Creator Area
Sign in Creator Area

Practice Studio

Saxon - Princess Of The Night - Guitar Solo Tab

Sections · Loop · Speed · Metronome

Not in tune?

Select a Loop

Start of your loop
End of your loop

Speed Control

Speed
100%

Tools

BPM
Key E minor
Saxon - Princess Of The Night guitar tab video
Steph Le Gratteux
Steph Le Gratteux Top Contributor
YouTube: 63Ksubs 2.8Kviews
Creator Page →
PLAY WITH BACKING TRACK
·
–50¢ 0 +50¢
· Tap to start

Your browser will ask for microphone permission.

Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Denim and Leather album cover
Denim and Leather
1981 4:02
Listen on Spotify
Saxon Heavy Metal 1981 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Princess Of The Night

Few tracks from the early Heavy Metal era open with a riff as immediately recognisable as the one that kicks off "Princess Of The Night." Built around E minor in standard tuning at 120 BPM, the song sits in a comfortable mid-tempo pocket that can fool you into underestimating how tight your picking needs to be. The main riff relies on heavy downstrokes with palm muting, so keeping that mute consistent under the drive is the real challenge here. Saxon keep the arrangement guitar-forward throughout, meaning every transition between the verse riff and the chorus is exposed and needs to be clean. The twin-guitar harmony lead section in the latter half of the track is worth breaking apart carefully: use the Practice Toolbar to loop it slowed down and work out each voice separately before trying to combine them. Getting the phrasing to sit behind the beat slightly gives the riff its heavy, rolling feel.

  • The main riff uses palm-muted downstrokes in E minor, so consistent right-hand muting pressure is the key technique to nail first.
  • A twin-guitar harmony lead section appears later in the track and rewards slow, isolated practice on each guitar part before combining them.
  • At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the mid-tempo feel is deceptively demanding for keeping rhythm playing tight and even throughout.

How to Play Princess Of The Night

The song moves through: Intro, Full speed, Half speed.

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Saxon paired Stratocasters with Les Pauls to access brighter, snappier tones for specific rhythm passages, though the Les Paul remained their primary choice. The Strat's lighter voice provided textural contrast without sacrificing the power and sustain needed for their heavy riff-based approach.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Paul Quinn's primary weapon, the Les Paul Standard delivers the thick, warm fundamental and natural sustain that defines Saxon's power chord-driven riffs. Stock Gibson humbuckers paired with cranked Marshall tubes created their signature compressed, articulate tone without need for modification.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom offered similar tonal characteristics to Quinn's Standard model, with slightly enhanced sustain and output for added punch in live settings. Its premium construction maintained the warm, natural compression essential to Saxon's tube-amp-driven heavy metal sound.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

The JCM800 pushed at full volume created Saxon's thick, slightly compressed tone with midrange emphasis that cuts through dense rhythm sections. Running single-channel with no switching forced Quinn to control breakup purely through playing dynamics and natural power-tube saturation.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Quinn deployed the Cry Baby wah sparingly for specific solos, maintaining Saxon's minimalist approach to effects and avoiding pedal-dependent tones. The wah's natural sweep complemented his hand-dynamics playing style without compromising the raw, amp-driven character of their sound.

Recommended for You

Play with Backing Track

Play with Backing Track

Solo (Backing Track)

Solo (Backing Track)