Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Tuning: E A D G B E (Standard)

Who didn't love crusin' around in GTA San Andreas listening to this song and whomping people with baseball bats and ramming pedestrians with a motor bike? Lots of good times. I always loved this song and had an epiphany recently... "Learn that song Chris and put that shiz on YouTube!" And now I share it with you delightful Ultimate Guitar shredders.

This solo is pretty mostly made up of simple pentatonic licks played quickly, so there's nothing to be too scared of. As usual we'll break the solo down into problematic sections and I'll leave a link to the tab and YouTube lesson at the bottom of the article.

Section 1 Tips

The first half of this solo works with 2 box shapes of the B minor pentatonic. I think of it as the 5th shape working into the first. Let's take a look at both scales back to back. (See diagrams below)

I know they might seem like rudimentary or basic shapes but I think it's good to get the context of what the licks are built from. Let's take a look at the lick from the solo now. (See excerpt below)

As you can see there's a lot of legato and sliding in this lick. These techniques are crucial to give the lick speed (without shredding) and the cool blues rock flavour. Pay close attention to their placement and phrasing before the expressive and sexy bends. You can also use slides to join multiple different box shapes of pentatonic scales, diatonic scales or even different branches of arpeggios in your own playing.

Section 2 Tips

This section is pretty easy. Firstly let's get acquainted with the 4th box shape of the minor pentatonic in B minor. (See diagram below)

If you're well versed in the 5 pentatonic shapes, the scale above should look nice and familiar. Let's take a look at the excerpt from the song that we use this scale shape. (See excerpt below)

We're only using the first 3 strings (1e, 2b and 3g) in this section but it's probably good to see the scale as a whole first. Use your ring/3rd finger on the 17th fret bends and get some help from and other fingers that want to help with the full tone push. You will need your pinky to hit the 17th fret on the first sting whilst the bend is still being sustained. This takes a bit of strength and control but is a great rock move to add to your arsenal once it's been mastered!

Hope you guys have enjoyed that! Happy shredding!

By Chris Zoupa