How to fret one-string solos?

Hi folks! I'm a new guitarist and lately I have been struggling to play Slim Pickens by The Offspring because the solo happens entirely in one string, like this:[br][br]E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]G|-7--7-5-7--7-9-10--10-12-9-9/109-7-5-7--5-7-9/109-7-5-7------|[br]D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]A|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br]E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|[br][br]I try to maintain the one finger per fret rule, but since this solo is all over the place I keep wasting time having to rearrange my hand's position to be able to reach the frets and it just doesn't feel right. Which technique do you need to develop to improve at this?

Hello Bruno!

One finger per fret wouldn't apply to this. Also, I'd be suspicious of this originally being done on one string. It's inefficient, and not sure why the guitarist would have done it. On the studio recording I hear some additional slides up to the lower notes that lead me to believe it wasn't on one string.

I would change it to 5 and 7 on G string and 5, 6, 8 on B string.

If you really needed to keep it on one string, you'd switch between two different overall hand positions. Here's how I would break it up.

First hand position: frets 5 and 7 with index and ring.

Second hand position: frets 9, 10, and 12 with ring, then also sliding from 7-9 with index.

It's a hassle, and it's a lot of ring finger. It can be done, it's just not natural.

BUT: in this live video, he plays it all with one finger (middle):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lvM30oTm3Y

That's a ton of sliding, very easy to miss the notes (he misses a lot in that video), and you *could* think of it as a good sliding workout.

-Carl.

Thanks a lot Carl! I thought the tab was wrong at first but from the video you shared it looks like it was just meant to be a pro trick. I tried your variation and it's much easier for me. Thanks again :)