4 string bass playing with 7 string guitar

[Matthew Bryson]

I'm sure this has probably been discussed at some point, but I'd like to run it by the current Talk Bass community.


What do you do when you only have a 4 string bass and the guitar player pulls out a 7 string?

I ran into this at a band try out the other day. At first I was worried that I'd made a mistake by switching from 5 strings to 4 strings recently. I asked the guitarist if he was going to be going below D in the song. (thinking I could drop my E to D) He said that he would be using the open B string, so I stayed in standard tuning and played it with the B and D notes that I had. (2nd & 5th frets on the A string) …I was kind of surprised - I thought it sounded just fine playing my bass line in that register with a 7 string guitar hitting his low B.

Is that a pretty typical way to handle it, or do most guitar players with 7 strings have bass players with 5 or more strings?

www.purevolume.com/mogruith


7 string guitar + 4 string bass


[btw, I know what you're going to say about the drummer]

[Jeff Martinez]

Guiar low-B + Bass low-B = Thunder MUD.

My guitarist uses a baritone guitar tuned down to A, and rarely use my low-A when he's down there. If he wants to play in that range, it gives me more opportunity to counter-point that and play a little higher.

Just my $.02

[Geoff St. Germaine]

I would cut the B string on the guitar with wire cutters.

[MAJOR METAL]

Use your B and D notes on your E string ?