This month, we’ll continue our examination of methods for improvising melodic solos that incorporate a self-accompanying open drone string. Our approach thus far has entailed using an open string as a root-note drone, providing the tonic—the home-key note, or the “one”—as a harmonic reference point. We’ll now look at using the open A string as the root-note drone, with melodic passages based on the A Mixolydian mode (A B C# D E F# G).
Bear in mind, however, that an open-string drone does not always have to be the root; using another interval, such as the fifth, minor third, fourth or second will provide a variety of sounds, moods and impressions when incorporated into improvised solos, and I encourage you to experiment with these approaches as well.
Let’s first review all of the positions of A Mixolydian moving up the fretboard, starting in first position and progressing through eight different positions, culminating in 12th position with a replication of the first-position form one octave higher.
FIGURE 1 illustrates A Mixolydian in first, or “open,” position, so named for the inclusion of open strings. Notice that we start on the open low E string, the fifth of A. As we progress through each higher position, we will start with the next succeeding scale degree. For example, FIGURE 2 illustrates A Mixolydian in second position, so our starting point is now F#, the major sixth of A, one whole step higher than the open low E note. FIGURE 3 represents A Mixolydian in third position and starts on G, the dominant seventh; FIGURE 4 begins on A, the root note; FIGURE 5 starts on B, the major second, FIGURE 6 starts on C#, the major third; FIGURE 7 begins