Deep Purple - Highway Star - Guitar Cover

Machine Head

1972 6:09

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About Highway Star

Few hard rock tracks demand as much from a guitarist as "Highway Star." The song is built around three distinct solo sections, and the guitar solo itself is a relentless run of Baroque-influenced arpeggios and scalar lines in G minor that sit at the heart of what makes this track so challenging. Ritchie Blackmore's approach here is precise and fast, so sloppy picking will expose itself immediately. Getting the arpeggio sequences under your fingers at full speed takes serious woodshedding: use the Practice Toolbar to isolate those bars and slow them down until every note speaks cleanly before you push the tempo back up. The rhythm part is equally worth studying, with a driving, locked-in riff that defines the song's momentum and gives you a great workout in tight, aggressive right-hand picking. Deep Purple recorded this on their landmark 1972 album Machine Head, and the track remains one of the most instructive pieces of hard rock guitar to work through.

• The guitar solo features rapid Baroque-style arpeggios in G minor that require clean alternate picking and strong left-hand accuracy across the entire neck.
• The main riff is a tight, aggressive unison-style figure that rewards focused right-hand picking practice before attempting the solo sections.
• Looping the arpeggio sequence slowed down in the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to build the speed and accuracy the solo demands.