Arts & Entertainment, Music

Going Inside the Note

Lesson time 15:08 min

The key to accessing a listener’s heart through your music is to “go inside the note.” Carlos teaches you how to put everything you have into everything you play.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Mind: Get Into Character • Body: Play With Your Whole Body • Soul: Bend to Make Them Weep • Heart: The Comfort of Vibrato • Vitals: The Sacred Is the Sexual

Carlos Santana

Teaches the Art and Soul of Guitar

Carlos Santana teaches you how he creates a distinct, soulful guitar sound that moves the hearts of audiences.

Preview

How do you get inside the note? Because once you get inside the note, you're going to get inside people's hearts. If you don't know how to get inside the note, you are not going to get inside people's hearts and you're not going to get their attention. They'll walk away. This is outside the note. [GUITAR PLAYING] This is inside the note. [GUITAR PLAYING] You know? One note. Soul, heart, mind, body, and your vitals. One note. That is the most important ingredient for musicians to have-- how to implement those five elements into one note. You know, I hear it in Charlie Parker. I hear it in Stevie Ray Vaughn. Jaco Pastorius. I can tell you who in one note has all those elements going each time. That makes it very, very timeless and very essential to being alive and living and being elevated. [GUITAR PLAYING] It's important that a person learns like an actor to get into character. You know, like when you see sometimes, Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, sometimes when they're in a specific TV show and if they're not into character, they almost look like they're lost or bland or something. But when Robert De Niro is into character, and he's a bad gangster dude, he went into character. And now he's that person. Same thing with Al Pacino. And the same thing with musicians. You have to go into character. Otherwise, you sound like, with all respect, like Don Knotts. It could be funny if you want to be a comedian. But that has no place on stage. On stage next to BB King or Buddy Guy or Albert King, you got to be serious. [GUITAR PLAYING] Always stand like you're going to do something. I mean, don't be shy about it. And don't be weird about it. But the way you stand really says that you're going to like take care of business, you know. Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray, John Lee Hooker-- they always stood. Their stand says a lot about that note. That note is going to come from here, here, here, here. And it's not just that, you know. So the way you stand is like-- [GUITAR PLAYING] If you don't stand like that, it ain't going to sound like that. [GUITAR PLAYING] Bending is like putting one knee on the ground, and not necessarily begging, just imploring. [GUITAR PLAYING] Now, when you play it like this-- [GUITAR PLAYING] Those notes are like when you're crying and boogers are coming out of you, and you're slobbering. And I mean, some people, when they sob, you really have to let it go. And once you sob like that, it's like a cleansing. But it doesn't necessarily have to be pretty. But it's like you're sobbing in such a way that boogers are coming out of you and you're drooling and you're like-- And so that's why I like-- [GUITAR PLAYING] That's what I learned from Otis Rush. I'll show you something. It goes like-- [GUITAR PLAYING] And this is dynamics, like-- [GUITAR PLAYING] You know, the contrast. And you're like, damn. I feel like crying and I don...

About the Instructor

With 10 Grammys and almost 50 years on stage, Carlos Santana teaches you how to play guitar in his spiritual style. Learn how he weaves emotion, artistic expression, and musical genres from across the world to create a sound that transcends classifications and connects with audiences. Join Carlos in his studio as he breaks down his process note by note—so you can discover the soul of your sound.

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Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana teaches you how he creates a distinct, soulful guitar sound that moves the hearts of audiences.

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