Using A Six-String Guitar As A Seven-String Guitar
6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - B1:E2:A2:D3:G3:B3)
So you want to learn how to play 7-string guitar but you don't have enough readies to go and buy one.
Well fear not boys and girls because Zon Brookes always has a work-around solution under these types of circumstances.
Get yourself an old 6-string electric guitar with a Strat scale length i.e. 25.5" and a new set of 13 gauge strings.
The C major scale is shown below on the GuitarPro6 fingerboard for 7-string guitar with a low B string:-
A standard 6-string electric guitar represents strings 1 to 6 of the previous 7-string; as shown in the next GuitarPro6 fingerboard:-
Instead of tuning your 6-string EADGBE why not tune it BEADGB which represents strings 2 to 7 of the previous 7 string?
The C major scale is shown below on the GuitarPro6 fingerboard for a 6-string guitar tuned BEADGB:-
Won't a 25.5" scale length be too short?.... I hear the purveyor's of all guitar wisdom cry from afar.
Well follow this link to check out the specifications of the Ibanez UV777 to quell any fears you may have on this front - scale length of 25.5" I do believe.
Again the guitar-wise are shouting the strings will be too slack.
This is where the 13 gauge strings come in useful and if you want to do a full string tension calculation check then follow this link to the D'Addario strings design chart (very useful for this precise purpose).
So to quote those of an American persuasion y'all set.
BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale : General
In this BLOGoZON we take a look at the C pentatonic major scale for
6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - B1:E2:A2:D3:G3:B3) forming one long BAGED octaves chain.
The BAGED octaves sequence is shown for C natural in the diagram that follows.
The diagram that follows shows all five of the BAGED octaves shapes for use with the
box shapes for a 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - B1:E2:A2:D3:G3:B3)
GuitarPro6 fingerboard : C natural octaves
The diagram that follows shows all five of the BAGED octaves shapes for use with the
box shapes for a 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - B1:E2:A2:D3:G3:B3)
The diagrams that follow show all of the C pentatonic major scale notes plotted over
the 6-string guitar's fretboard in the BAGED octaves and GuitarPro6 styles.
GuitarPro6 fingerboard : C pentatonic major scale
As always a more long term solution to fretboard navigation is to see scales as INTERVAL shapes
rather than note names - as these are universal to all scales, arpeggios and chords rather than
specific to one particular root note - with this in mind the intervals for the
C pentatonic major scale are detailed below in the BAGED octaves manner.
The tables and tabbed panels below detail all five box shapes for the
C pentatonic major scale in the BAGED octaves style.
BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale : YouTube videos & pdf files
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BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale : Box shapes on YouTube
- 6B4B1
- 4A2
- 5G2
- 5E3
- 6D3D1
- 6B4B1 at 12
BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale : Box shapes & TAB
- 6B4B1
- 4A2
- 5G2
- 5E3
- 6D3D1
- 6B4B1 at 12
Once the individual box shapes have been assimilated all five shapes should be linked together and played in one continuous exercise (with the first shape - 6B4B1 - being repeated at the 12th fret). The video shown to the right demonstrates the BAGED octaves chain-linked sequence for the C pentatonic major scale. |
The complete TAB for the previous exercise follows:-
The box shapes for the previous exercise follow:-
BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale
Box shapes pdf & GuitarPro8 TAB pdf
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BAGED octaves : 6-string guitar (6/7ths guitar tuning - BEADGB)
C pentatonic major scale : Overall fretboard box shapes
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Disco Inferno....Zon Brookes |
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