Welcome to the Jungle Guitar Lesson

'Welcome to the Jungle' is the explosive first track on Guns 'n' Roses' debut album 'Appetite for Destruction'. Stick this album on and you're immediately hit with the incredible hard rock sound of a band that defined the genre. In this lesson Dion breaks the song down into the layers you would need to be able to play it at a gig. It's a big track but so much fun to play when you nail it! You're in the Jungle, baby!

Let's kick off with the video lesson wehere Dion expertly takes us through all the main elements of the song:

Tuning

Before we get into the guitar parts it's important to note that this song is a half step down on the record, also called Eb standard. So, if you want to play along to the song you'll need to retune your guitar to Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb, or, if you're lucky enough to have a digital modelling amp like Dion, you can use a pitch shifter! In this write up we will be treating the chords as if we were in standard tuning.

Intro riff and effects

We want a saturated delay sound on our guitar to get that distinctive riff in the intro. As Dion mentions, there is a specific number of repeats and delay speed on the record, but a generally saturated sound will get you in that ballpark. As always with these kinds of things, it's useful to practice with and without the effect, so you can be sure you're playing cleanly.

For the riff itself we're using B minor pentatonic in box 4. The exact notes are in the video, but it's useful to see the underlying shape which is here:

We're also applying a light palm mute which allows the delay plenty of space too!

Intro lead part

Once we've gone round the intro riff the intro solo comes in. We're still in B minor pentatonic but we've shifted up the neck into box 1. This is probably the most popular shape in rock lead guitar - here it is for your reference:

Build up

Once we've been round the intro there's a great build up into the verse riff. It's a nice open D power chord, and Dion likes to put a low A under it to thicken it up, followed by an A power chord, then palm muted downstrokes on a B power chord like this: | D5 A5 | B5 | B5 |

Main riff

This riff combines a fairly distinct rhythm on an A5 power chord and a blues rock inspired run down. There's some nice syncopation here that really lets this riff groove. Pay attention to your picking direction here to make sure you can lock in with it. Here's that rhythm pattern:

As Dion mentions in the video, it's really important to keep your picking hand moving in time with the beat so you can lock in with the rhythm. Watch how his right arm is in constant motion here.

The rest of the riff runs down the single notes G, F# and E, which, over the A chord this gives us a bit of a Mixolydian or Dorian sound. Since we're not playing the 3rd or b3rd we have some ambiguity but it does mean an A minor pentatonic scale would work well over this riff, which is exactly what Slash uses for the lead run before the vocals start. Here's a fretboard diagram showing A minor pentatonic box 1:

So, try putting the riff together and throwing that lick in at the end as Dion does in the video. It's worth trying it at a slower speed initially just to make sure you can make all the movements while keeping in time.

Verse

Once the singing starts we want to back off the guitar a bit and we do this by keeping the riff the same, but palm muting the notes. This gives a lot more space in the mix for the vocal to come through which is something we should always be considering if we're playing in a band!

For the second part of the verse, where it 'lifts', we want to keep the feel of the riff the same, just transpose it up to E. Here are the notes on the fretboard:

Chorus

The chorus is based around a chord movement from C to D to Em, and we're using some really cool scale, chromatic and riff ideas to highlight these chords. The chord progression is | C | D | Em | Em | and we have specific note choices over each chord:

Then when we're over the Em we switch to an E blues riff that echoes the verse riff, but with a heavier edge to it - genius! Here are the notes:

The chorus ends with the same E blues riff but we tie in with the drum rhythm.

So far we've got this structure to the song: intro, verse riff, verse, chorus, verse, chorus and at the end of the second chorus we jump into a B5 chord to bridge us to the first bit of lead guitar.

First solo

This solo is a great little showcase for Slash's blues inspired, high octane style. It's not pure minor pentatonic, but actually goes elsewhere giving us a really interesting vibe! First off, we need to know that we're playing over an E7 vamp which is a great platform for combining major and minor ideas.

Double stops

Double stops are where you play two notes together on the guitar, it's a really distinctive sound and Slash uses it masterfully here along with some chromatics to outline an E7 chord and then the top of Em pentatonic box 1 with the 5th from box 2. We start off a semitone below the E7 notes and slide up into them to get that chromatic, bluesy effect.

After this section we move to a really laid back lead line that uses a tone and a half bend. This is a huge bend so remember to keep your other fingers behind the string to help push. (If you've detuned to Eb this bend will be a lot easier!) Theory-wise, we're based around E major pentatonic box 4 initially then moving into box 2 of E minor pentatonic, linking the shapes with chromatic notes to give us that major minor crossover sound.

After that we're into a classic Slash descending Em blues scale covering Boxes 1, 5 and 4, throwing an extra chromatic note into shape 4.

Here are all the scale shapes we're using in this solo:

In the first half of the solo it's

And in the second half we move to

Bridge

After that first solo we go back into a verse then another chorus giving us this structure: intro, verse riff, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo 1, verse, chorus. From there we go into a bridge section where the intensity drops before another build. Here we're playing open power chords | G5 | D5 | before moving to E shape barre chords for the build up. Here we're playing | G F | G F | G F | A | with a specific rhythm. We're playing the G on the "1 + 2 + 3" then the F on the "4" and then 8th notes on the A before the build into the next lead break. Here's that rhythm written out:

Lead break

In this section we have another lead break, and Dion runs through the chord progression first then gives you some ideas on scales to use over the progression. First off, the chords are as follows:

| E | E | E | E |

| C#m | B | C#m | B | C#m | B |

| E | E | B | B | E | E | B | B | F# | F# |

Now we know the chords we need to run through the scales for each part. There are a lot coming up so hold on tight!

Over the | E | E | E | E | section Dion recommends using your E minor blues scale box 4 and box 1 which are here:

Over the | C#m | B | we move to a C# minor pentatonic scale in box 4 which is the same notes as E major pentatonic, so if you prefer to think about it that way go ahead! This is a more specific part so be sure to check out the video here. Here's the scale shape:

Then, over the | E | E | there's another cool double stop idea (Signed, Sealed, Delivered anyone?) where we have the high E note ringing out as a drone over an E mixolydian run down in the open position:

Over the | B | B | we can switch to B major pentatonic using boxes 1 & 2:

When the chords switch back to | E | E | Slash switches to E minor pentatonic box 1 with an added 6th with another really cool double stop slide lick, reminiscent of Son of a Preacher Man!

And finally, over the last | B | B |we're back to B major pentatonic boxes 1 and 5 for a descending run that leads us into the F#:

After the F# we're doing more palm mutes on a B5 to lead us into the next section…

Refrain

This section has a lot of sonic textures going on, including pick scrapes, tapping the edge of the pick on the strings etc, but there is a main chromatic riff going on too. It's all heavily palm muted and follows the rhythm of the descending intro run - how cool is that?! Here are the notes we're working with:

We then move to a power chord buildup that uses a lot of chromatic ideas to take us into the final chorus. All of these chords are rooted on the low E string, and you play one chord per beat. The chords are:

| F#5 F5 F#5 G5 | A5 G#5 A5 A#5|

Which takes us back around to the C chord for the final chorus.

Final chorus and outro

You'll be pleased to hear that we're back into a section we've already covered! The final chorus is the same as the others, and the outro is very similar to the Em blues riff from the chorus, except that we are playing power chords instead of single notes, and ending with an extra run down from A5 to G5 to E5. Then you've got to give it a big finish as Dion demonstrates in the video! If you'd like to end on the Hendrix Chord (E7#9) that's here:

We made it! As a final conclusion let's make sure we've got the structure for the song:

intro, verse riff, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo 1, verse, chorus, bridge, lead break, refrain, final chorus, outro

So there we have it! Hopefully this has helped you to assimilate this song, and give you a bigger appreciation of Slash as a player. Huge thank you to Dion for breaking down this epic song and thank you for checking out this lesson!