How to play 7 string songs on a 6 string

[Dan Shipway]

Hey guys, I have been delving into Dream Theaters repetoir a bit more and have found some riffs I really want to learn but unfortunately they are using a 7 string and I wondered what tuning or what methods I could use to compensate. The tuning is just E standard with a low B added (I think that is standard tuning for 7 string guitars)
As always, any and all help is massively appreciated.

 

[Rad Synner]

One option I thought about would be buying a set of strings for 7 strings guitar and add on the new low string where your low E was and then go up from there. Obviously, you would have to sacrifice the high E string but thats the only option I can think of. Also adding a bigger string will probably mess a bit with your guitar neck so be careful with that. I cant really think of anything else!

 

[D K]

What you could do is increase the pitch of the song by 5 semitones and treat the low E of the 6-string as the low B of the 7 string, I did this for the shattered fortress. Or you could do a combination of increasing the pitch of the song and lowering the tuning on your guitar, for example lowering the tuning by a full tone (D standard) and increasing the song’s pitch by 3 semitones. But I don’t really have experience with dropped tuning so I don’t know how low you can go and still have enough tension in the strings.

 

[Dan Shipway]

The funny thing is that shattered fortress is exactly what I’m trying to play I will try doing a 3 semitone change as I am in d standard for now