How To Play Ventura Highway, by America

Ventura Highway is a song I have always enjoyed listening to but never really worked out a way to play until recently. It was originally done with three guitars playing individual parts.

After a few requests to get the TAB to this posted I finally got around to writing it out. This was a tune that was a lot of fun to arrange as for many years I had shown people a slightly simplified version that didn’t have both melody lines complete but sounded OK.

The original recording had each melody line played separately with a third guitar coming in to strum the chords. I tried a few different ways of fingering the 2 lines simultaneously and was excited when I came across one that is not particularly easy or obvious. With a little practice it will sound great. The key was to play all the notes on the 2nd and 3rd strings until near the end. It is also important to make the change from 10th position to 5th position by landing with your 3rd and 4th fingers at the 7th fret. The change to 2nd position lands with a 1/2 bar at the 2nd fret.

The double hammer on/pull off move is also one requires some practice to sound good. Be sure to hold your 1st and 2nd fingers firmly in contact with the strings as you hammer/pull with your 3rd and 4th fingers.

I didn’t write out the strumming pattern but it starts on the 2nd beat of measures 2 and 4 and completes the measure. Check here for the TAB.