NEW PATHS
Soloing on one or two strings with the major hexatonic scale
by Andy Aledort
IN DEEP
WHEN IT COMES to improvising, many guitarists often fall into the rut of relying on familiar licks and learned scale patterns and shapes. While having these musical building blocks ingrained into one’s memory is an essential component of building a vocabulary of reliable ideas to draw upon when soloing, no one wants to feel constrained by habitual tendencies. A great way to break free of old playing habits and also discover new musical territory when soloing is to momentarily limit yourself to playing on only one string or a pair or group of adjacent strings. This forces you to abandon familiar patterns and shapes and instead be guided solely by your musical ear and creativity in the spontaneous creation of a melody.