The lead for this song is not suitable for new beginners. By all means have a stab at it and enjoy the easier parts, but just be aware that even very experienced guitar players will struggle with this lead guitar part. It may start slow, but it doesn't take long before rocketing off into a solo and then some unusual fingertapping techniques. You'll need a 24 fret guitar for this one!
You can hear both rhythm and lead guitar parts played together in the normal speed audio (under Tools in the menu bar).
We don't expect people to learn songs like this note-for-note, and be able to play them overnight. But picking apart the bits that you like and learning how other guitarists use cool techniques in their own music will definitely help you with your own playing. Use what you learn and make it work for you in your own stuff!
For the intro, the lead guitar part is very close to Dave's rhythm guitar. But as you can hear in the ActionTab it is actually played acoustic (with slight distortion) until the drums kick in - that's when you hit the footswitch / pedal and switch to full distortion. The chords for the intro closely follow the same powerchord progression played by Dave Mustaine on the other guitar, except fuller chords (not just powerchords) are sometimes played.
However, the real challenge is when the solo begins. It starts during the alternate picking speed riff we looked at in the rhythm ActionTab.
The solo is really a series of repeating licks going up the neck (through the A harmonic minor scale). If you listen you should be able to tell how the same repetitive note sequences are played. These sequences are just shifted incrementally higher up the neck as the backing chords change. You may notice the solo has a bit of a 'middle eastern' flavor. The harmonic minor scale gives that feel (sometimes it's called the 'Mohammedan' scale).
After this first solo, hit the E5 chord and hold it. In the song, there's lots of feedback while the rhythm guitar plays on.
Next it's time for the Fingertapping part of the solo. The good news is that the tapping is easier than the previous solo, and if you've been working through the Fingertapping Core Skills you'll find this part quite straightforward. Just be aware that the fingertapping used here is quite clever and unusual....
What's happening is that the high E string is tapped on the 24th fret. But, instead of using pull offs down the same string, you use the other hand to do a hammer / pull off combination on the adjacent B string at the 5th fret. Pull off that note to get the open B. It is like tapping with both hands on 2 separate strings.
Notice that we still get a fast repeating triplet: E - E - B The two E notes are an octave apart.
When releasing the tapped high E note you will actually sound out the open E note afterwards. To avoid confusion we don't show that open E string dot. That's because this open E note is exactly the same as the adjacent E note (played by your other hand at fret 5). The trick here is to co-ordinate your fingers to play in time so that these 2 E notes sound out at exactly the same time.
Once you can master that triplet on adjacent strings, the rest of the fingertaps will come easier. Simply alter the tapped note to play out a little descending melody. This effectively alters the 1st note of each triplet, but the 2nd and 3rd notes (which are being played by your other hand) remain the same.
After tapping down that melody, comes a little note switch. Tap the E at the 12th fret. When you release this tap it will sound out the open E string. Now hammer onto the E (on the adjacent B string).
That little switch can throw you, so watch out for it. It is so very similar to the previous tapping, except this time you alter when you apply the hammer on with your fretboard hand. Now it's done on the 3rd note of each triplet, whereas before it was always the 2nd note.
This switch means we play a repeating triplet of 3 E notes (except for once where you hammer B on the G string). After that, just repeat the whole phrase again from the start until here where there is no tapping - just constant hammer / pull off combos. So, play everything here with only one hand.
Lastly, that part is followed by some normal single string tapping for the outro. If you can handle the first fingertapping part, this will be a piece of cake!
