- Craving lower tunings but not sure whether to go for a baritone or 7-string?
- Understand the benefits and drawbacks of both.
- Explore tips on selecting the best baritone and 7-string guitar.
Although there might be a few other minor similarities between these two guitar types, nearly everything else is different, including the string number, scale length, fret size, tone, overall size, and more.
It’s also worth pointing out that baritones can also come in 7-string configurations, so the classification isn’t mutually exclusive. To keep the comparison simple, for the rest of the article we will assume that baritones contain 6-strings.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the differences between a baritone and a 7-string guitar. By the end, you should have a solid idea of which to select, based on the tone you’re after, your playing style, and more.
Baritone vs. 7-String Guitars: Differences
| Feature | Baritone | 7-String |
| Range | Longer scale length, lower tuning (often B or C) for extended lower range | Standard scale length |
| Strings | Generally 6, but can come in 7-string variants | 7. Includes an additional low B string for extended lower range |
| String Spacing | Standard string spacing | Wider string spacing |
| Genre | Often used in jazz, blues, and country music for added depth and richness. Has also become popular in rock/metal | Often used in heavy metal and progressive rock music for extended range and complex chord voicings |
Specs aside, here are my personal opinions regarding choosing a 7-string vs. a baritone:
- 7-string guitars require a bit more skill and practice. Even if you’ve played for years, you’ll need to re-learn due to the extra B string. However, they’re considerably better rounded than baritones and are ideal for gigging and studio work.
- Baritone guitars are perfect for people looking for a deep-sounding guitar with huge frets, neck, and body. If you don’t mind it being heavier and bulkier than average, the riffs you play on it will be much heavier and slicker than you’d bargain for.
Let’s explore these differences in more detail. At the end, I’ll cover in further detail why you might choose one over the other.
Number Of Strings
Let’s tend to the elephant in the room. Most people believe the most apparent difference between baritones and 7-string guitars is the number of strings. As mentioned above, this isn’t always the case, as baritones can have 6, 7, 8, or even 12 strings (two pairs of six).
String Gauge
Baritone guitars are often tuned to B or C, which requires thicker strings to maintain proper tension and intonation.
The exact string gauge can vary depending on the player’s preference and the specific instrument, but common gauges for baritone guitars include:
- .013 to .070
- .014 to .072.
7-string guitars, have an additional low B string, which also requires a heavier gauge string to maintain proper tension and intonation.
The gauge of the other strings can vary depending on the player’s preference and the specific instrument, but common gauges for 7-string guitars include:
- .009 to .054 or .010 to .059 for the six higher strings
- .062 to .070 or .074 for the low B string.
It’s worth noting that string gauge is a personal preference, and what works for one player may not work for another. But in summary, baritone and 7-string guitars typically require heavier gauge strings than standard guitars to accommodate their extended range and lower tuning.
Scale Length & String Tension
What 7-string and Baritone guitars have in common is that they both types feature a longer scale length compared to normal 6-string guitars.
To elaborate, the length of “standard” guitar strings is about 27-28 inches. However, strings are too tense near their anchoring points (above the nut and below the saddle), meaning that these parts can’t produce vibrations when plucked.
Scale length tells us the length of the parts of guitar strings that are actively used.
- The average scale length of a standard guitar is roughly 25.5 inches
- The usual scale length of a 7-string guitar ranges from 25.5 to around 27 inches
- Baritone guitars can have scale lengths up to 30.5 inches and beyond.
The longer the scale length of a guitar is, the higher the string tension needs to be. The strings on a Baritone guitar are usually very firm, meaning performing specific techniques could be more difficult (e.g., vibrato).
On the upside, they’ll “wiggle” far less than the strings under less tension, enabling the player to play (and especially shred) more accurately.
For guitarists who’ve played standard guitars and are looking to migrate to a Baritone or a 7-string guitar, it’s crucial to understand how this increase in scale length will affect your playing habits and muscle memory.
Even though Baritones “resemble” 6-string guitars more because they have the same number of strings, 7-string guitars “feel” closer to home in this regard. More specifically, it might be easier to simply “skip” the low B string on a 7-string guitar than getting accustomed to the string tension on a Baritone.
Fret Size & Playability
Since frets on a guitar are used to evenly divide the tones of any given octave, guitars with longer scale lengths feature wider frets. In a nutshell, the frets on standard guitars are the smallest while the frets on a Baritone almost resemble bass guitar frets in terms of width.
This is a huge difference that can be felt on multiple levels. First and foremost, fretting chords is much easier with wider frets, and accuracy isn’t as important as on normal guitars.
Playing scales, soloing, and shredding, on the other hand, is significantly more difficult because individual frets are harder to reach. More importantly, getting accustomed to ultra-wide frets is challenging for most players.
Since 7-string guitars feature scale lengths that are only slightly longer than average, the difference in fret size is usually marginal, meaning that 6-string guitar players can migrate to a 7-string more quickly.
Tone
The tone of any guitar is mainly influenced by the combination of tonewoods used to craft them.
In the case of 7-string guitars, they’re “ordinary” guitars with an extra string, so they’ll mostly sound the same as the 6-string variant of the same brand (e.g., Schecter Demon 6 sounds the same as Shecter Demon 7, minus one string).
Anything goes for 7-string guitars. Cheaper models are usually very warm-sounding (e.g., guitars made of mahogany or rosewood); mid-tier 7-string guitars that are predominantly made of tonewoods such as maple are exceedingly bright while models made of basswood or alder are somewhere in between.
Baritones have a distinctly different tone for several reasons. First of all, their scale length does not only affect the string spacing – it also has a great impact on harmonic spacing, meaning that most tones will have a stronger “reverb-like” effect to them.
The entire tuning is dropped by two and a half semitones, which gives off a darker vibe.
Neck & Body Size
The size of a guitar does not directly impact its performance. However, I needed some time to get accustomed to the huge neck of my Schecter Demon 7 since I was mainly playing B.C. Rich Warlock (6-string) before.
Compared to standard guitars, 7-string guitars appear huge, but in reality, only their necks are wider – they need the extra space to fit the extra string without compromising playability. Since more wood is used to make wider guitar necks, they tend to be slightly heavier on their “fretting side.”
In contrast, Baritone guitars feature larger bodies and longer (but rarely wider) than average necks. They are “massive” compared to normal guitars and fairly larger than 7-string guitars overall.
The difference between the length of a Baritone guitar’s neck and the wider necks of Baritone guitars are usually marginal in terms of dimensions.
However, because of their hulking bodies, Baritone guitars tend to be heavier on their “strumming side”. This ends up affecting the playability of the guitar when you’re playing in a standing position.
For instance, I didn’t realize how easy things were while performing with the Warlock until I had my first gig with Demon 7. It exerted more pressure on my back, and I had to find a different (yet still natural) position for my left hand to play 2-3 hours a night comfortably.
Versatility & Pitch Range
On fretted guitars, each fret corresponds to a single pitch. Since Baritone guitars are just larger, drop-tuned versions of 6-string guitars, they can produce the same number of pitches. Theoretically, you can tune a Baritone up to Standard E to produce the same pitches as a normal guitar, but you’d need a special set of strings.
Regarding 7-string guitars, they offer the same pitches as standard 6-string guitars, plus five extra pitches, courtesy of the low B string.
Additionally, that extra string gives you access to 21-27 more frets (depending on which model you bought), but since every note beyond the 4th fret on the low B corresponds to the pitches on the “standard” strings, everything else is the same.
With this in mind, 7-string guitars are considerably better rounded than both 6-string and Baritone guitars. You can play more pitches and use more frets to play licks, riffs, and solos whenever possible.
Baritone guitars are even less versatile than normal guitars. They’re meant to be played in a lower tuning, and you’d have to jump through several hoops to make them suitable for “common” songs and tunes.
Choosing Between A 7-String Vs. Baritone
Now that you understand the key differences between Baritone and 7-string guitars, I want to help you understand how to use them when buying your next guitar with a few handy tips:
If you’re looking for a beginner-friendly guitar, grab a baritone.
Wider frets, better-tuning stability, and firmer strings are why a Baritone guitar could help beginners learn how to play guitar faster than a 7-string.
When I started playing a normal guitar, most of my more experienced friends told me that “you’ll need to hone your chops on a 6-string before upgrading to a 7-string”. As I mentioned earlier, 7-string guitars resemble 6-string guitars in more ways than one, but that one extra string changes things quite a bit.
Ignoring the lowest string on your guitar when you want to use the 7-string like a 6-string is very counter-intuitive, and learning how to use it in normal songs properly takes a bit of practice.
Baritones are more than “metal” guitars. While electric Baritone guitars are fantastic for all kinds of heavy rock and metal music, their acoustic counterparts are amazing for calmer music styles. Their lower tuning enables you to use it as an acoustic bass while you could instantly revert to the rhythm or lead by jumping a few octaves up.
Furthermore, you can transform a Baritone guitar to a standard 6-string by placing a guitar capo on its fifth fret position.
If you’re looking for a flexible gigging guitar, get a 7-string.
Performing live is one of the biggest rewards for a musician. You’ve probably noticed that many band guitarists bring several guitars along when they’re performing (especially when they’re touring), and there’s a simple reason for that – they need a different tuning or a different tone for certain songs.
A Baritone guitar could be your go-to if you’re mainly playing authored metal music, but if you’re in a cover band or creating songs that touch upon multiple genres or styles, a 7-string guitar is what you’re after.
In short, these guitars allow you to be in 2 tunings simultaneously – Standard E and Standard B, so you never need to switch two guitars or tune-up on stage again.
