Basic Double Stops

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.

Basic Shapes

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).

Fretboard Maps

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

Wrap Up

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