0:00:59.969,0:01:01.572
Hey, how are you doing? Justin here.

0:01:01.574,0:01:02.767
In this lesson today,

0:01:02.767,0:01:05.385
we are checking out Eric Clapton's first solo,

0:01:05.385,0:01:08.092
from his song Crossroads, with the Cream band.

0:01:08.092,0:01:09.565
Awesome song all-round

0:01:09.565,0:01:11.089
and some great solos later on as well.

0:01:11.089,0:01:13.968
For these first two choruses of solo that he plays

0:01:13.968,0:01:15.481
we've got some really interesting stuff.

0:01:15.481,0:01:18.168
A lot of mixing up between the major and the minor pentatonic scale,

0:01:18.168,0:01:20.167
loads and loads of great licks.

0:01:20.167,0:01:21.373
So, what we're going to do...

0:01:21.373,0:01:23.087
Go to a close-up, I'm going to play it once through,

0:01:23.087,0:01:24.608
just kind of at a slow tempo.

0:01:24.608,0:01:26.649
So any of you fast learners can just kind of watch

0:01:26.649,0:01:28.007
where I'm putting my fingers and off you go.

0:01:28.007,0:01:30.607
But then I'm going to try to break it down, lick by lick

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and explain kind of a little bit about what he's doing,

0:01:32.896,0:01:34.205
where he might have gotten the idea from,

0:01:34.205,0:01:37.968
so you can kind of chop it up yourself and steal the

0:01:37.968,0:01:39.768
individual licks and improvise with them yourself.

0:01:39.768,0:01:40.648
That's the plan.

0:01:40.648,0:01:42.689
So, let's get to a close-up.

0:03:03.734,0:03:09.470
Lick number one

0:03:09.470,0:03:13.277
And lick number two

0:03:13.277,0:03:15.157
Now both of these licks are quite similar.

0:03:15.157,0:03:17.795
This is an A major pentatonic scale.

0:03:17.795,0:03:20.212
Very common to use this second to fourth fret,

0:03:20.212,0:03:21.863
second to fourth fret,

0:03:21.863,0:03:30.920
on the fourth string and the third string.

0:03:30.920,0:03:32.363
So really, the big difference here,

0:03:32.363,0:03:40.259
the first time it's a bend

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And the second time he slides up from

0:03:42.454,0:03:44.523
the fourth fret to the sixth fret.

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Lick number three is staying with the

0:03:47.408,0:03:55.153
major pentatonic.

0:03:55.153,0:03:58.928
So it's really here, five to seven...

0:03:58.928,0:04:02.991
We might let those two ring together a bit actually.

0:04:02.991,0:04:05.448
Two five's.

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Playing both five's and hammering down the

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third finger on the seventh fret.

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Five, seven.

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Now here we've got that little kind of minor to major thing.

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Fifth fret to sixth fret.

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While holding down the fifth fret on the second string too.

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And lick number four...

0:04:34.330,0:04:36.478
Straight up the minor pentatonic scale.

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So, now we've changed straight away from the

0:04:38.609,0:04:44.537
major pentatonic to the minor.

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It's an important bit, to get that.

0:04:46.295,0:05:06.044
So, these first few licks together.

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And all of that is of course played over the A chord.

0:05:09.319,0:05:20.707
Now the band's moved to D and he plays this...

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Really like that lick, this is a great one. So...

0:05:26.683,0:05:29.687
Nice bending, seventh fret.

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Up to the root note.

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Eighth fret, second string, bend.

0:05:35.656,0:05:43.624
And then, leaping off to the fifth fret to seventh fret hammer-on.

0:05:43.624,0:05:51.147
Love that lick, great.

0:05:51.147,0:05:53.094
This is an interesting one as well, so we've got

0:05:53.094,0:05:55.885
this little hammer-on and flick-off.

0:05:55.885,0:05:59.932
To the A.

0:05:59.932,0:06:03.605
It's a little bit muted on the record, you go...

0:06:03.605,0:06:07.556
Now, I always thought it was...

0:06:07.556,0:06:11.179
That he's bending and playing the E on the second string.

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But when I was doing this transcription, I could

0:06:13.147,0:06:16.018
hear that the E note and the G note, which is the

0:06:16.018,0:06:17.093
next one are ringing together.

0:06:17.093,0:06:19.972
And you can only get that here.

0:06:19.972,0:06:24.885
So, I sussed out that it was...

0:06:24.885,0:06:27.864
So, it makes it a little trickier, but it's a lot nicer.

0:06:27.864,0:06:30.248
And you get that nice kind of...

0:06:30.248,0:06:32.403
Where you bend and then slide up to the same note,

0:06:32.403,0:06:41.654
so you've got...

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That's the whole lick.

0:06:48.614,0:06:49.986
Really like that one.

0:06:49.986,0:06:54.135
Then we've got...

0:06:54.135,0:06:56.653
Now I suspect, to be honest, this was actually just

0:06:56.653,0:06:59.015
meant to be...

0:06:59.015,0:07:01.691
And a straight jump which is pretty common in a lot

0:07:01.691,0:07:04.254
of the guys that influenced Eric Clapton.

0:07:04.254,0:07:05.813
But he gets a little...

0:07:05.813,0:07:09.070
Where he's gone from the ninth fret to the tenth fret.

0:07:09.070,0:07:12.453
I suspect he's just kind of missed it a bit.

0:07:12.453,0:07:16.133
There's a little step up there.

0:07:16.133,0:07:18.571
Then we've got a little eight, ten.

0:07:18.571,0:07:23.946
And that's a ten.

0:07:23.946,0:07:29.569
Then we're going to get back down.

0:07:29.569,0:07:33.371
We've got here a little eight to ten hammer-on...

0:07:33.371,0:07:38.847
With an eighth fret on the thinnest string.

0:07:38.847,0:07:45.552
And then a nice little run-down.

0:07:45.552,0:07:47.386
Yeah and I always used to play that slightly wrong, but...

0:07:59.173,0:08:01.174
A little bit awkward how, 'cause we've got this little

0:08:01.174,0:08:04.613
five-six hammer-on. Two notes on the note E, the

0:08:04.613,0:08:08.066
fifth fret of the second string...

0:08:08.066,0:08:11.068
And we've definitely got a pretty strong curl...

0:08:11.068,0:08:15.317
It's not a proper bend, it's just a curl with the first finger.

0:08:15.317,0:08:19.317
To the root, and then the same finger has to jump off

0:08:19.317,0:08:26.983
the A and slide down to the D, the fifth fret of the fifth string...

0:08:26.983,0:08:33.507
And he's playing the root note twice.

0:08:33.507,0:08:36.844
And we're finishing that off with a very classic little

0:08:36.844,0:08:42.619
Clapton lick...

0:08:42.619,0:08:54.375
It's a real, proper Clapton ending.

0:08:54.375,0:08:56.889
Mostly minor pentatonic of course, but we're adding

0:08:56.889,0:08:58.452
in the little...

0:08:58.452,0:09:00.726
bit of major there.

0:09:00.726,0:09:09.195
Forming just an A-triad.

0:09:09.195,0:09:12.134
Okay, let's have a look at that whole first section,

0:09:12.134,0:09:58.249
the whole first twelve bars. Here we go...

0:09:58.249,0:10:00.970
Okay and then after that, he kind of jumps up

0:10:00.970,0:10:02.332
the neck a little bit.

0:10:02.332,0:10:05.133
So, he's got quite a leap on and he's jumping up to

0:10:05.133,0:10:10.190
I think it's here, right? So, the thirteenth fret of the second string.

0:10:10.190,0:10:12.887
To the fourteenth fret of the third string.

0:10:12.887,0:10:14.886
He could be going...

0:10:14.886,0:10:16.605
Or...

0:10:16.605,0:10:18.566
So, I'm not one hundred percent convinced it's up here.

0:10:18.566,0:10:24.050
It's just to me, my gut-instinct, says it's this part of the neck. So...

0:10:24.050,0:10:26.502
Thirteenth fret with a curl.

0:10:26.502,0:10:32.051
Fourteenth fret, then...

0:10:32.051,0:10:34.879
So, thirteenth fret curl.

0:10:34.879,0:10:36.735
Fifteen.

0:10:36.735,0:10:38.173
Twelve.

0:10:38.173,0:10:39.958
Curl.

0:10:39.958,0:10:42.716
Fourteenth fret twice.

0:10:42.716,0:10:43.569
Then to the thirteenth fret.

0:10:43.569,0:10:50.563
So...

0:10:50.563,0:10:55.600
Very nice little lick again, nice.

0:10:55.600,0:11:03.074
Using the A minor pentatonic scale. That one...

0:11:03.074,0:11:13.623
Now he gets into using this, very very, again very Clapton-esque kind of..

0:11:13.623,0:11:15.324
Now again, I'm not one hundred percent sure

0:11:15.324,0:11:16.934
what fingers he might use for that.

0:11:16.934,0:11:19.998
I think he uses his first and second finger quite a lot

0:11:19.998,0:11:25.326
for this riff from videos and stuff I've watched.

0:11:25.326,0:11:27.094
And then, 'cause he's using first and second finger,

0:11:27.094,0:11:30.934
when the third comes down, to get that little slide

0:11:30.934,0:11:36.899
back to the fifth fret, it's a real kind of a strong slide...

0:11:36.899,0:11:40.015
So...

0:11:40.015,0:11:44.252
Sliding up to the ninth fret from the seventh fret.

0:11:44.252,0:11:48.879
Eight, nine. Eight, nine. And then third finger

0:11:48.879,0:11:52.836
is going to overtake it and slide down to the seventh fret.

0:11:52.836,0:12:00.841
Fifth fret.

0:12:00.841,0:12:04.341
Then we've got the same.

0:12:04.341,0:12:08.330
But with a hammer-on from eight to ten.

0:12:08.330,0:12:17.399
Then eighth fret with a curl.

0:12:17.399,0:12:25.057
Then we're right up the dusty end again.

0:12:25.057,0:12:30.490
So we're holding the twelfth fret, and bending the fifteenth.

0:12:30.490,0:12:34.961
Sometimes I'm convinced that it's just a single bend.

0:12:34.961,0:12:38.677
Other times I swear I can hear the two notes together.

0:12:38.677,0:12:40.767
So, you have a listen and decide which one.

0:12:40.767,0:12:48.376
I think it's the two notes together, I think, on...

0:12:48.376,0:12:52.337
More of that minor pentatonic.

0:12:52.337,0:12:56.056
Then...

0:12:56.056,0:13:02.937
Really nice sort of slow release from the fifteenth fret.

0:13:02.937,0:13:05.724
And then we've got, our little Clapton-esque, little run

0:13:05.724,0:13:11.493
with the first and second fingers again.

0:13:11.493,0:13:15.734
But with a slightly different ending this time...

0:13:15.734,0:13:19.851
Also I think this time he goes...

0:13:19.851,0:13:21.813
He's kind of separating the notes. So, I think

0:13:21.813,0:13:26.375
he's going seven slide nine, eight, nine, eight, eight.

0:13:26.375,0:13:31.572
I think.

0:13:31.572,0:13:36.498
And here...

0:13:36.498,0:13:43.130
A nice little slide up there to follow the chord changes.

0:13:43.130,0:13:49.370
Then we've got another nice bit.

0:13:49.370,0:13:51.776
A little, short slide up to the eleventh fret.

0:13:51.776,0:13:54.365
Ten.

0:13:54.365,0:13:56.265
Then eleventh fret again.

0:13:56.265,0:13:59.494
This is now, for kind of a D. The chord has moved to D.

0:13:59.494,0:14:02.529
So, he's playing off of this D-7.

0:14:02.529,0:14:08.153
Arpeggio.

0:14:08.153,0:14:13.749
And then we're back to the root.

0:14:13.749,0:14:19.777
Now this one, here we're back to A major pentatonic.

0:14:19.777,0:14:25.172
This note here is B bending to C sharp.

0:14:25.172,0:14:28.730
Which is incidentally the same as that one at the beginning...

0:14:28.730,0:14:30.846
Is the B note bending to a C sharp.

0:14:30.846,0:14:37.003
C sharp being the major third.

0:14:37.003,0:14:40.130
That's of course saying "Hey, we're back on the A."

0:14:40.130,0:14:42.453
So just to clarify this a little bit more,

0:14:42.453,0:14:47.536
the lick before...

0:14:47.536,0:14:53.291
This is a D lick. Right? D-7 arpeggio.

0:14:53.291,0:15:00.306
And we're using those notes from the D triad.

0:15:00.306,0:15:05.187
Then to say "Hey we're back in A." He's going...

0:15:05.187,0:15:07.399
Bending the B to the C sharp. Which is

0:15:07.399,0:15:10.885
saying "Hey, we're back on our A chord here at this point."

0:15:10.885,0:15:13.965
So, it's important to see that's kind of how those licks

0:15:13.965,0:15:23.881
are working. You know? He's following the chord changes.

0:15:23.881,0:15:26.732
Now after that, he's got a little run-down there with his finger.

0:15:26.732,0:15:32.013
And he finishes with a little...

0:15:32.013,0:15:34.983
Starting with the open D.

0:15:34.983,0:15:36.327
Hammering second finger on.

0:15:36.327,0:15:38.828
Open G.

0:15:38.828,0:15:41.263
Hammer-on and flick-off at the second fret.

0:15:41.263,0:15:44.841
Second fret, flick off on the D string.

0:15:44.841,0:15:47.760
Third finger, third fret.

0:15:47.760,0:15:53.438
And we're back into the riff.

0:15:53.438,0:16:39.059
Okay that whole second part of the solo...

0:16:39.059,0:16:41.952
I really hope you've enjoyed checking out Crossroads.

0:16:41.952,0:16:44.702
And I hope I didn't go too fast, I'm a little bit worried that

0:16:44.702,0:16:47.201
I kind of skipped over bits too fast. But I think

0:16:47.201,0:16:49.885
if I go through every single note and every finger

0:16:49.885,0:16:51.763
and every fret that it should be on, it's going to make

0:16:51.763,0:16:54.238
it a really long and tedious lesson for both of us.

0:16:54.238,0:16:56.904
So, I'm hoping that that was kind of a good tempo

0:16:56.904,0:16:58.801
for you. Please let me know in the comments and I'll

0:16:58.801,0:17:03.070
try to fix it for future videos. It's a really important

0:17:03.070,0:17:04.904
thing to understand what was going on as well, so

0:17:04.904,0:17:07.154
if there are bits where I didn't explain whether it was

0:17:07.154,0:17:09.279
a major pentatonic or a minor pentatonic, have a

0:17:09.279,0:17:11.322
think about it. See if you can look at the notes that

0:17:11.322,0:17:12.093
I'm playing and go

0:17:12.093,0:17:14.251
"Okay, does that fit with the major pentatonic shape?

0:17:14.251,0:17:16.413
Or does that fit with the minor pentatonic shape?

0:17:16.413,0:17:18.650
Okay, what chord is that being played over?"

0:17:18.650,0:17:20.730
Because I didn't get into doing that too much. I think

0:17:20.730,0:17:22.777
that's a really important thing for you to do. It would

0:17:22.777,0:17:25.651
be difficult for me to do it as well actually, verbally.

0:17:25.651,0:17:28.413
By far the easiest thing is to kind of write it out and

0:17:28.413,0:17:30.017
then put your bar lines in.

0:17:30.017,0:17:32.692
If you can put rhythms in that's a great, great skill.

0:17:32.692,0:17:35.336
Can't emphasise what a useful skill it is, to be able

0:17:35.336,0:17:37.811
to read and write rhythms. If you struggle with that

0:17:37.811,0:17:41.492
I've got a book on that [wink]. 'Understanding Rhythmic Notation'. Hint, hint.

0:17:41.492,0:17:43.527
You can go and buy that from the website.

0:17:43.527,0:17:45.129
But, that will definitely help you when you're kind of

0:17:45.129,0:17:46.733
writing a transcription of something. You know?

0:17:46.733,0:17:48.483
To write down the tab and then to be able to write

0:17:48.483,0:17:50.398
the rhythms above it. It will help you sort out where

0:17:50.398,0:17:51.669
your bar-lines are, so you know where the

0:17:51.669,0:17:54.376
chord changes are. It will help you slow it down as well.

0:17:54.376,0:17:56.250
So that's a really good little tip for you. Is making

0:17:56.250,0:17:58.478
sure that you write the rhythms down. I do it with all

0:17:58.478,0:18:00.395
of my tabs, when I'm tabbing out a tune,

0:18:00.395,0:18:02.613
or transcribing it, I write down the tab first. And then

0:18:02.613,0:18:04.323
I make sure I write the rhythm as well, because that

0:18:04.323,0:18:06.489
means that I can learn a lot quicker, you know?

0:18:06.489,0:18:10.692
And I'm sure that'd be helpful for you guys too.

0:18:10.692,0:18:13.857
So yeah, do a little bit of your 'harmonic analysis'

0:18:13.857,0:18:15.321
and make sure that you know where the notes are

0:18:15.321,0:18:17.353
from, where they're major pentatonic or minor pentatonic,

0:18:17.353,0:18:19.165
or something completely different. Which they're not

0:18:19.165,0:18:22.768
in this tune mostly. And make sure you listen

0:18:22.768,0:18:25.006
to it a lot. Make sure you get yourself a half-speed

0:18:25.006,0:18:27.926
kind of player. That's a really, really, really important

0:18:27.926,0:18:29.645
thing when you're learning lead guitar stuff.

0:18:29.645,0:18:31.394
You used to be able to play along with the original

0:18:31.394,0:18:34.254
solo at like fifty percent or seventy percent or

0:18:34.254,0:18:36.228
whatever you could handle. Because it kind of helps

0:18:36.228,0:18:37.644
you get the feel right 'cause you're playing along

0:18:37.644,0:18:40.728
with them and you know, I really think that's an

0:18:40.728,0:18:44.229
important kind of thing. And lastly the other really

0:18:44.229,0:18:46.048
important thing of course, is to make sure you learn

0:18:46.048,0:18:48.849
them as licks. So learning the whole solo is great

0:18:48.849,0:18:51.398
and a really good thing to do. But probably the most

0:18:51.398,0:18:53.551
valuable thing you could do, is break it down into

0:18:53.551,0:18:55.244
little licks and then you can actually use them in your

0:18:55.244,0:18:58.384
own improvisations. And I think that's kind of the

0:18:58.384,0:19:00.120
point of learning other people's solos.

0:19:00.120,0:19:02.220
For me at least, you know, I've taken that solo,

0:19:02.220,0:19:04.805
learned it, stolen all of the licks that I really, really like

0:19:04.805,0:19:06.454
and I try to use them in my own playing and I'd

0:19:06.454,0:19:08.450
recommend you do the same thing.

0:19:08.450,0:19:10.405
'Cause that's what it's all about!

0:19:10.405,0:19:13.165
Have fun with that and I'll see you for another

0:19:13.165,0:19:17.116
lick solo song thing lesson stuff, sometime very soon.

0:19:17.116,0:19:19.056
Take care of yourselves, bye.