String Skipping Technique

String Skipping Technique

One of the more challenging techniques on the guitar is the string skipping technique. String skipping means “skipping strings” (yeah, that easy). Thus, you play on 2 strings (not simultaneously), but skip the middle string.

Example 1 — String Skipping

For our first example, let’s take a look at a guitar solo section from a song by my band Atomic Symphony.

PDF and Guitar Pro of that Solo for Download

So that we can understand these notes or tabs a bit better, I have written down the most important things here:

The first symbol marked with the green arrow is called a downstroke. Here, the string is picked from top to bottom. It is very important that you have good technique for stuff you need to play very quickly. If you have incorrect technique, such as using only downstrokes (which is by the way a common mistake among beginners), it might work fine for the moment. However, later on, when you need to play faster, you’ll quickly reach your speed limit.

The symbol of the red arrow shows you the upstrokes. So, from bottom to top.

With the blue arrow (when neither of the symbols is above the tabs), it’s either hammer-ons or pull-offs.

To play it exactly like this, you should first memorize everything. Then, play through everything at about 50% speed and gradually increase speed.

Example 2 — String Skipping and Tapping

Secondly, let’s take a look at a line that packs a punch! :)

PDF and Guitar Pro of that Solo for Download

Here, in addition to string skipping, we also have legato and tapping, which make things a bit more challenging. The same symbols as before apply here, such as downstrokes, upstrokes, etc.

Adding to this, we now have tapping. However, we won’t delve into this technique here. You can still try to play it, of course.

Try out the technique and attempt to integrate it into your improvisation. Through string skipping, you can also play a simple rhythm (e.g., all eighth notes) and still create a melodic rhythm.