Sliding runs down

This technique has been popularized by guitarist Steve Vai. You’ll hear it all over his playing particularly on the fast runs down. Basically he crosses over his finger with a slide (shown as an ‘s’ in our tab). We use the index {i} on the 12 fret, the ring {r} (3rd)finger on the 14th and the pinkie {p} on the 16th to start off this lick – and we keep this finger configuration going down the scale. The slide happens on the 3rd finger of this lick each time.

Difficult technique when played fast. Listen to Steve on Shy Boy, or Elephant Gun both Dave Lee Roth tracks.