It’s hard to imagine how many thousands of guitarists Carlos Santana has inspired and influenced over his amazing career as a musician. He plays with such ease and fluidity, always managing to create incredibly interesting musical phrases. I’ve often heard people refer to his sound as ‘exotic’ or ‘full of flavour’. 

This lesson is going to showcase five Santana inspired licks for you to learn and practice! To take your learning to the next level, we’ll provide all the theory you need to understand how Santana uses various scales to craft his wonderful sound. Use this as an opportunity to explore new sounds in your own playing as well! 

The lesson

Be sure to watch the video below to really get the most out of this lesson. Tabs will be provided below for each lick, but the video will help you replicate the feel and rhythm for each of them!

The theory

Let’s take a quick pit-stop and dive into some theory before we get to the licks. I truly believe understanding how each scale is crafted will help you get the most out of each lick, as well as being able to explore new avenues in your own playing! 

Santana’s sound is heavily based around the natural minor scale, and two slight variants of it – the harmonic minor, and the dorian mode. Though these two minor variants share six out of the seven notes from the natural minor, they create a very different flavour. Let’s take a look at the construction of each of them. 

Natural minor

The natural minor scale is what many people refer to as just the ‘minor scale’. Let’s have a look at A natural minor as an example, as it has no accidentals (the collective term for both sharps and flats). The notes within the A minor scale are A(1), B(2), C(b3), D(4), E(5), F(b6), and G(b7) – with the numbers relating to each interval. So, where do the b3, b6 and b7 come from? If we look at A major, we have the notes of A(1), B(2), C#(3), D(4), E(5), F#(6), and G#(7). Therefore, we can see that we need to flatten (lower by a semi-tone) the 3rd, 6th and 7th degree to transform the major scale into the minor. 

If the theory behind scales is new to you, be sure to swing by the Guitar Club and check our incredible course on harmony! It will help you understand how scales are crafted, how to harmonise them, and how to use them in practice! 

Harmonic minor

Now that we know the notes and intervals that make the minor scale, we can take a look at the one change needed to transform it into the harmonic minor! The single difference between the two scales is that we’re replacing the G – the b7 degree – with a G# – the major 7 degree. You’d expect the major 7 to make it sound brighter and happier, but it actually makes the scale sound darker, as there is a large amount of tension between the b6 and 7. 

Dorian mode

Modes are often shrouded in a bit of mystery, as they can often be presented as a whole new paradigm music theory and knowledge. However, they’re a lot more simple than you might think! The dorian mode, for example, is just the natural minor scale with a raised 6th interval – we just need to change the F(b6) natural into an F#(6). Unlike the harmonic minor, the dorian mode gives a slight flavour of major to the minor scale, which Santana uses frequently! 

Dorian is just one fantastic example of how modes can be used to take your playing to new levels! Learn everything you need to know about the dorian mode in this free lesson, or get a full understanding of the modes from our in depth course!

The licks

With the theory out of the way, let’s take a look at what you’ve come here for – the five Santana inspired licks! Referring to the video will be the best way to really nail these licks, but I’ll provide a short description for each one as we go along! 

Lick 1

This first lick is an excellent example of how changing the F(b6) from the natural minor scale to the F#(6) of the dorian mode can have a huge impact on the overall feel. In this case, we’re using the F natural as an embellishment or passing note. 

Lick 2

Here’s another example of how using the dorian mode ‘lifts’ the feel of the track. We’re using the same concept of using the F as a passing note to get to the F# of the dorian mode – just in a different position of the fretboard. 

Lick 3

You could argue that this third lick is in either the natural minor, or the dorian mode. Why? Because we’re not playing any form of the 6th degree, without harmonic context, it’s impossible to discern between the two. It’s safe to assume that we’re in the dorian mode with Santana’s playing, but experiment dropping in both the F natural and F# to see which flavour you prefer! 

Lick 4

Now that we’ve seen a handful of examples of the dorian mode, let’s see how we can make use of the harmonic minor! Remember, the only difference between the natural minor and the harmonic minor is the major, or natural 7th degree. Experiment by making this small adjustment in your own licks to see what you can come up with! 

Lick 5

Though the dorian mode and harmonic minor are fantastic scales to change the dynamic of a lick, or an entire track, we can’t forget the beautiful sound of the natural minor! The challenge in this final lick is not in the theory, rather in the speed and ferocity in the playing to emulate Santana’s passionate playing! 

I hope you find lots of value in both the licks and the theory behind them! Remember to always reflect on any new material you learn and ask yourself – “how can I use this in my own playing and style?”. If you ever need guidance with your guitar-playing journey, the Guitar Club has you covered every step of the way! Don’t just take my word for it, sign-up for free for 7-days and explore everything we have to offer! If you enjoyed this lesson though, you might love our courses on how to learn licks and improvisation. I very much look forward to seeing some of you there soon – happy practicing! 😃🤘

Learning how to play guitar in the early stages can often feel intimidating and overwhelming – there’s just too much information, and our pesky little fingers never seem to move fast enough! But, I can safely assure you that over the course of the first handful of months of learning guitar, you’ll have enough skill and information needed to play along with your favourite tracks! 

Open chords are an essential part of most beginners’ journey into the world of guitar, and for good reason – they help unlock the doors to many tracks without having to learn all the more fiddly techniques. On top of that, you only need a handful of open chords to access a large catalogue of music. With that said, I’m going to show you how to play 5 iconic songs that make use of only 5 open chords! 

Video

Check out the video below to see a detailed breakdown of how each song is played. This will include what chords are needed, the capo placement, and the strumming patterns for each track. I recommend watching through the video to see which track is your favourite, and start from there! 

Remember to download the Guitar Pro tabs for each track!

The Chords

There’s a good chance that most of, if not, all of the chords in the video are already familiar to you – which is great! There are, however, a few variations of how to play each chord. So, to make sure that we’re on the same page, the exact chord shapes that we’ll be using will be attached below. 

Just in case, the ‘m’ after the chord name means that it is a minor chord. If there is no ‘m’, it means that it is a major chord. The full names of the chords we’ll be using are: C major, G major, D major, A minor and E minor. 

If you’re struggling with these chords, or if open chords are completely new to you, be sure to check out our Electric Beginners and Acoustic Beginners courses – they’re full of all the information you’ll need to jump straight into playing along to your favourite songs! 

Let’s get to some playing! The video covers all the details of each of the tracks, so please keep referring to it throughout this lesson. The write-up will focus on the strumming patterns and one important chord progression of each track. 

Hallelujah’s Magic: Just 4 Chords

Originally written by Leonard Cohen, this beautiful and timeless track has inspired many to create their own version of it – most famously, Jeff Buckley. The four different chords we’ll need for this one are G, Em, C and D. You’ll need to place our capo on the 5th fret if you want to be able to play along to Jeff Buckley’s version. Something to keep in mind here is that though we’re playing a G major shape, the sound of the chord is a C major – this is the power of the capo! Have a look at the chord progression and strumming pattern attached below: 

The keen-eyed players might have noticed that the strumming pattern was broken in 6 beats, rather than a more typical 4 beat bar. This is because the track is in the time signature of 6/8, creating a slightly different feel to 2/4. The best way to imagine and count 6/8 is to turn each beat of a bar of 2/4 into a triplet (1 beat broken into 3 evenly spaced notes). 

“Struggling to count 6/8 or triplets? Try this! The syllables in the word ‘pineapple’ are perfectly broken into triplets: pi-na-ple. So, you’ll want to replace each beat of a bar of 2/4 into ‘pineapple’!”

From Dylan to Guns N’ Roses: Play Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door with Basic Guitar Chords

Another track that’s so iconic that it’s been covered by many prolific bands since Bob Dylan first released it in 1991. It just goes to show how much beauty there can be in simplicity! All we need are four chords – G, D, Am and C – to be able to play along to the whole song, as it’s the same progression looped for the entire track! We don’t even need a capo for this one! 

We’re going to be playing a strumming pattern broken into 16th notes with plenty of space to achieve the calm and relaxed mood of the song. If you haven’t yet come across 16th note rhythms, give our Beginners Rhythm a try, and you’ll be a master in no time! Both the chord progression and strumming pattern are attached below for you to play along to.

Save Tonight – Your First 90s Guitar Classic

Eagle-Eye Cherry – maybe not a name known by everyone, but, put Save Tonight on the speakers, and most people won’t be able to help but sing along! This track also makes use of a 16th note strumming pattern, but it’s quite a bit more up-tempo than Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – so be ready to get your strumming arm warmed up!

Pick that capo back up as well, as we’re going to need to place it on the 5th fret again to make sure we’re playing along in the right key. Follow the diagrams below to play along in no time! 

The Beatles’ Let it Be: A Perfect Open Chord Starter

I’m sure you were all waiting to see a track by The Beatles on this list… Let It Be is yet another absolutely timeless track that has inspired countless musicians and non-musicians alike with its words of wisdom and soothing composition. Keep your capo on the 5th fret, and get ready to be lost in the chord progression, as it nicely loops throughout the entire track. A piano plays the chords in the recording, so there is a bit of flexibility in terms of strumming patterns. However, I’ve attached a strumming pattern below which I believe fits the track best. 

“Just to avoid any confusion with the loop – the intro uses the first line of the progression once. The loop starts from the beginning once the vocals kick in!”

Say Something (ft. Chris Stapleton)

And finally, we’re going to take a look at something a bit more recent – a hit by Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton! This upbeat track loops the same four chords throughout with a fun 16th note strumming pattern. You’ll want to put your capo on the 3rd fret if you wanted to play along with the track! Dig in a bit with your strumming to really get the percussive and confident tone! As always, check below for the strumming pattern and chord chart.

Learn more!

Got these five incredible tracks nailed already and want to learn more? Or maybe you’re ready to tackle some more chords and complex songs! Head on over to the Guitar Club and sign-up for a free trial to take your playing to the next level! And don’t worry if you’re feeling like there’s an information overload – we offer a dedicated pathway to each member to focus on the goals you want to achieve. 

P.S. We also have an amazing Youtube channel with hundreds of lessons covering songs, technique and theory. If you liked the tracks on this list, I have a feeling you’ll be a fan of our lesson of the fantastic track, Fast Car – see you there!