octaves

well, i know it's spelled octaves. that might help your searching. i don't know any good sites for it. what do you mean, though? just power chords without the fifth, or octave jumps during soloing?

Or do you mean like Wes Montgommery, playing notes an octave apart to give it some oomph?

YES, Just Like good old Wes, And SRV 8) 8)

This isn't too hard to learn. If you're playing off the 5th and 6th string, count over two frets and skip a string.

So, the octave of F, for example is
x
x
x
3
x
1

Or the octave of C:

x
x
5
x
3
x

If you're playing off the 4th or third string, count over three frets.

The octave E playing off the third string:

x
5
x
2
x
x

Or the octave of A playing off the 4th string:

5
x
2
x
x
x

The trick is to mute the skipped string by allowing the finger fretting the lower note to rest lightly against it.

Here's a mini-lesson: Octaves technique. Probably the place you've heard octaves used the most is in the first couple of bars to "Purple Haze".

Hope that helps!

Thanks all :D :D I pretty much have the basics to this down, but am looking to gain some insights to more advanced technique. I was listening to some SRV and wes montgomery and thay just knocked me out with what they were doing 8) 8) this seems like a very versitile technique, even Heavy metal players use it :D :D Thanks, the dog

I use my index and pinky finger to play octaves. The easiest way to learn is experimentation - just keep hacking away at it and you will discover patterns that work and others that don't...

Tender Surender by Steve Vai (I seem to be mentioning that song a lot lately :? lol) has some good use of octaves and a little bit of breaking up chords Little Wing style.

Oh and if you wanna hear something very abstract with octaves listen to Faires Wear Boots by Black Sabbath, its in the intro.

I've seen a video called something like The Guitar Style of Wes Montgomery that covers his octave style in loads of detail. Might be worth a look if you can track it down.