Double Stops are amazing tools for musicians. Simply a double stop is 2 notes of a chord – so for a G major chord that’d be any combination of the G, B, or D notes (remember major chords are made up of the 1, 3, and 5 of the major scale they are built on). These are typically played on neighboring strings – so the G and D, or D and A, or A and E strings – though they can skip strings too.

I break up double stops into two types – “tops” and “bottoms”. Each set has 3 different shapes per pair of strings (3 shapes for “tops” and 3 for “bottoms” making a total of 6).

I would STRONGLY recommend writing these out on a Fretboard Map as it’ll make it easier to see. These are basically just arpeggios anyway.

For reference, below is both the G Major Scale and the G Major Arpeggio.  As noted, Double Stops are essentially built from the Arpeggio of a chord.  There are more detailed diagrams under the video as well

The below video dives into this topic a little more. Enjoy – and if you have questions, feel free to Contact Me.

Fretboard Diagrams for Double Stops in G

Tops – The note on the string on the top (closest to the player) will always be closer to the nut/headstock.  Below are two different ways of looking at the same thing.

Bottoms – The note on the string on the bottom (furthers to the player) will always be closer to the nut/headstock. Take notice of the 3 main shapes here – first position has 1 open fret between the first, second has 2 frets open, and third has 3 frets open between the fretted notes.  Again, I included two different ways to look at this