Renegade Destruction looks like a B minor blues, but it isn't — it's a modal modulation piece built around pivoting between B minor pentatonic/Aeolian and D Dorian for the solo sections. The whole 210-bar piece is built on three scales, five recurring licks, and one theoretical move that makes Landau sound modal instead of "blues."
The piece divides into four functional zones. Each one uses a different scale or scale emphasis. Knowing which zone you're in tells you what to play.
B minor pentatonic + blues passing tones. The 7th fret box is home. Riff anchored to low E open + A string chuga. The bends are mostly F#→A (5→b7).
B(no5) and B5 chords — no 3rd, so harmonically ambiguous. Lead uses B minor pentatonic but the chord ambiguity lets b3 (D) and natural 3 (D#) co-exist. This is the song's tension zone.
Modulates to Dm. Solo uses D Dorian (natural B note, not Bb). Position 10 box. Long sustained bends, position shifts up to fret 17. The emotional center of the piece.
Lower position, simpler. Down to position 4-5 of B minor. Uses tapped harmonics (TH markers in tab). Quieter, more melodic phrasing before the final climb.
For 88 bars Landau plays in B minor pentatonic. Then at bar 91 he suddenly pivots to D Dorian. The thing that makes the modulation work is so simple it's almost a cheat:
Same physical note. Different harmonic role. He's not learning a new scale — he's just changing which note he thinks of as "home." This is why the modulation sounds inevitable rather than abrupt: the pivot note (D) is already established as a target tone in the Bm section.
Once you understand this, you can do it in every key. Play 4 bars of A minor pentatonic, then start treating C as your tonic. Same notes — now you're in C major / C Lydian. This is the single conceptual move that separates "modal" guitarists from "pentatonic" guitarists.
The home scale. Used in sections A and B. This is where Landau lives for ~120 bars of the song. The 7th fret box (highlighted) is the primary position, but the same shape extends up to the 14th fret octave.
Over a Bm vamp, the F# (5) and D (b3) are your stable landing notes. The A (b7) is the "Landau" target — every signature lick in this piece ends on or bends to A. The F (b5) is a passing tone only — bend INTO it from E or out of it to F#. Never camp there.
In bar 1, the opening motif bends B-string fret 7 (F#) up to (9) which sounds A. He's bending the 5 up to the b7, a minor third bend. Most blues players bend 5 to 6 (major second). Landau's choice creates a darker, more vocal sound — the b7 is what makes minor sound "dominant" and dramatic. Every chorus in this song features that exact bend.
The pentatonic with two added notes: C# (the 2/9) and G (the b6). The b6 is the magic note — it's what gives certain Landau passages that cinematic, minor-key-sad quality that pure pentatonic can't deliver.
Look at bar 56-57: he sustains an A bent up to B (fret 14 B-string bent to fret 15 pitch), but then in bar 67 he plays fret 9 on the high e (E note) bending toward G (fret 12 area). The b6 (G) shows up in passing — never as a target, always as motion. Use the b6 to GO somewhere, not to ARRIVE somewhere.
Pentatonic = blues, rock, swagger. Aeolian (adding the b6) = cinematic, minor-key drama, "this is serious now." Listen to the difference:
Bars 1-48 are pure pentatonic — gritty, riff-based, blues. Bar 89 modulates and suddenly we're in Dorian (which contains a NATURAL 6, not b6). The mood shifts entirely. Landau is using the 6th scale degree as his emotional dial:
b6 = darkness. Natural 6 = hope. No 6 (pentatonic) = blues swagger. Choose deliberately.
The C section (bars 89-148) modulates to D minor with a natural 6 (B). This is D Dorian, not D natural minor. The natural B is what makes Dorian sound bright and modal instead of dark and gothic.
The signature note is the C (b7). That's what makes it Dorian instead of just D minor. Land on C and you sound modal. The natural B (the 6th) is the second key tone — that's the "bright" note that distinguishes Dorian from Aeolian.
From bar 91 onwards, the lead sits in the 10-13 fret area. The killer phrase at bar 91-92 (12-9-11-12-11-9-11-9-11-12) uses fret 9, 11, and 12 on the B and G strings — that's D, F, and A on the B string and various Dorian notes. Land your final notes on D (fret 12 B-string or fret 10 e-string).
e|--12-9-11-12--11-9-11-9-11-12-9-| B|--------------------------------| D-A-C-D--C-A-C-A-C-D-A R-5-b7-R-b7-5-b7-5-b7-R-5 Pure D minor pentatonic, but the way it RESOLVES on D makes it sound Dorian when the natural B note is heard in surrounding bars.
Every D on the neck is your gateway between the two tonal centers. In B minor it's the b3 (target tone). In D minor it's the root (home). Same note, two roles. Practice finding D in multiple positions and switching your mental "home" without moving your hands.
Stand in the 7th fret position. Play D on G-string fret 7. Hear it as the b3 of Bm. Now play the same D — but THINK of it as the root. Bend up from D to E (the 2 of D Dorian). It now sounds completely different. The note didn't change. Your relationship to it did.
This is what Landau is doing 88 bars in — without moving his hands much, he changes the song's gravity by re-centering on D. The chord progression underneath confirms it (Dm comes in), but the LEAD already did the work mentally.
Most of the 210 bars are variations on five phrases. Master these and you can play 80% of the piece — and improvise convincingly in the same style.
e|--------------------------------| B|--(7)b(9)----(7)b(9)------------| G|-------9--------9---------------| D|--------------------------------| A|--------------------------------| E|--------------------------------| The signature gesture. Bend B-string fret 7 (F#) up a whole step to A (b7 of Bm). G-string fret 9 (E) is the "answer" note. This bend appears in bars 1, 5, 13, 25, 57, 169, 173... constantly.
e|--------------------------------| B|--------------------------------| G|--------5-----------------------| D|--7-5-------7-5-----------------| A|--------------------------------| E|--------------------------------| B minor pentatonic descending. The G note on G-string fret 5 is the b6 / Aeolian color — Landau drops it in then resolves down. Used constantly as the "answer" phrase to Lick 1.
A|--7-7-5-7-7-7-7-7-7-5-7-7-7-7-7| E|--0-0----0-0-0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0| 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a The rhythm engine. Open low E pedal + B/A/D chuga on A string. Not lead — but the leads sit on top of this feel. If you can't play this cleanly, the solos won't groove.
e|--12-9-11-12--11-9-11-9-11-12-9-| B|--------------------------------| G|--------------------------------| The C section signature line. D-A-C-D-C-A-C-A-C-D-A. Pure D minor pentatonic notes but the resolution on D makes it function as Dorian. The C (b7) is the Dorian color.
e|--------------------------------| B|--14-12-13-12-14--14-12-14-12---| G|--------------------------------| Position 12 D Dorian. C-D wiggle (frets 12-13 on B string) is b7→root resolution. This is where the song peaks.
Bend B-string fret 7 (F#) up a whole step to A. Hold for 4 beats. Vibrato. Release slowly over 2 beats. Repeat 20 times at 60 BPM with a metronome.
Before each bend, play A by itself (G-string fret 14) to hear the target pitch. Your bend must arrive at that exact pitch — not 90% of the way, not 110%.
Use a three-finger bend: index on fret 7, middle on fret 8 (for stability), ring on fret 9 (the strong finger pushing up). All three move together. The bend force comes from rotating your wrist, not from finger strength.
Going up: e|----------------------------| B|-------------------7-8-10---| G|------------7-9-------------| D|------7-9-------------------| A|--7-9-----------------------| E|----------------------------| B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A-B R 9 b3 4 5 b6 b7 R Going down (reverse). The G (b6) is the accented note.
Play through ascending and descending, one note per beat. The G note (b6) is your focus — accent it slightly so your ear locks onto it. Notice how it transforms the scale from "pentatonic plus extras" to "Aeolian minor."
Step 1: Play B minor pentatonic in the 7th fret box. Loop a simple phrase that lands on F# (5) on beat 1 of each bar. Do this for 2 minutes.
Step 2: Without moving your hands or changing what you play, shift your target tone from F# to D. Land on D (G-string fret 7) on beat 1 instead. Do this for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Now imagine a Dm chord underneath instead of Bm. The exact same notes now sound like D Dorian. Add C (b7 of D) by playing G-string fret 5 — that's the Dorian color note. Do this for 2 minutes.
Step 4: Switch back and forth — 8 bars thinking Bm, 8 bars thinking Dm. Your hands stay in the same position. Only your mental "home note" changes.
A|--7-7-5-7-7-7-7-7-7-5-7-7-7-7-7|
E|--0-0----0-0-0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0|
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
Hit low E + A together on beats 1 and 3 (the accents).
The A string moves: B-B-A-B / B-B-B-B / B-B-A-B / B-B-B-B
fret 7-7-5-7
Start at 90 BPM. Pure quarter-notes if you need to, then add the 16ths. Build by 5 BPM until you can play it cleanly at 134 BPM (the song tempo). Accents on 1 and 3 — those are the strong beats where bass and kick drum would land.
Mute heavily with your palm. Each note should be short, percussive, and slightly muted — NOT ringing out.
Just the bend. No riffs, no scales, nothing else. Get the bend perfect. If 20 reps in a row arrive in tune, you've succeeded.
5 minutes warming up with the bend. Then 25 minutes on the Aeolian walk. Focus on the b6 note — accent it, hear it, learn its emotional weight.
Add the pivot drill. This is the conceptual workout. By end of day 3 you should be able to switch mental tonics fluidly without moving your hands.
Add the rhythm anchor. Play it slowly first, build to tempo. By end of day 4 your right hand should feel the 134 BPM groove independently of what your left hand is doing.
Take the first 16 bars of Renegade Destruction. Play them slowly with a metronome. Then at half tempo. Then at 100 BPM. Then at full 134. The four exercises should now be feeding into actual song execution.