ul>
Now, in writing this post, I have come across what seems to be a fatal limit of Substack, which is that you cannot put a table into a post<\/a>. This, to be clear, is absolutely nuts. <\/p> I have a lot of guitars. Let\u2019s get that out of the way. Each one is something magical. I love them all. I can tell you what I love about them. We don\u2019t have to have that conversation just yet, though. I\u2019ve compared the feeling of rightness that you have when you have the right guitar to the comfort you feel when you wear a great pair of shoes, something that fits your foot well, that you like the look of and that makes doing whatever you need to do in them, running, walking, dancing, construction, whatever, a breeze. Each of these guitars is like a different pair of shoes, each does something different. How lucky to be able to have each. I have guitars built with six strings and guitars built with seven strings.<\/p> The question most of you are probably asking is, \u201cWhy seven? Why can\u2019t you leave well enough alone?\u201d The answer is that there\u2019s a lot of very cool jazz music played on seven string guitars, and by some very cool players. Three come to mind immediately, <\/p> George Van Eps<\/a><\/p><\/li> Lenny Breau<\/a><\/p><\/li> Bucky Pizzarelli<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ol> It\u2019s not just these three, though. They\u2019re just the ones that come to mind. They\u2019ve inspired thousands of players, so much so that you can get get seven string options<\/a> online with ease. If you are going to buy a seven, do consider buying one from my buddy Matt Raines<\/a>. He had this idea that buying a seven string should be as easy and as affordable as buying an Epiphone off the rack at Guitar Center, and worked for years to develop one. You can buy a guitar made by a luthier, and it will be awesome, but you\u2019ll have to wait for a long time. Or you can buy a high dollar pre-made one. Or you can buy a mid dollar one for Matt, which is truly amazing. <\/p> As far as tunings, the reason to retune is to take advantage of a powerful feature of the guitar: controlling which pitches ring open by changing the parameters of the strings. Open strings resonate differently than fretted strings. It\u2019s just a much more vibrant, powerful sound. You can make very cool things happen just by changing which strings are available to you as open strings.<\/p> Now, since we cannot use a table, I\u2019m going to have to explain this all a bit oddly.<\/p> Standard Tuning, 6 String<\/a><\/em><\/p> The standard tuning on a guitar is pretty well known: <\/p> E<\/p><\/li> A<\/p><\/li> D<\/p><\/li> G<\/p><\/li> B<\/p><\/li> E<\/p><\/li><\/ul> This tuning is used by the vast majority of jazz guitarists. Almost everything you find will be arranged for this. I will be using a very cool Heritage guitar for this.<\/p> Standard Tuning, 7 String<\/a><\/em><\/p> There are two ways to go with this, you can do what most people do, which is what I linked above, or you can do the Lenny Breau tuning<\/a>, which is, strictly speaking, still standard, although an uncommon way to do it. You should consider it. Lenny did amazing things.<\/a> Leaving aside Lenny\u2019s accomplishments, for now, the common version of the standard tuning on a seven goes<\/p> B<\/p><\/li> E<\/p><\/li> A<\/p><\/li> D<\/p><\/li> G<\/p><\/li> B<\/p><\/li> E<\/p><\/li><\/ul> What this does is give you a bass string that is in B, making your seventh string identical to your second string. A cool thing about this tuning is that it makes playing scales and modes very easy, you don\u2019t have to worry about offsetting by two frets on the sixth and seventh strings. You also have familiar patterns between the seventh and sixth string, it\u2019s the same patterns as between the second and first string.<\/p> The fingerings are pretty straightforward and repeat easily. I\u2019ll be using my Raines 7 for this one.<\/p> Drop A \/ Van Eps, 7 String<\/a> <\/em><\/p> This heading is almost a trick, in that there is no \u201cVan Eps\u201d tuning for a six string. This is colloquially called the Van Eps Tuning after George Van Eps, who used it for quite a bit. The first mass production electric guitar with seven strings was made Gretsch, the Van Eps model<\/a>. George put his name on that thing for a reason. Those guitars are amazing, which is why I bought it.<\/p> There are two significant benefits to this tuning<\/p> Your seventh string is even lower, which allows you to get deeper into bass guitar territory<\/p><\/li> You have an octave between your fifth and seventh strings, which means that you can<\/p> imply motion by alternating the note between the fifth and seventh strings, even while preserving the harmony<\/p><\/li> almost double the number chord voicings available to you simply by moving one finger<\/p><\/li><\/ol><\/li><\/ol>Guitars<\/h3>
Tunings<\/h3>
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