The seven-stringed guitar is perhaps the most mysterious instrument with a hazy history. There are many disputes about the origin, but there is no obvious evidence yet. Who invented the seven-string guitar? What are the origins of its occurrence? Alas, the vivid popularity of the instrument goes away gradually in the summer.
According to historical data, the peak of popularity of the seven-stringer was in the sixties of the last century. However, this instrument appeared thanks to A. Sikhra, the founder of guitar art in Russia.
Being a gifted musician and perfectly mastering the six-stringed instrument, Sychra decided to add one more string, thereby making the guitar closer to the harp - an instrument that he, too, I must say, owned perfectly.
On the one hand, the seven-string guitar really became close to the harp in arpeggio, and on the other hand it was more convenient and melodious than the harp.
In Dahl’s dictionary, the role of the creator of the G Major is in doubt. A seven-string guitar, according to Dahl, was used in Russia long before Sychra (in 1799 a sonata for a seven-string guitar was published).
The version that the seven-string guitar appeared much earlier is also confirmed by the newspaper Petersburg Petersburg Vedomosti dated 1803, numbered 37. In the posted ad, a rather bright guitarist of the time Ganf offered the services of teaching the game on the seven-string guitar. It was Granf who released his “School of playing the 7-string guitar”, referred to the new system, recognized as the best in France, and cited Schleider's article published in the Leipzig Newspaper as evidence.
However, we must admit that the debunked Sychra, possessing ingenious insight, seizing on a new system, made an indisputable contribution to the methods of the game.
It remains to argue about the role of the creator of a special system (and even a seven-string guitar in general).
The massive spread of the seven-string guitar was dictated by the general development of musical culture in Russia. And the first who could really claim to make a significant contribution to the propaganda of playing this instrument was Ignaz Geld, the Czech composer and guitarist, forgotten today, whose numerous compositions were quite popular in Russia at one time.
Be that as it may, history left us with great seven-string guitar musicians and virtuosos: Andrei Sikhru,
Sergey Orekhov, Vladimir Vavilov, Vladimir Vysotsky,
Sergey Nikitin, Bulat Okudzhavu, Yuri Vizbor, Peter Todorovsky, Vladimir Lanzberg.
Tuning a seven-string guitar is carried out according to the principle:
string 1 - note “re” (1st octave);
string 2 - note “si” (small octave);
string 3 - note “salt” (small octave);
string 4 - note “re” (small octave);
string 5 - note “si” (large octave);
string 6 - note “salt” (large octave);
string 7 - note “re” (big octave)
This setting is classic. There may be other systems, but we will focus on the most acceptable and common.
So, we start with the string number 1 (the first, the thinnest). We adjust it to the sound of the note “re”. Now go to the second string. We press it on the 3rd fret, the first string is open. By adjusting the sound of string No. 2, we achieve unison between the first strings (No. 1 and No. 2). We press the third string already in the fourth fret and achieve unison with the second, also open. The fourth string is pressed already in the fifth fret, the fifth string is in the third, the sixth string is in the fourth, the seventh string is in the fifth (we achieve unison with the previous open string).