Lick of the Week 3: Double Stops

This guitar lick comes from two different scale patterns, box 1 and box 2 of the pentatonic minor patterns, or you could also call them the root 6 major and minor scales.

A double stop is simply two notes played simultaneously. In the right context, the right double stop can be an incredibly sweet addition to a solo. This particular lick actually has six double stops in it. Check it out:

Don’t worry about getting the rhythm right so much as getting the notes right. If you feel the rhythm differently than I do, that’s cool. The main point of this lick is to learn all these note pairings.

Did I say SIX double stops? That’s right, because the first two notes are one, (a fourth) then adding the hammered note creates a different double stop (a minor third), and so on with the other groupings too.

How many different ways can you find to use these note pairings in your own solos?

This is the 3rd Lick of the Week so far, and the first featuring double stops. Do you like this sound? Do you want more double stop licks? Let me know in the comments below.

If you’re having problems with the video, try here instead.


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  1. Hey Jonathan,

    I’ve been playing for over 50 years and gotta tell you I like your style and look forward to your e-mails daily. Always fun picking up something new.

    Thanks, bro. Have a good one.
    Mark

  2. Another great lick from the LickMeister!

    Are the hammer-ons following the double stops different than a “usual” hammer-on? I’ve never seen the “T” with a circle around it and the “^” notation before on a tab; does this notation designate some sort of “special” hammer-on?

    1. Hey Jeff, that’s a good question, but no, they’re no different. That’s just how Guitar Pro 7 shows the notation now. Back in GP6 they didn’t do that, and to be honest I’m not sure why the change was made.

  3. I found myself wanting to resolve down to the G after the A. I also found I could then play the whole lick in reverse, finishing with a double stop using the 8th fret on the B string and 12th fret on the top E string – G and E. Don’t know what that would be called, but sounds good to me!

  4. Might be useful for you to play some of these licks over a jam track, to demonstrate how they can be used within a context?

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