8. Workshop - Jazz

Both Steve Vai and John Petrucci are featured artists on the Ibanez video on 7-string guitar, ‘7th Heaven’. Alongside them is a distinctly different 7-string virtuoso, Jerry Sims. Sims brings the final dimension to our exploration of 7-string playing, because he’s one of the world’s most respected jazz guitarists.

Together with the Brazilian jazzman Egberto Gismonti, Jerry has made 7-string jazz playing his trademark. His work is particularly remarkable for its use of the bottom string to play walking bass lines. Here again the low B rule is broken - Jerry tunes down to A, but with all other strings in regular tuning.

With this tuning, standard chords are given greater depth, as shown by the example. It takes a standard II-V-I pattern, with a Latin feel.

Here’s how it should sound: I´M WALKING (MP3)