Soloing Secrets - Carlos Santana

Here's the next episode of Soloing Secrets with Carlos Santana. I've had a number of requests to feature more of Santana's music, and aside from a Chordplay and Three-For-All episode devoted to him and his music, I figured it was finally time to really tackle his legendary soloing skills and fretboard secrets - which is exactly what this lesson is all about!
This episode features an overview of Santana's playing style and focuses on those specific areas that pop up a lot in his solos, licks, fills, and lead guitar moments overall. From a brief run-through of some of his favorite scales (including the ever-present Dorian mode/flavor) to a variety of melodic phrases/exercises that will really boost your melodic playing approaches and feel/energy. This lesson also shares an assortment of those fast three-note-per-string legato runs that Carlos employs frequently, not to mention a brief glimpse into his chord-form soloing style, and much more!
Needless to say, if you're a fan of Carlos Santana, Latin Rock, modal playing/music, intense melodicism, rhythmic excursions, and much more - this lesson is totally for you! Give this episode a view, leave some comments/feedback, and please subscribe to Late Night Lessons - THANK YOU!
Become a Patreon supporter of Late Night Lessons for only $5 (or more) each month and gain access to PDF notation/tab files of these lessons. Thank you!
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[@simonvanderheijden432]

How about a David Brewster soloing secrets? Let us see inside your own bag of tricks.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

Have you checked out any of his own music? I think the last one was called _Scalawag._ Great stuff!

[@simonvanderheijden432]

@@aylbdrmadison1051 Yes I have, hence my comment 🤘

[@voronOsphere]

I'd love it!

[@mcclendonreport]

This man is teaching. He understands the soul and methodology of Santana. One other soloing secret of Carlos Santana: he knows how to play both "wicked" AND "pretty". Most guitarists only want the wicked part. Santana knows how to be vulnerable without being sappy. This is a gift.

[@MarkBreton]

That opening jam was unbelievably good! Dang!

[@gregmize01]

Mr. Brewster been holding back on us! That intro was Badass😳

[@SteveJones379]

Beginning was BEAUTIFULLY played! 🤘

[@VALINOR24]

Santana is one of my favorites, nicely done. How about Dimebag Darrell soloing secrets? He's another favorite of mine.

[@voronOsphere]

Yes!!!!

[@marlinredden4594]

I too Luv the SANTANA sound. Great Lesson ideas to practice. Thanks for keep MY chops alive with your Lessons

[@anthonygonzalez8684]

That's an awesome lesson. Saw Santana at the Mahafey here in St. Petersburg. It's the Santana Experience. Flawless. He was the Conductor from beginning to end. Hear he is coming here with EWF at the Tampa Fairgrounds.

[@LR-oo8hq]

Congrats man your opening jam is not only a beautiful application of all you taught us during this lesson but also a genuine expression of style, shows you got some love for his music and it comes out ratter beautifully 👍🙏☺️❤️🌈

[@georgeherrera9464]

Another great lesson Brewster. Keep up the good work. 👍

[@vincenttomazzolli3940]

Once again, David, you have shown that you are the Master!!! Awesome tutorial!!!

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

That intro solo was soulful and sublime David. ^-^

[@stefanwolf888]

I saw Santana live for the first time several years ago and was surprised at his right hand picking style, very different to anything I had seen before and reminded me of a guitar tutor I had that kept trying to get me to change the way I held the pick😮

[@fredericadda]

Incredible lesson, I just learnt so much stuff! Thanks

[@ransbarger]

You're killin it David. Keep up the great work.

[@thrashassholegnar]

I was really looking forward to the release with Santana! I have a tradition of listening to his music either in the summer or in hot countries. Thanks to the author for the great video! Didn't regret subscribing a month ago :)

[@greg77hot]

Thanks Dave ... Santana rocks !

[@nicholaspeterchamian]

lots of really cool ideas in this one, you are a great teacher with great style!!

[@BillLarkinmusic]

Very melodic and well demonstrated! Thanks again David!

[@jerkerjansson386]

This is pure gold! I love Santana’s early records! (Like any reasonable person would do.)

[@Guitarisforgrins]

Really great lesson dude!

[@markcain460]

I love hard rock and metal, but my love for guitar started with Carlos. Thanks Brewster!!

[@voronOsphere]

Another treasure trove of Soloing Secrets, David!!!! Thanks!!!!

[@paulhicks3595]

Really great stuff. It’s got me thinking differently and freed up my playing. Thanks.

[@mcclendonreport]

Bottom line, I just subscribed to your channel. You've got a lot of insight, brother.

[@sixstringer3783]

There is a ton of useful ideas here 👏

[@denmar355]

Great licks! And man did he love the natural 6.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

It's because the natural (or Major) 6 of the minor root chord, is also the Major 3rd of the 4 chord. If you just play the flat third as it is in the minor scale (aeolian mode), it makes that note the minor third of the 4 chord, witch clashes horribly if the 4 chord is actually a Major chord. So that note is essential to the _Santana Secret Chord Progression._

[@fabghassem]

⚡️: ” Very well explained in details Dave🍃; you are defiantly spiritual and accurate person whom receive those vibes and share them with people…”. Rock On Brother-man…Fg ❤️‍🔥⚔️🎸⚔️⚡️

[@MistaF]

what neck pickup is in that guitar? Love the channel/insight. Thanks! oh yea, NICE playing and audio.

[@zannemack]

WOW! THANKYOU!!!

[@Rainstgun]

Thank U David!!!

[@frosty4863]

I loved this video David!! Thank you for this, was watching Santana , live in tangle wood 1970, the band was on fire. I think your vibrato is incredible. Please keep the videos coming. Have you done any on mike Bloomfield??

[@allboutthemojo]

Awesome playing as always. 👍 Does anyone know if David teaches how to play these opening riffs in his videos on Patreon in a fret tablature format?

[@larrylampshade1734]

Do Danny Kirwan pleeeeeease!

[@handijobe1076]

Third like and first comment!

[@puksb]

Awesome channel! New subscriber!! How about King Kobra, Lillian Axe or Icon? 2 80’s bands that had some excellent guitar playing that was a cut above most of the 80’s breakout bands(Cinderella, Pussycat, Britney Fox, Trixter, etc.) Some of them were successful, but were pretty much power chord bands with some very basic blues riffs - they couldn’t compete with some of the other bands’ guitar techniques.

[@markrobinson8410]

Saw Santana and jeff beck in 1995

[@davidhoward8951]

You were talking about the Blues kingfisher's from Clarksdale Mississippi that's where I'm from

[@Habilio1]

David, Stryper, come on Stryper!

[@vincenttomazzolli3940]

Hey David...is that a PRS S2 Vela you are playing? If yes, did you swap out the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan? If yes again, which model of SD is it? I ask cause that axe has killer tone! Thx.

[@johnc.mitchelljr.2716]

👍

[@bodhidharma2600]

🌞🌞🌞

[@marcoskipper1]

wow, man...why didn't you were there 40 years ago....?!?

[@jonathanhathaway7796]

I'm always so impressed with your guitar tones, just gorgeous. I'd actually like to see you make a mistake, just to know you're human, ha ha.

[@vvblues]

This is Exhibit A for all the noobs who say Carlos plays the same three licks over and over again.

[@voronOsphere]

Yes! So much variety in his playing! Advanced stuff, too!

[@cemalcakr5609]

what kind prs this guy plays anybody knows thanks

[@eyank57]

👉👍👍👍👉👍👍☝

[@caryverhalen]

For me personally, Carlos and BB king are like finger nails scraping a chalkboard. The recognition of these two is world wide too! I simply don't get it? REMEMBER it's my opinion not fact

[@DavidSchneiderIP]

?

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

I get it. I love both BB and Carlos, but don't care for Clapton, Methany (and Pat in particular is incredibly talented) and other famous players most people seem to like that are into those genres. But I love VanHalen who was heavily influenced by Clapton, and I love many jazz and fusion players that were heavily influenced by Methany. And without Clapton, VanHalen wouldn't have become the player I loved listening to so much. The same goes for many players influenced by Methany. In the end there is nothing wrong with having our own tastes (actually it's super important that people are different in these ways), as long as we don't berate others for having a different opinion. It's like how I don't like olives by themselves, but a combination pizza without them doesn't taste near as good to me. When I was a kid I didn't much care for country music, but my favorite guitarists were players like Page and Hendrix, who I later discovered were playing country guitar riffs all over the place. It wasn't all that much later that I gave country music another chance and discovered it was 70's and later country music I don't care for, but some of the older country stuff I now love like Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins and others. And I am overall a much player myself now because of that. For perspective, I'm mostly a neo-classical/prog-rock/thrash metal guitarist, but dabble in other genres here and there, and that helps make my own style a lot more unique. So, yea, while I do get it, keep your ears open still for those things you may find you like despite your current tastes. Maybe you won't find anything there, but maybe you will too. And there is always the likelyhood that it will help you find your own voice a little more. And that I bet you'd agree is a valuable thing. Anyway, I'm not saying you're doing it wrong. I truly appreciate the fact you have a different aesthetic than I do. And regardless, I hope you're having a good day/night, and have fun playing whatever it is that gives you joy! ^-^

[@douglaschristine8387]

Sounds good David but only Carlos Santana can sound like Santana. You know automatically when he plays.

[@DavidSchneiderIP]

Am7/D is a 2 5 progression, why complicate things.

[@LateNightLessons]

It's a modal progression - i-IV. I'm not complicating things - I'm EXPLAINING things.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

In the key of C Major that would be true of the D, but then the 5 would actually be G (A is the 6th of C Major). That said, many bluegrass and country players (because using minor keys was not historically common for those genres back in the day) often only consider the Major key, or Ionian mode as the tonal center. But the tonal center of a minor key is *not* it's relative Major key (just listen to them and it's obvious). In the key of A minor; it's A, B, C, D, E, F, and G and they are still numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, beginning at the root (or 1) note, A.

[@gernotboesser6901]

Oh man, too many explanations, just play the guitar, and it will be allright 🙏

[@LateNightLessons]

If you don't want explanations during a guitar lesson, then you should probably rethink your strategy for learning music. Period.

[@gernotboesser6901]

@@LateNightLessons man, I am 73 years old, what kind of strategy would you recommend ? Don't you agree, that is possibly too late therefore to get into musical theory ? There has been a great blues player, could have been B.B. King, who statet: Whatever your ears can hear, you are able to play in the end! Nice statement isn't it ?

[@metallinguist]

If all you want is the music, listen to your albums or watch KZbin clips. A teacher shares their insight with students.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

@@gernotboesser6901 : It's never too late. In the 80's I was considered one of the best metal and prog rock guitarists by many in my city. I was just a teenager then, but in my 40's I actually got much better from focusing my practice time and learning new techniques and theory. If you don't want to learn something new, there's nothing wrong with that though either. Some of the best music is very simple anyway. Regardless, if you want to learn more, you're never too old. One of my all time favorite guitarists is Andres Segovia. In particular I love his playing even more as he got older because he played with more "soul" imo. There is a video here on youtube of him playing Leyenda in an old church (in Spain I think) when he was about 92, and it's incredible. If you like flamenco or classical guitar at all, it's definitely worth checking out. Most of us here, myself included for sure, truly appreciate what David has to say about things. And for perspective, I started teaching guitar myself back in the 1980's, but am still learning from other players like David. I'm trying to think of other guitar teachers who don't talk that much, but just play, except I never find them to be at all valuable to learning and getting better. Maybe just fun to listen to. I know there are a lot of them though, so maybe you can find what you're looking for. But I've gone through a bunch of them and David is one of my two favorites. The other is actually called MusicTheoryForGuitar and he talks even more than David does, so I doubt you'd be interested. You might try someone like Paul Davids. He's a super cool guy too, but then he also talks quite a bit. If you just want to see what people are doing, you can watch anyone on youtube and click that gear icon in the bottom right of the screen to change the speed of the video without changing the tuning. Anyway, whatever you do, I hope you have fun and enjoy it. Just let us have what we enjoy too. ^-^ P.S. Just in case you ever do want to learn some music theory, it's really much simpler than most people make it out to be. I always start my students in the key of A minor. Learn the first position minor pentatonic (5th fret). Then later add the other two notes of the diatonic scale. It's literally just A, B, C, D, E, F, and G and those are equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Simple, right? Now (but *only after* you learn A minor, otherwise this can be confusing) If you then change keys, the shapes are still all the same, you just move them up or down to the correct fret. Example: moving all that you learned in A minor up 2 frets to start on B as the "root" note, you then have B, C#, D, E, F#, G, and A. Now B is the root, or the 1. B = 1, C# = 2, D = 3 and so on. But don't bother with that for now. First learn A minor on the 5th fret. Then learn A minor in all seven positions, you then automatically know the shapes of all 7 modes too. If you move those shapes up 2 frets, then you know the key of B minor, and it's 7 modes too. It's all really easy for us string players because the shapes all are the same for all 12 keys, you literally just move them. My point is, if you learn just those seven shapes, then you automatically know all 12 keys and all 7 diatonic modes in those keys, giving you a total of 84 different scales you know. And all from learning just 7 shapes. Google an _A minor scale chart_ that shows all seven scales in the key of A minor (a C Major scale chart works too, they are the exact same notes). Anyway, that's basic music theory in a nutshell. After that, everything else is far far easier to understand. Edit: BB King was correct of course. But he also understood some music theory so he could get to that point in the first place. I understand how daunting it seems at first, I still remember watching people play and not understand what was going on. Then I learned the C Major scale on the piano (witch is just all of the white keys, couldn't be any easier really) and then learned it on the guitar one string at a time at first. I then actually created scale charts of all seven positions myself. This was before I'd ever even seen a scale chart btw. But it will be far easier for you because you can just google images of scale charts for what key or mode you wish.

[@gernotboesser6901]

@@aylbdrmadison1051 @Aylbdr Madison wow, what a phantastic reply, man 🤓 . Thank you very much for your kind and useful words 🙏 . I will check the other teachers that you mentioned. David Brewster is a nice guy and a great and tasty guitarist and teacher, absolutely. It is just, that after a while I cannot follow him on his explanations anymore, but that's not his fault. Andres Segovia is a legend, there are some old, black and white footages on youtube, that I have watched. Some spanish guitar music is just great, and it is very sad, that Paco De Lucia passed away so early. You probably know Tom Bukovac (homeskoolin')) I like his playing, he is teaching without so many explanations, and there are some more. So I will keep in mind your advice about the simplicity of structure that is behind the pentatonic scales, and try my best to get it. Take care brother ✌