At some point every guitarist looks at their perfectly good six-string and thinks: what this needs is another string, tuned so low it registers on seismographs. That string is the low B, and once you have it, there is no going back — regular guitars start to feel adorably polite, like a golden retriever that has never once considered chugging in drop tuning.
This little clip is the intro riff to "Hybris" by my band Atomic Symphony, played on a seven-string guitar. It is a taste of extended-range prog/metal riffing: heavy, low, and using that seventh string precisely because it can. Free tab and Guitar Pro files are down below, so you can chug along at home while your neighbours quietly reconsider their life choices.
How the seven-string riff works
A seven-string guitar in standard tuning just adds a low B below the usual E-A-D-G-B-E. That single extra string drops your range a perfect fourth lower, which is why extended-range riffs sound so much heavier without you doing anything cleverer with your fingers. The Hybris intro leans into exactly that: the meat of the riff lives on that low B string, palm-muted tight so each note lands like a dropped anvil, then opens up when you let it ring. If you want the physical foundation first, spend some time with your palm mutes and your power chords — a seven-string forgives nothing, and sloppy muting turns extra low end into extra mud.
The concrete takeaway: don't just play the notes lower, play them tighter. On the seventh string, the difference between "crushing" and "muddy" is entirely in your right-hand palm and how cleanly you mute the strings you are not hitting. Nail the muting and the low B does the intimidation for free. If you want to see the same idea taken to its brutal extreme, the Meshuggah seven-string riff is the graduate course.
Fair warning: buying a seven-string does not automatically make you heavier — it just gives your existing bad habits a lower, more dramatic place to live. Want the tabs, Guitar Pro files and the original videos so you can chug this properly? They're on my Patreon.