Lima

Lima is one of my favorite tracks from Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack. Rather than his usual minimalist approach, Lima really displays Santaolalla’s guitar prowess.

I had an opportunity to see Gustavo Santaolalla play live in Pittsburgh (in 2013) with his band Bajofondo. Rather than a conventional guitar soloist, his virtuosity is in playing complex chord patterns, often at lightning speed. He seems to have a deep, innate understanding of chord structures. Amazing for someone who doesn’t read music, or have a background in music theory.

Lima is just around 1 minute long, making it a perfect “Étude” for guitar. Beginners and intermediate guitar players can certainly use this as a practice piece.

You might also like to play…
(my favorites from Gustavo Santaolalla)

Amor y Paz | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

La Muerte De La Poderosa | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

The Last of us Part II | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

How to play Lima | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this piece is beautifully written across 2 pages. None of the chord shapes are difficult, but you will have to be very agile — as everything needs to move quickly and gracefully. I recommend Lima for intermediate guitar players and up. Enjoy! The guitar tab is available below:

My song structure looks like this, in accordance with the guitar tab:

Page 1 through the first 2 stanzas of Page 2.

Repeat the “Refrain” on Page 1, then the “End” section on Page 2.

[guitar tab] **Gustavo Santaolalla: Lima (The Motorcyle Diaries) | fingerstyle guitar

Lima is played in standard tuning.