The Duel
View chords used in this chart
Notes: Okay, this is not my work, but I heard someone wanted it and I had it lying around the house so I thought I'd do
someone a favour. I've taken this from the June '95 edition of "Guitar" magazine. This is the riff that Vai plays when he
has a guitar duel with actor Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid) in the film, "Crossroads".
Vai performs a series of arpeggios in a reprise of an etude by William Kanengiser (who apparently played all the classical
parts in the movie). This study in arpeggios is comprised almost entirely of notes from the A harmonic minor scale (A B C D
E F G#). The only nondiatonic series of notes would be found in measure 3, an arpeggio, which in this case functions as a
secondary dominant to the Dm in measure 4.
E| 8 12^8 |
B| 10 10 |
G| 5 9 9 5 |
D| 7 7 |
A| 7 5 |
E| 5 6 8 |
E| 7 |
B| 9 9 |
G| 7 9 9 7 |
D| 6 9 9 6 |
A| 5 7 7 5 |
E| 7 |
E| 5 |
B| 5 8 8 5 |
G| 6 6 |
D| 5 ^ 7 7 5 |
A| 7 7 |
E| 5 ^ 9 9 |
E| 10 13^10 |
B| 10 10 |
G| 7 10 10 7 |
D| 7 7 |
A| 5 6 |
E| 5 10^8 |
E| |
B| 9 12 9 |
G| 10 10 7 |
D| 9 12 9 6 |
A| 8^11 8 |
E| 7 10 7 |
E| 5 8 12 8 / | / 16
B| 5 5 10 |
G| 5 5 |
D| 7 7 |
A| 7 7 |
E| 5 8 | O
What more can I say? This is just a truly cool riff. It might be a little tough to start on if you are a beginner, but
never-the-less, would be a nice riff to learn and use as a warming up exercise.
How to play The Duel
Use the controls above to change the key and text size. Follow the highlighted chords while listening, then practice each section slowly before playing at the original tempo.
What is the starting chord?
The first identified chord is A. You can transpose without leaving the page.
Can I play it on guitar or keyboard?
Yes. The chord progression works on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and keyboard. Adapt the voicings to your instrument and level.