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Using Open Strings: The Basics

Robert Mussatti 91 lessons

In this lesson, we will be looking at a technique that a lot of people tend to overlook, which is using open strings within your soloing. If you listen to any Joe Satriani, you might know what I am talking about.

The first thing we need to do is start with a steady pulse. We'll play this on the high E string and the pulse is just going to be a simple 8th or 16th note picking pattern depending on the metronome pulse, which is shown below.

The next thing we are going to do is figure out how many notes are going to be fretted and how many are going to be from the pulse. This can be within any combination of notes. These examples are going to be in E Minor, and these few examples are going to be very simple to start off so that you can get an idea of this technique and how it is used.

We are now going to combine a few of these together to spice up these licks a bit. These can also be done up the neck as well as down, so here are some examples going both ways.

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