How to Play "Santeria" on the Guitar

Video Transcript

"JOE WILES: We're going to take a look at number 57 on the top 80 most downloaded guitar tabs on the Internet. It's "Santeria" by Sublime. Let's take a look. The introduction to the song centers around four chords. Let's learn those chords. The first one is an E power chord rooted on the A string on the 7th fret. Basically, just take your index finger, put it on the 7th fret of the A string, take your ring finger, put it on the 9th fret of the D string, and your pinky on the 9th fret of the G string, okay? That's an E power chord; it sounds like this. The next chord we'll use is a G sharp major. You're gonna--it's a barred chord. You're going to bar across the entire 4th fret with your index finger, okay? That's pretty tricky to do if you're not experienced, so be patient with it. We're going to take our middle finger, put it on the 5th fret of the G string, then we're going to take our ring finger, put it on the 6th fret of the A string, then we're going to take our pinky, put it on the 6th fret of the D string. This is G sharp major. For the third chord, a C sharp minor, we keep our finger barred on the 4th fret and just move this grouping up a string, okay? So our index finger is still barring the 4th fret, our middle finger is on the 5th fret of the B string, our ring finger is on the 6th fret of the D string, and our pinky is on the 6th fret, right below it, on the G string, okay? We strum this one from the A string down. It sounds like this. The last chord is a B major. We're going to slide that barring finger up to the 7th fret and bar across all the strings, and it's that same chord form as the other two chords. We're going to take our middle finger and put it on the 8th fret of the G string; our ring finger, put it on the 9th fret of the A string; and our pinky, put it on the 9th fret of the string right above it, on the D string. This is a B major; it sounds like this. To review those four chords, it sound like this in order. Now, practice those chord transitions because you're going to want them smoothly. In the next segment, we're going to continue with "Santeria." We're going to talk about the arpeggiated picking pattern we do with our right hand. I'll see you there."