BARS 28:

A fun little trick for creating Whammy-type effects on a stoptail guitar. Slide down the g string with your right hand, while hammering and pulling off with your left hand. Try to stay about 2 frets above the right hand with the left, but don’t worry too much about being entirely accurate with this one.

BARS 29-36:

Switch your overdrive pedal off and your chorus on for some sombre BLS-inspired balladry. The chord changes can be a little tricky and require some tidy left-hand fingering. Get right up on the tips of your fingers to make sure everything rings out as it should.

BARS 37-41:

Soaring melodic leads are a big part of Zakk’s repertoire, and that’s the vibe we’re going for in the second solo. Be sure not to overcook the right hand with this one - a gentler touch will let the notes bloom an sing. These slower passages also give plenty of time to use the right-hand thumb and fingers to mute adjacent strings when using super wide vibrato.

BARS 42-44:

Ramping up the drama with some Schenker/Moore inspired blues lines. You can pick the faster notes pretty hard, but ease up on the sustained notes to let the vibrato sing. The faster passage in bars 43-44 can actually benefit from being a little scrappy - too tidy, and there’s no sense of danger. Be aggressive, and consider the lick in the transcription a “guideline” rather than an absolute instruction.

BARS 45-48:

Howling bends in the vein of fellow Les Paul slinger John Sykes, be quick on the way up and slow on the way down, with the most intense wailing vibrato you can muster. Kossoff would be proud!

BARS 49-50:

We’re firmly back in Ozzy territory with this No More Tears inspired passage. In stark contrast to bar 44, this has to be perfectly clean and in time to achieve the desired effect. Get your downward pickslanting happening, and consider a little gentle palm muting on the d string notes for added tightness.

BARS 51-21:

We’re making use of the four-note mechanic from bars 25-26 to create some dramatic arpeggio furries at the climax of this second solo. The bend at the end should be short and fast so that you can get back into the riff as quickly as possible.

BARS 53-59:

The same riff that we opened with get those legs spread wide, and if you’ve got the hair for it, bang that head! Or use this time to catch your breath - things are about to get a bit shreddy!

BAR 60:

The third solo is inspired by Zakk’s more recent work with BLS. When he’s not behaving himself with Ozzy, Zakk’s playing can be downright vulgar! Stomp on your wah to really set things off.

This is also where we start to see Zakk’s swiping mechanic in action. This section is still downward pickslanting all the way, but the outside string changes on the a-to-d strings and d-to-g strings are accomplished by simply battering through the muted higher string on the downstroke. If you keep your pick grip relaxed but apply plenty of force from the elbow, it should sound completely clean! These changes are marked with an (x) on the tab.

BAR 61:

More swiping here, including some tricky two-string swipes. Make the upstrokes on the higher strings your focus, and keep the grip loose. Although this is an example of Zakk’s Al Di Meola in-fluence, Al would achieve this same line very differently. If you can’t make the swiping work for you, you can still carry this lick off using two-way pickslanting like Al would.

BARS 62-64:

A monstrous flurry of alternate picked notes, don’t worry if things get a little garbled at times - it only adds to the excitement. Some notes are doubled up to facilitate the picking more easily, and there are swipes galore! We’re not trying to be John Petrucci here - keep it intense, and consider the tab a “guideline”.

BARS 65-66:

Some intense “chicken-pickin'” around a nasty sounding flat 5 note. Don’t sweat the exact timing here - just go as fast as you can manage, and make sure you get that double stop idea in on beat 2 of bar 66 to bring the whole thing back into step. Use the ring and middle fingers on tour right hand and roll your left-hand pinky finger to execute the country style pedal steel lick, pre-bending the g string note as you do.

BARS 67-68:

Just when you thought things had gone completely off the deep end, we bring everything back home with something bluesy! Zakk has a tenancy to finish his solos with more “tasteful” ideas like this, and that’s something we can all learn from. Grab the b string as you re-pick the last bend, and over-bend like crazy!

BARS 69-75:

Home stretch now, and I’m not ashamed to say that this fourth solo was inspired by Zakk’s work on the Rock Star soundtrack! Give the lower string on the unison bends and some heavy vibrato, but don’t worry about going as far as a tone - just enough to make them “crackle”. The lick in bar 74 is best thought of as “trilling and tremolo picking at the same time”, and is a John Sykes main-stay. Move both hands as fast as you can and concentrate on the downbeats - things have a habit of syncing up nicely if you do.

BARS 76-84:

We couldn’t look at Zakk’s playing without exploring his country and southern rock influences, and this final solo is inspired by some of his best-loved playing with Pride & Glory, with nods to Ozzy mega-ballad Mama I’m Comin’ Home. Keep things strictly in time, and back the intensity down just a little.

The pedal steel bend that kicks things off is the same as the one found in bar 66, but slower and more stately, and in a major key. The remainder of the solo blurs the line between major and minor pentatonic scales that hints at Zakk’s Skynyrd influence. Tasty stuff, and a nice way to end this intense tech session!