Deep Purple Organ Solo - Highway Star - Guitar Tab

About Highway Star

Few tracks from 1972 put a guitarist under as much pressure as "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. Running at a relentless 160 BPM in E Standard tuning, it demands stamina from the first bar to the last. The song sits in D minor, and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar solo is the centrepiece to master: it follows a strict, scalar pattern rooted in classical-influenced D minor runs, so clean fretting and accurate picking hand synchronisation matter enormously. The solo is fast enough that most players will want to break it into short phrases and use the Practice Toolbar to loop each one slowed down before stitching them together at full tempo. Rhythm playing is equally demanding, with aggressive downpicking driving the main riff at a pace that will tire your pick hand quickly. Beyond the solo, focus on keeping your fretting hand relaxed throughout, because tension is what causes accuracy to fall apart at this tempo. Hard Rock does not get much more technically demanding than this.

• The guitar solo uses rapid scalar runs in D minor with a strong classical influence, requiring tight left and right hand synchronisation at 160 BPM.
• E Standard tuning is used throughout, so no retuning is needed, but the main riff relies on heavy downpicking that will fatigue your pick hand quickly.
• Looping short two or four bar phrases of the solo slowed down in the Practice Toolbar is the most effective way to build up the speed accurately.