Double-Stop Soloing

Most of the time when we improvise on the guitar, we use single-note phrases to create licks. A common way to add variety to solos is to play two-note double-stops. To hear double-stops in action, listen to the solo from the Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix, which is a wonderful demonstration of both double-stops and single note Blues-Rock ideas.

This example shows the scale of C# Minor Pentatonic scale on just the B and E strings. Learn each pair of notes as double-stop shapes, and play them with your eyes closed as soon as you have committed them to memory.

Now you have learnt these double-stop patterns it is time to write a lick with them. The first approach we will look at is to use slides as they are an effective way to move between each position.

The next idea combines the shapes in the first example with single-notes. Bar four is reminiscent of Hendrix’s playing, especially in his solo in The Wind Cries Mary.

The following example shows the C# Minor Pentatonic scale on just the G and B strings. Slowly learn the double-stop pairs with a metronome set to 80bpm. You can play all the ideas in this chapter with Backing Track seen below.

Double Stop Soloing – Rhythmic

The next idea shows that by adding a rhythmic pattern, double-stops can become a useful soloing tool. Watch out for the Hendrix-style hammer-ons at the end of bar four.