Guitar 7 string now or later on?

[cydn]

I've been playing guitar since last week, and the strat I have is pretty ok and all but my goal is to be one of those cool prog guys playing really weird and heavy shit on an alien looking extended range guitar. At what stage would it make most sense to actually start playing on a 7 string?

I just learned the second position minor pentatonic shape and I realized I might end up having to re-learn a lot of stuff like that. Conversely if I get it now I won't have the slightest idea what to do with all the extra string.

Is there a best way to get to where I want to be?

 

[Ed Seith]

You can stay with the six for now just fine. Adding another string doesn't require re-learning anything - you just add on to what you know with the math and shapes being the same on the 7th string as they are across the whole fretboard. It's not typically an issue.

 

[kapy bara]

I agree with @Ed Seith. I like to practice on both. Since the 7 string is bit wider than the 6 string I find that I hold the guitar slightly differently when I play on each.