Who Else Wants Unique New Riffs To Give Your Guitar Solos An Extra Edge?
FACT: Most guitar players are constantly looking for fresh ways to approach their solos.
Hi, I’m Colin Daniel, and I’ve got a great riff technique that isn’t hard to learn, and it’s going to help you unlock a new type of musical expression in your solos. Learning new riffs has always a great way to boost your solos… but today, I’ve got something more powerful for you than just another cool riff.
I’m talking about learning a new style of riffs – a style powerful enough to build entire solos around, if you so choose.
Once you get the basics of this style down, it becomes downright easy to create brand new riffs at the drop of a hat.
Surprisingly Common... Yet Strangely Unique
Drone-note riffs go back about as far as stringed instruments do, historically speaking. After all, it’s one of the easiest ways to create a melodic, fast sounding riff that doesn’t rely on advanced techniques or musical knowledge. Believe it or not, one of my first instruments was the bagpipes. Love ’em or hate ’em, the thing that makes bagpipes unique is they have this drone note that plays out along with whatever they’re doing. It makes for quite a unique sound, but it can be used very creatively as well.
Now, I’m not suggesting for a moment that we’re going to make your guitar sound like the bagpipes… but despite the vast differences between the instruments, we can still draw ideas from there for our guitar solos.
You’ll hear drone-note riffs coming from violins, banjos and all kinds of other stringed instruments. It’s common in classical music, and from there you’ll discover these riffs sweeping right through all of modern music right into metal territory.
Today, our main focus is more blues/rock, but it’s important to know that these same techniques apply to other forms of music as well.
What Is A Drone Note?
Drone note riffs can take many forms, but the basic idea is that there’s a note – or perhaps a group of notes – that gets repeated over and over again. Then, there’s the highlight note, or group of notes – the part that adds melody to the riff. This note might be played at the same time as the drone (harmonically), or it might be played in between two drone notes (melodically). It comes down to personal preference, and what you feel fits the song, but both methods are very similar.
5 Reasons Why Drone Riffs ROCK!
Transitions
They're an efficient and stylish way of moving up or down your fretboard. Make your transitions between patterns a featured part of your solo!
Speed
You can play passages faster than you'd expect given your current skill level. By taking advantage of an open note or two, you remove a lot of the fretting work that can slow you down! Working on this style of playing is also a great way to develop your picking accuracy.
Melody
Drone riffs bring a unique melodic nature to your solos that no other technique really does. The note(s) you select as your drone become very powerful, and when tied to the progression of the song, helps naturally tie whatever you play straight into the heart of the music.
Fretboard Knowledge
Mastering your vertical string scales adds a new dimension to your fretboard knowledge that will spill over and benefit the rest of your playing.
Slacker Friendly!
I'm not callin' anyone a slacker, BUT - everyone loves making serious progress without serious effort, no? That's right - this is one of those soloing techniques that you can make sound half-decent without years of practice effort. If you want a quick way to add some flash and bling to your solos... this is it.
The Extra Edge You've Been Looking For
Have you ever been right in the middle of a solo, and came to point where you felt you just needed a little bit extra to push it over the top? Perhaps a short flashy riff with a bit more speed than the rest of what you’d played, or maybe something that really felt like it tied in with the tonic of the song, or maybe you were just looking for a clean way to get from A to B on your fretboard, without making a disconnected jump?
Drone note riffs could be just the thing you’re looking for – they certainly offer answers for all of those questions, and more.
The best part is, unlike some soloing techniques, you can actually get up and running with drone riffs pretty quickly. It won’t take you long before you’re cranking these out, and along the way, you’ll find your fretboard knowledge gaining strength as well.
The Guitar Player's Bag Of Tricks
Volume 2: Drone Riffs
Some time ago, I released a course called The Guitar Player’s Bag of Tricks: Chords. It focused on some unusual ways that players could spice up their everyday playing by using unique chords further up the neck. Now we have Volume 2 in the Bag of Tricks series, and this one focuses on Drone Riffs – another under-used but very powerful way folks can improve their solos.
In the Drone Riffs course, we’ll not only cover multiple keys (each key has it’s own quirks you’ll need to get squared away), but we’ll also cover a few different styles of using drone notes. We’ll look at examples on single strings, as well as some using two strings. We’ll look at switch backs, cross overs, and more!
There’s a PDF that comes with the course as well – it contains all the tabs and diagrams we cover in the video. I recommend printing it off and going through the course with that in hand, as you’ll find it useful.
7 Sweet Jam Loops
There’s no better way to develop your soloing than practicing with a good jam track. It helps develop your timing, your sense of where the music is at, and it holds you accountable to the rhythm too.
Because of this, we custom created seven jam loops just for this course. We’re drawing on some pretty great artists for inspiration on these tracks, including John Fogerty, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, Tom Petty, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, and the Gin Blossoms.
Here’s a sneak peak preview of just three of the jam tracks…
Van Halen Loop Preview
John Mayer Loop Preview
Jimi Hendrix Loop Preview
Applied To Popular Songs
Riffs themselves are cool, but I’ve found that it is not until you’re given a place to use them that they really sink in and begin to become part of a player’s go-to bag of tricks.
That’s why in the Guitar Player’s Bag of Tricks 2, we’ll not only learn the riffs and a little theory to support them, we’ll also apply them to some popular songs to help make it all stick. You’ll find that these little-known riff ideas are in fact highly usable!
100% Risk-Free Satisfaction Guarantee
If you’re hesitant about purchasing online, that’s okay – I understand. In fact, that’s why I stand behind all my guitar lessons with a 100% Risk-Free “No Weasel Clauses” Satisfaction Guarantee.
My guarantee states that if for any reason you’re not completely satisfied with the guitar lesson, I’ll give you a complete refund within 60 days of purchase, with no hassles.
This completely eliminates the risk on your part – you’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain by trying The Guitar Player’s Bag of Tricks 2: Drone Riffs!
45+ Years of Guitar Teaching Experience,
At Your Service
So who is this Colin Daniel guy? Well, without tooting my own horn, I wanted to assure you that you’re in capable hands. I’ve been a professional musician and teacher for over 45 years… I’ve played hundreds of gigs, led dozens of bands, written dozens of original songs, and taught over 5500 guitar players, many of whom have gone on to become professionals in their own right. Recently I’ve been able to reach even more students via the internet, and I’d love to help you learn guitar too!
Are You Ready To Take Your Soloing To
The NEXT LEVEL?
The Guitar Player’s Bag of Tricks 2: Drone Riffs is a short course that is laser-targeted on giving you some unique ways to approach your riffs and solos through the use of drone-style riffs, in the styles of John Fogerty, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, Tom Petty, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, and the Gin Blossoms.
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Are you ready to start your path to becoming a great guitar player? Join me and we’ll make it happen!
To Your Musical Success,
a.k.a. the Riff Ninja
PS. If for any reason you’re not satisfied, you’re protected by my 100% Risk-Free Satisfaction Guarantee for a full 60 days.
PS. Both the DVD and the Download Only version include the same lesson material: the main video lesson. The DVD version includes download access, with the additional convenience of having everything on DVD as well.