Droning Open Strings: Play Lead and Bass at the Same Time

Here’s something you can do when you’re playing by yourself (on acoustic or electric) that gives you almost a pseudo bass player.

The idea is to use droning open strings to accompany single string riff ideas. I like to think of it as you’re hiring a bass player for free.

It also fixes where your playing sounds thin when you’re playing alone.

The chords

I’m using three chords for this; it’s mostly a two chord vamp, but I throw a third in for variety.

A major 7, C major 7, and G major 7.

The two chord vamp we’re really focusing on is the A major 7 and the G major 7.

Major 7 chords are important here because they’re softer and more open than a plain major, and they leave more room for a single note line to sit on top. A straight A major would crowd you.

Get the rhythm in your head first

Establish the rhythm. A major 7 to G major 7, with the C major 7 dropped in.

Once you have that rhythm in your head you can almost hear it playing back to you when you stop.

That’s what you’re going to be soloing against, so spend a minute or two just on this before you play a lead note. If you can’t hear the vamp in your head, the drone won’t work properly.

Now drone and play

Since that first chord is A, whenever I go to attack a single note line, I drone the low A string and play my lead lines exclusively on the D string.

Then when it sounds like it’s time for G, I drone the open G string and keep playing on that D string.

And really all I’m doing is traveling through the major scale on one string.

The right hand has a job as well; you’re alternating between the drone string and the melody string, so it’s more of a rolling motion than straight alternate picking. Thumb or downstroke on the drone, whatever’s natural on the melody.

What this does for you

You’re learning where your scale sits on a different string, which is not the same as knowing the box shape. Most of us know our scales as shapes across six strings, but running one up a single string forces you to know it as intervals instead, and that’s much more useful.

You’re seeing the intervallic relationships between the notes, so hopefully you’re not just choosing notes right next to each other. Instead, you start getting some of those larger distances in between.

And because you’ve got the droning string underneath, it keeps you in check and makes sure you’re staying in the right key; you’ll get immediate feedback. If you play a note that doesn’t belong and the drone tells you instantly.

On top of all that, it just sounds pretty good as a solo guitar arrangement.

What you’re doing musically

The proper name for this is a pedal point, which means one note holds while the harmony moves around it.

It’s all over the place once you know to listen for it. You’ll hear it in folk guitar, sitar music, and a lot of film score writing. The reason it works is that holding a note constant while everything else moves creates tension and release without you having to do anything extraordinary.

When the drone is the root of the chord you’re on it sounds settled. When the chord moves underneath and the drone stays put, it sounds like something is stretching, and then it resolves when they line up again.

Which keys work

With droning strings you’re a bit limited in keys; the ones that work well are the keys your open strings are already tuned to.

The key of E is great as well as the key of A and the key of D.

You can use some of the higher strings and grab notes underneath, but I find the bassier strings work better for this. There’s more weight to them, and they stay out of the way of the melody.

If you want to open it up beyond those keys, that’s what alternate tunings are for, but that’s a whole other lesson (we also have 74+ tunings on our free tuner tool here.)

A phrase to start

If you’re staring at the fretboard not knowing where to begin, try this shape:

• Drone the open A
• Play the 12th fret of the D string, which is your D
• Then walk down to the 11th
• Then the 9th
• Let the drone ring throughout

Now jump:

• Go from that 9th fret B up to the 16th fret F#, skipping over everything in between
• Hold it
• Let it sit against the drone

Then:

• Come back down to the 14th
• The 12th
• And land on the 7th, which is your A, the same note as the drone an octave up.

That’s a complete phrase.

Play it a few times and then start changing it. Move the leap somewhere else and land somewhere other than the root.

Where you’ve heard this before

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t an exercise somebody invented for guitar students.

Open string drones are the backbone of a lot of Celtic and folk guitar, where the arrangement is one guitar and it has to sound full. It’s why DADGAD tuning exists.

Led Zeppelin used it constantly on the acoustic material. A lot of what sounds “modal” or “ancient” in rock guitar is just somebody letting an open string ring while the melody moves.

And in country and bluegrass, that same trick shows up as open string pull-offs mixed into scale runs, which gives you the cascading sound where notes overlap.

The point being is once you can do this you’re using a technique that carries a lot of real music.

Taking it to other strings

Once the A drone is comfortable, move it.

Drone the low E and play your melody on the D or G string, in the key of E. Drone the open D and play on the G string. Each one gives you a different distance between the drone and the melody, and they sound noticeably different.

The wider the gap between the two strings and the more it sounds like two separate instruments. The closer they are, the more it sounds like one thick voice. Both are useful, but just for different things.

You can also drone two strings. Let the open A and open D both ring while you play on the G. Now you’ve got something closer to a full chord underneath you, and it starts sounding like a proper arrangement.

Mistakes

A few mistakes include playing the drone too loud. It should sit under the melody instead of competing with it.

Another issue I see a lot is choosing notes right next to each other every time. I talk about this below, but it’s important to note here.

I also see many guitarists that let the drone die. It has to keep going. If it stops, you’re just playing single notes.

Picking a kye with no matching open string is another mistake I often notice. Try this in B flat and you’ll see the problem right away.

And finally, a lot of students tend to treat this like an exercise. It’s an arrangement technique and should be treated as such.

Recording it

A looper pedal is the obvious way to record this. Lay down the major 7 vamp, then play over it.

The advantage is you get the harmony underneath instead of the implied version, so you can hear how your melody notes sit against each chord.

But you really don’t need a pedal; the camera on your phone will work fine. Record a minute of the vamp, hit play, and solo over it. That’s how I’d tell most people to start because it’s free and you can listen back.

When you’re listening back to your recording, you’ll catch things you cannot hear while you’re playing like whether the drone is drowning the melody or whether you’re leaning on the same three notes. And sometimes you can even hear your timing drift when you make a leap.

So do this at least once and you’ll immediatley notice things you can change and fix.

One important thing to focus on

When you’re choosing notes, it’s okay to pick notes right next to each other, just don’t do it all the time.

Once you have your scale figured out, try to find some distance between them. Jump a third or a fifth, whatever.. just leave a gap.

I think you’ll find some more vocal, melodic lines living in there. Stepwise motion sounds like a scale whereas leaps sound like a tune, because that’s how people sing.