This
is one of my all time favourite riffs from one
of my all time favourite guitarists!
A
note of caution: This song will get suck in your
head for hours!
In the tab below I’ve transcribed the riff
the first time it is played. Carlos Santana varies
his playing a great deal and never seems to play
the same thing twice, so use it as a general outline
and play around with the note length etc. One
of Santana’s main traits is the way he holds
notes for longer than their natural length
and then play the next few notes a bit quicker
to make up for it.
(Apologies for
the poor quality – this was filmed a long
time ago on a camera phone!)
This riff is loosely based around the pentatonic
scale, but Santana loves to throw in extra notes,
for example the sixth note in the riff.
The riff is played in two positions: the 12th
fret and the 5th fret. The first half is fairly
straightforward, as long as you are competent
at bending and vibrato. The first part of the
second half can be a bit tricky, due to the large
bend from the 7th fret. Use your second finger
here and support it with your first, to give it
some extra strength. Using the standard one-finger-per-fret
technique works very well here, which means that
you have to use your pinkie, so make sure you’re
not being lazy by only playing with three fingers.
Add lots of vibrato to help hold those long notes.
Like
I said before, Santana never plays the same thing
twice, so there’s no need for you to learn
his stuff exactly. To do so would be nearly impossible
due to the sheer amount you would have to remember!
So take a lesson from the master himself –
learn the basics and then just play what you feel!
