Howard Alden Masterclass

Howard Alden is one of my favorite jazz guitar player and he is a master on the 7 string. I just came across this series of five videos showcasing Howard in a masterclass setting : he’s playing a 7 string Benedetto Bambino but he is mainly focussing on the traditional six string, it’s very interesting for every jazz guitar player.

Evans RE200 Amplifier

Amplifying a 7 string archtop is one of the toughest challenge when it comes to guitar gear : the situation gets better and better but there’s not a lot of quality products available.

Evans Custom Amplifiers is building a wonderful amp for us seven string jazz players : the RE 200.

Masters at Work 4

Yamandu Costa is a brazilian 7 string virtuoso, he has flawless technique and inspirational lyricism. 7 string guitar has an old history in Brazil and Yamandu is really a master of the instrument. Listening to him is a perfect introduction to all the brazilian guitar styles. Here’s a duet with bass player Guto Wirtti, some wonderful interaction and ideas here !

Once in a blue moon

Hi,

Here’s one of my own video : i’m playing my American Archtop with D’addario baritone strings as mentioned in the string post part 2 … I was working on timbrality, the piece is not really constructed, hope some may enjoy that !

Daniel Slaman 7 String Archtop

I’m happy to show you a guitar made by Daniel Slaman, a talented luthier from the Netherlands . Daniel has made himself a name by recreating vintage masterpieces that look and feel even better than the originals, but he’s also developing modern guitar concepts such as nylon string archtop or this wonderful seven string archtop made for one of his dutch customers : Lennart Engel. Check out his website at : http://www.slamanguitars.com/

The String Post 2

Hi ! I recently discovered a new set of phosphore bronze strings which fits my needs and may be of interest for the “acoustic” seven string guitar players.

John Buscarino 18″ Virtuoso

Spring is coming but it’s still damn cold and frosty here in northern France … so i really need something warm ! And i’ve found this beautiful antique violin 18″ Buscarino Virtuoso, a masterpiece which is a fine example of John Buscarino mastery in archtop building.

A Few Options to Start Playing 7 String Jazz Guitar

The first step to start playing 7 string guitar is obviously to put your hand on a decent instrument. It seems that 7 string jazz guitars are not considered “profitable” by the main competitors on the market, so “production” 7 string jazz guitars are rare birds. If you look at the gears used by the best 7 string jazz guitar players out there, you will probably notice that most of the time they’re using custom guitars made by reknown guitar builders which are out of reach for the “average joe”. Depending on your budget here’s a few options to consider to get a satisfying start without breaking the bank. If it’s still out of reach you can also consider solid bodies but i won’t deal with that in this post.

Masters at Work 3

Benedetto players show involving Jimmy Bruno on a seven string & Jack Wilkins on a six string, both are incredible guitar players.

The String Post

Playing seven string guitar is a fantastic and invaluable experience, but it’s often a bit frustrating too because everything is hard to find : even strings are hard to find ! That’s the purpose of this post : let’s have a look at the few possibilities we have as jazz seven string guitar players regarding strings choice.