Guitar Octaves: Using Octaves in Your Guitar Solos

The octave is one of the simplest intervals on guitar, and one of the most powerful in a solo. Jazzers like Wes Montgomery built entire careers around it. George Benson took it further. Hendrix used it all over the place. And it works just as well with distortion as it does clean. This technique is part of our guitar solo lessons series.

The Basic Octave Shape

An octave is the same note played at two different pitches. On the 6th and 5th strings, the shape is simple: fret a note with your first finger, then go two strings up and two frets higher with your pinky (or ring finger). So B on the 6th string, 7th fret — your octave is on the 4th string, 9th fret.

The trick is muting the string in between. Lay your first finger flat enough to lightly touch the 5th string so it doesn’t ring out. That way you can strum aggressively through all three strings and only the two octave notes sound. You can also hybrid pick — use your pick on the low note and a finger on the high note.

Moving Octaves Through a Scale

Colin walks through the B pentatonic minor and B diatonic minor scales using octave shapes. Like the drone note solo trick, this technique creates the illusion of two guitars playing at once. Instead of playing single notes, every note in the scale becomes a two-note octave pair. You follow the scale roots on the 6th string (B, C#, D, E, F#, G) and the octave follows along on the 4th string.

When you cross from the 4th string to the 3rd string pair, the shape changes — you have to compensate for the guitar’s tuning by shifting the upper note one fret higher. The interval stays the same, but the physical shape on the fretboard is different. Colin shows both fingerings so you can move smoothly through the full range.

Combining Pentatonic and Diatonic

The pentatonic gives you five notes per octave. The diatonic gives you seven. Combining octaves with triads in your solos opens up even more harmonic possibilities. Colin shows how to mix both — start with the pentatonic framework for the main melody, then fill in diatonic passing tones when you want more movement. The octave shape makes both scales sound fuller because you’re doubling every note.

Call and Response with Octaves

Colin shows that you can use octaves to create call-and-response phrases within a solo. Play a lick in one octave, then immediately repeat it an octave higher — the second statement sounds like an answer to the first. This technique works with any phrase you already know. Take one of your go-to pentatonic licks, play it in the lower octave, then shift it up. The repetition with variation keeps the listener engaged and gives your solo a conversational quality that pure scale runs cannot achieve.

The muting technique for octaves is worth practicing on its own. Wes Montgomery, who popularized octave playing in jazz, had impeccable muting — every note between the two octave notes was completely silent. Use your fretting finger to lightly touch the strings in between, and keep your picking hand relaxed so you can strum through the strings without the dead notes ringing out. Clean octaves at a slow tempo sound far better than sloppy octaves at speed.

Applying It

You can strum the octaves, slide into them, slur between them, or pick them individually. Each approach sounds different. Strumming gives you that classic Wes Montgomery warmth. Picking is cleaner and more precise. Sliding between octave shapes adds a vocal quality to your lines.

And for the rock players — add some distortion. Octaves with drive sound massive. You just need to make sure your muting is tight so the in-between string doesn’t feed back.