Ever notice how your solos can sound thin, even when you’re hitting the right notes? That’s because single-note lines lack harmonic depth.
Here’s the trick your heroes used: play your melody on the B-string while letting the high E drone ring out underneath. Suddenly, your guitar doesn’t sound like one lonely line anymore — it sounds full, rich, alive… like two guitars at once.
What You’ll Learn in This Lesson
• A classic 6-5-4 progression (Am → G → F) — same backbone as Stairway to Heaven and Watchtower
• How to combine diatonic + pentatonic scales vertically on one string
• A hammer-on + drone technique that makes your solos instantly sound bigger
• Ways to connect scale positions smoothly without sounding “boxy”
🎸 Practice Resources For This Lesson 🎸
Jam Track — Play Along Now
Diatonic Tab:
Pentatonic Tab:
💡 Pro tip: Blend the two. Pentatonic gives space and grit, diatonic fills in smooth steps. Together, they unlock melodies that sound pro.
Go Deeper: Unlock the Drone Riffs System
What you just learned is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Hendrix and Van Halen didn’t just play single notes — they used drone techniques to make one guitar sound impossibly full.
That’s what the Drone Riffs Course (The Guitar Player’s Bag of Riff Tricks) is all about. The vertical trick you just learned is just the beginning — in the full course, you’ll discover how pros like Hendrix, Van Halen, and Petty expanded this into their signature sounds.
Inside, you’ll discover:
• The Van Halen “Double Guitar” Effect — how he layered sound on Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love
• Hendrix’s Voodoo Child Secrets — the drone patterns that made his solos legendary
• The “Raised 6th” Transformation — Tom Petty’s mysterious minor-scale twist
• Cross-Key Soloing — a pro move that adds instant color (most players never learn it)
This isn’t theory for theory’s sake. It’s 2+ hours of practical methods with jam tracks and tab that make your solos sound professional right away.
