Sister Christian Guitar Lesson – Night Ranger

In this Sister Christian guitar lesson video series, I will show you note-for-note how to play all the chords and the solo for the massive hit "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger as played by Brad Gillis.

The chords are very simple and occur mostly just during the chorus sections. Brad Gillis adds some fills to the second chorus and they help it move along quite well. In the second video lesson I will demonstrate the guitar solo note-for-note.

This guitar solo has always been one of my personal favorites of the 80's. It is just so unique both in how it is technically played on the guitar as well as it's unorthodox but very moving melodies.

Brad Gillis has always used the whammy bar liberally in his solos, but his solo for "Sister Christian" is a high watermark not only for his career, but for any player who plays in that style.

The solo starts with some pinch harmonics that are continually manipulated by the whammy bar. Brad Gillis literally hits a note and uses the whammy bar to play the melody. You will obviously need a guitar whose trem system is set up to not only lower the pitch, but also raise the pitch by at least 3 half steps as well.

If you don't have a whammy bar on your guitar you can also try to recreate the sound of it the best you can with with bends or slides.

After that initially opening he starts to move around the fretboard with a couple melodic hammer-on licks.

We then launch into a really cool series of licks using slow bends and tapping to recreate an extremely musical sequence that is then closed out with a rapid ascending pentatonic basic lick.

This solo is perfect for those wanting to learn how to use modern guitar techniques to create a very moving and emotional musical statement. Enjoy!

Carl....

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Sister Christian Guitar Lesson - Chords/Rhythms

Sister Christian Guitar Lesson - Solo