By: Dr. Matthew Warnock

When I was a young student learning how to solo on the guitar, one of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to practice soloing on a single string at a time, along with up scale fingerings, in my studies.

As I’ve progressed from student to teacher, I’ve kept this exercise in my vocabulary and have found it to be very popular with students of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels, producing positive and noticeable results in the process.

In this article, I’ll lay out the process for teaching guitar soloing and jamming with students on one string at a time, something that may sound like a funny concept, but one that can expand the fretboard and teach soloing ideas at the same time.

Dr. Matt Warnock teaching an improv class at Marshall University.

 Pick a String

The first part of the exercise is to pick a string, or have the student pick a string, that they will then solo on. If the student is just starting out on the guitar, then the outer two E strings are a good place to begin, as they are usually the most familiar.

If the student is more experienced, then starting on the less familiar strings, usually the D, G and B strings, might be more appropriate.

Whatever string you decide to start on is fine, as over the course of their studies the student will explore all 6 strings at one time or another.

Pick a Key and Scale

Once you have settled on which string the student will solo on, then you need to decide on a key or scale for them to solo with.

As was the case with choosing the string, if the student is a beginner then the A minor pentatonic scale, or even the C major scale would be good choices to use with this exercise.

As the student progresses, with both this exercise and in general, they can then move on to other modes of the major scale, other keys, and even to modes of melodic minor or symmetrical scales such as diminished or whole tone.

The sky is the limit with how many keys you can work through with this exercise, as well as to how many scales you can explore with one-string soloing.

So, feel free to try as many as you feel the student needs to get the most out of their time spent on this concept in the practise room.

Refresh the Notes

Once you have a string, key and scale picked for the improvisation, you might need to go over the notes once or twice up and down that string with the student as a refresher, especially if this is the first time they have thought of scales on one string in their soloing.

A good idea is to have the student say each note out loud as they refresh the notes, even the more experienced players, as this can ingrain the notes of the fretboard, key and scale into their memories, which will be beneficial in many situations beyond this one exercise.

Start Jamming!

With everything chosen and the notes refreshed on one string, you’re now ready to jam! It’s recommended that you play the chords with the student rather than use a backing track if possible.

This will help give them experience jamming with a more experienced player, and the exercise can become more of a conversation rather than a jam over a static track, which is always a good thing.

If the student has experience playing chords, you can also have them play the chords as you jam on one string, either before or after they solo, in order to give them an idea of what is musically possible on one string when soloing.

If the student hits a wall with their creativity, try reminding them about slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and other specialist techniques that they can use to liven up a one-string solo.

You can also record the jam and play it back for the student afterwards, as sometimes when they are concentrating in the moment, the student would realize how good they sounded, or subtle mistakes they might be making.

So, recording and listening back can help bring their attention to these items that might otherwise be missed in the moment.

Moving Forward

From here, you can move on to other strings, other scales, and other keys with this exercise in your lessons.

You can also record or make a backing track for the student to take home and work on one-string soloing in their home study between lessons.

I find that it’s always a good idea to work with a backing track, or live accompaniment, in these situations so that the student’s ear become accustomed to the sound of their soloing ideas over top of harmony, which will prepare them for both the improvisation sections of an RGT exam, and gigging situations as well.

Do you have any questions about these exercises, or do you have a guitar soloing teaching tip you’d like to share? If so, post your thoughts in the comments section below.

About Dr. Matthew Warnock

Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a lecturer in Popular Music Performance at the University of Chester and an examiner for the Registry of Guitar Tutors.