1 00:00:59,969 --> 00:01:01,572 Hey, how are you doing? Justin here. 2 00:01:01,574 --> 00:01:02,767 In this lesson today, 3 00:01:02,767 --> 00:01:05,385 we are checking out Eric Clapton's first solo, 4 00:01:05,385 --> 00:01:08,092 from his song Crossroads, with the Cream band. 5 00:01:08,092 --> 00:01:09,565 Awesome song all-round 6 00:01:09,565 --> 00:01:11,089 and some great solos later on as well. 7 00:01:11,089 --> 00:01:13,968 For these first two choruses of solo that he plays 8 00:01:13,968 --> 00:01:15,481 we've got some really interesting stuff. 9 00:01:15,481 --> 00:01:18,168 A lot of mixing up between the major and the minor pentatonic scale, 10 00:01:18,168 --> 00:01:20,167 loads and loads of great licks. 11 00:01:20,167 --> 00:01:21,373 So, what we're going to do... 12 00:01:21,373 --> 00:01:23,087 Go to a close-up, I'm going to play it once through, 13 00:01:23,087 --> 00:01:24,608 just kind of at a slow tempo. 14 00:01:24,608 --> 00:01:26,649 So any of you fast learners can just kind of watch 15 00:01:26,649 --> 00:01:28,007 where I'm putting my fingers and off you go. 16 00:01:28,007 --> 00:01:30,607 But then I'm going to try to break it down, lick by lick 17 00:01:30,607 --> 00:01:32,896 and explain kind of a little bit about what he's doing, 18 00:01:32,896 --> 00:01:34,205 where he might have gotten the idea from, 19 00:01:34,205 --> 00:01:37,968 so you can kind of chop it up yourself and steal the 20 00:01:37,968 --> 00:01:39,768 individual licks and improvise with them yourself. 21 00:01:39,768 --> 00:01:40,648 That's the plan. 22 00:01:40,648 --> 00:01:42,689 So, let's get to a close-up. 23 00:03:03,734 --> 00:03:09,470 Lick number one 24 00:03:09,470 --> 00:03:13,277 And lick number two 25 00:03:13,277 --> 00:03:15,157 Now both of these licks are quite similar. 26 00:03:15,157 --> 00:03:17,795 This is an A major pentatonic scale. 27 00:03:17,795 --> 00:03:20,212 Very common to use this second to fourth fret, 28 00:03:20,212 --> 00:03:21,863 second to fourth fret, 29 00:03:21,863 --> 00:03:30,920 on the fourth string and the third string. 30 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:32,363 So really, the big difference here, 31 00:03:32,363 --> 00:03:40,259 the first time it's a bend 32 00:03:40,259 --> 00:03:42,454 And the second time he slides up from 33 00:03:42,454 --> 00:03:44,523 the fourth fret to the sixth fret. 34 00:03:44,523 --> 00:03:47,408 Lick number three is staying with the 35 00:03:47,408 --> 00:03:55,153 major pentatonic. 36 00:03:55,153 --> 00:03:58,928 So it's really here, five to seven... 37 00:03:58,928 --> 00:04:02,991 We might let those two ring together a bit actually. 38 00:04:02,991 --> 00:04:05,448 Two five's. 39 00:04:05,448 --> 00:04:07,241 Playing both five's and hammering down the 40 00:04:07,241 --> 00:04:10,290 third finger on the seventh fret. 41 00:04:10,290 --> 00:04:13,367 Five, seven. 42 00:04:13,367 --> 00:04:15,965 Now here we've got that little kind of minor to major thing. 43 00:04:15,965 --> 00:04:18,073 Fifth fret to sixth fret. 44 00:04:18,073 --> 00:04:28,703 While holding down the fifth fret on the second string too. 45 00:04:28,703 --> 00:04:34,330 And lick number four... 46 00:04:34,330 --> 00:04:36,478 Straight up the minor pentatonic scale. 47 00:04:36,478 --> 00:04:38,609 So, now we've changed straight away from the 48 00:04:38,609 --> 00:04:44,537 major pentatonic to the minor. 49 00:04:44,537 --> 00:04:46,295 It's an important bit, to get that. 50 00:04:46,295 --> 00:05:06,044 So, these first few licks together. 51 00:05:06,044 --> 00:05:09,319 And all of that is of course played over the A chord. 52 00:05:09,319 --> 00:05:20,707 Now the band's moved to D and he plays this... 53 00:05:20,707 --> 00:05:26,683 Really like that lick, this is a great one. So... 54 00:05:26,683 --> 00:05:29,687 Nice bending, seventh fret. 55 00:05:29,687 --> 00:05:32,208 Up to the root note. 56 00:05:32,208 --> 00:05:35,656 Eighth fret, second string, bend. 57 00:05:35,656 --> 00:05:43,624 And then, leaping off to the fifth fret to seventh fret hammer-on. 58 00:05:43,624 --> 00:05:51,147 Love that lick, great. 59 00:05:51,147 --> 00:05:53,094 This is an interesting one as well, so we've got 60 00:05:53,094 --> 00:05:55,885 this little hammer-on and flick-off. 61 00:05:55,885 --> 00:05:59,932 To the A. 62 00:05:59,932 --> 00:06:03,605 It's a little bit muted on the record, you go... 63 00:06:03,605 --> 00:06:07,556 Now, I always thought it was... 64 00:06:07,556 --> 00:06:11,179 That he's bending and playing the E on the second string. 65 00:06:11,179 --> 00:06:13,147 But when I was doing this transcription, I could 66 00:06:13,147 --> 00:06:16,018 hear that the E note and the G note, which is the 67 00:06:16,018 --> 00:06:17,093 next one are ringing together. 68 00:06:17,093 --> 00:06:19,972 And you can only get that here. 69 00:06:19,972 --> 00:06:24,885 So, I sussed out that it was... 70 00:06:24,885 --> 00:06:27,864 So, it makes it a little trickier, but it's a lot nicer. 71 00:06:27,864 --> 00:06:30,248 And you get that nice kind of... 72 00:06:30,248 --> 00:06:32,403 Where you bend and then slide up to the same note, 73 00:06:32,403 --> 00:06:41,654 so you've got... 74 00:06:41,654 --> 00:06:48,614 That's the whole lick. 75 00:06:48,614 --> 00:06:49,986 Really like that one. 76 00:06:49,986 --> 00:06:54,135 Then we've got... 77 00:06:54,135 --> 00:06:56,653 Now I suspect, to be honest, this was actually just 78 00:06:56,653 --> 00:06:59,015 meant to be... 79 00:06:59,015 --> 00:07:01,691 And a straight jump which is pretty common in a lot 80 00:07:01,691 --> 00:07:04,254 of the guys that influenced Eric Clapton. 81 00:07:04,254 --> 00:07:05,813 But he gets a little... 82 00:07:05,813 --> 00:07:09,070 Where he's gone from the ninth fret to the tenth fret. 83 00:07:09,070 --> 00:07:12,453 I suspect he's just kind of missed it a bit. 84 00:07:12,453 --> 00:07:16,133 There's a little step up there. 85 00:07:16,133 --> 00:07:18,571 Then we've got a little eight, ten. 86 00:07:18,571 --> 00:07:23,946 And that's a ten. 87 00:07:23,946 --> 00:07:29,569 Then we're going to get back down. 88 00:07:29,569 --> 00:07:33,371 We've got here a little eight to ten hammer-on... 89 00:07:33,371 --> 00:07:38,847 With an eighth fret on the thinnest string. 90 00:07:38,847 --> 00:07:45,552 And then a nice little run-down. 91 00:07:45,552 --> 00:07:47,386 Yeah and I always used to play that slightly wrong, but... 92 00:07:59,173 --> 00:08:01,174 A little bit awkward how, 'cause we've got this little 93 00:08:01,174 --> 00:08:04,613 five-six hammer-on. Two notes on the note E, the 94 00:08:04,613 --> 00:08:08,066 fifth fret of the second string... 95 00:08:08,066 --> 00:08:11,068 And we've definitely got a pretty strong curl... 96 00:08:11,068 --> 00:08:15,317 It's not a proper bend, it's just a curl with the first finger. 97 00:08:15,317 --> 00:08:19,317 To the root, and then the same finger has to jump off 98 00:08:19,317 --> 00:08:26,983 the A and slide down to the D, the fifth fret of the fifth string... 99 00:08:26,983 --> 00:08:33,507 And he's playing the root note twice. 100 00:08:33,507 --> 00:08:36,844 And we're finishing that off with a very classic little 101 00:08:36,844 --> 00:08:42,619 Clapton lick... 102 00:08:42,619 --> 00:08:54,375 It's a real, proper Clapton ending. 103 00:08:54,375 --> 00:08:56,889 Mostly minor pentatonic of course, but we're adding 104 00:08:56,889 --> 00:08:58,452 in the little... 105 00:08:58,452 --> 00:09:00,726 bit of major there. 106 00:09:00,726 --> 00:09:09,195 Forming just an A-triad. 107 00:09:09,195 --> 00:09:12,134 Okay, let's have a look at that whole first section, 108 00:09:12,134 --> 00:09:58,249 the whole first twelve bars. Here we go... 109 00:09:58,249 --> 00:10:00,970 Okay and then after that, he kind of jumps up 110 00:10:00,970 --> 00:10:02,332 the neck a little bit. 111 00:10:02,332 --> 00:10:05,133 So, he's got quite a leap on and he's jumping up to 112 00:10:05,133 --> 00:10:10,190 I think it's here, right? So, the thirteenth fret of the second string. 113 00:10:10,190 --> 00:10:12,887 To the fourteenth fret of the third string. 114 00:10:12,887 --> 00:10:14,886 He could be going... 115 00:10:14,886 --> 00:10:16,605 Or... 116 00:10:16,605 --> 00:10:18,566 So, I'm not one hundred percent convinced it's up here. 117 00:10:18,566 --> 00:10:24,050 It's just to me, my gut-instinct, says it's this part of the neck. So... 118 00:10:24,050 --> 00:10:26,502 Thirteenth fret with a curl. 119 00:10:26,502 --> 00:10:32,051 Fourteenth fret, then... 120 00:10:32,051 --> 00:10:34,879 So, thirteenth fret curl. 121 00:10:34,879 --> 00:10:36,735 Fifteen. 122 00:10:36,735 --> 00:10:38,173 Twelve. 123 00:10:38,173 --> 00:10:39,958 Curl. 124 00:10:39,958 --> 00:10:42,716 Fourteenth fret twice. 125 00:10:42,716 --> 00:10:43,569 Then to the thirteenth fret. 126 00:10:43,569 --> 00:10:50,563 So... 127 00:10:50,563 --> 00:10:55,600 Very nice little lick again, nice. 128 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:03,074 Using the A minor pentatonic scale. That one... 129 00:11:03,074 --> 00:11:13,623 Now he gets into using this, very very, again very Clapton-esque kind of.. 130 00:11:13,623 --> 00:11:15,324 Now again, I'm not one hundred percent sure 131 00:11:15,324 --> 00:11:16,934 what fingers he might use for that. 132 00:11:16,934 --> 00:11:19,998 I think he uses his first and second finger quite a lot 133 00:11:19,998 --> 00:11:25,326 for this riff from videos and stuff I've watched. 134 00:11:25,326 --> 00:11:27,094 And then, 'cause he's using first and second finger, 135 00:11:27,094 --> 00:11:30,934 when the third comes down, to get that little slide 136 00:11:30,934 --> 00:11:36,899 back to the fifth fret, it's a real kind of a strong slide... 137 00:11:36,899 --> 00:11:40,015 So... 138 00:11:40,015 --> 00:11:44,252 Sliding up to the ninth fret from the seventh fret. 139 00:11:44,252 --> 00:11:48,879 Eight, nine. Eight, nine. And then third finger 140 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:52,836 is going to overtake it and slide down to the seventh fret. 141 00:11:52,836 --> 00:12:00,841 Fifth fret. 142 00:12:00,841 --> 00:12:04,341 Then we've got the same. 143 00:12:04,341 --> 00:12:08,330 But with a hammer-on from eight to ten. 144 00:12:08,330 --> 00:12:17,399 Then eighth fret with a curl. 145 00:12:17,399 --> 00:12:25,057 Then we're right up the dusty end again. 146 00:12:25,057 --> 00:12:30,490 So we're holding the twelfth fret, and bending the fifteenth. 147 00:12:30,490 --> 00:12:34,961 Sometimes I'm convinced that it's just a single bend. 148 00:12:34,961 --> 00:12:38,677 Other times I swear I can hear the two notes together. 149 00:12:38,677 --> 00:12:40,767 So, you have a listen and decide which one. 150 00:12:40,767 --> 00:12:48,376 I think it's the two notes together, I think, on... 151 00:12:48,376 --> 00:12:52,337 More of that minor pentatonic. 152 00:12:52,337 --> 00:12:56,056 Then... 153 00:12:56,056 --> 00:13:02,937 Really nice sort of slow release from the fifteenth fret. 154 00:13:02,937 --> 00:13:05,724 And then we've got, our little Clapton-esque, little run 155 00:13:05,724 --> 00:13:11,493 with the first and second fingers again. 156 00:13:11,493 --> 00:13:15,734 But with a slightly different ending this time... 157 00:13:15,734 --> 00:13:19,851 Also I think this time he goes... 158 00:13:19,851 --> 00:13:21,813 He's kind of separating the notes. So, I think 159 00:13:21,813 --> 00:13:26,375 he's going seven slide nine, eight, nine, eight, eight. 160 00:13:26,375 --> 00:13:31,572 I think. 161 00:13:31,572 --> 00:13:36,498 And here... 162 00:13:36,498 --> 00:13:43,130 A nice little slide up there to follow the chord changes. 163 00:13:43,130 --> 00:13:49,370 Then we've got another nice bit. 164 00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:51,776 A little, short slide up to the eleventh fret. 165 00:13:51,776 --> 00:13:54,365 Ten. 166 00:13:54,365 --> 00:13:56,265 Then eleventh fret again. 167 00:13:56,265 --> 00:13:59,494 This is now, for kind of a D. The chord has moved to D. 168 00:13:59,494 --> 00:14:02,529 So, he's playing off of this D-7. 169 00:14:02,529 --> 00:14:08,153 Arpeggio. 170 00:14:08,153 --> 00:14:13,749 And then we're back to the root. 171 00:14:13,749 --> 00:14:19,777 Now this one, here we're back to A major pentatonic. 172 00:14:19,777 --> 00:14:25,172 This note here is B bending to C sharp. 173 00:14:25,172 --> 00:14:28,730 Which is incidentally the same as that one at the beginning... 174 00:14:28,730 --> 00:14:30,846 Is the B note bending to a C sharp. 175 00:14:30,846 --> 00:14:37,003 C sharp being the major third. 176 00:14:37,003 --> 00:14:40,130 That's of course saying "Hey, we're back on the A." 177 00:14:40,130 --> 00:14:42,453 So just to clarify this a little bit more, 178 00:14:42,453 --> 00:14:47,536 the lick before... 179 00:14:47,536 --> 00:14:53,291 This is a D lick. Right? D-7 arpeggio. 180 00:14:53,291 --> 00:15:00,306 And we're using those notes from the D triad. 181 00:15:00,306 --> 00:15:05,187 Then to say "Hey we're back in A." He's going... 182 00:15:05,187 --> 00:15:07,399 Bending the B to the C sharp. Which is 183 00:15:07,399 --> 00:15:10,885 saying "Hey, we're back on our A chord here at this point." 184 00:15:10,885 --> 00:15:13,965 So, it's important to see that's kind of how those licks 185 00:15:13,965 --> 00:15:23,881 are working. You know? He's following the chord changes. 186 00:15:23,881 --> 00:15:26,732 Now after that, he's got a little run-down there with his finger. 187 00:15:26,732 --> 00:15:32,013 And he finishes with a little... 188 00:15:32,013 --> 00:15:34,983 Starting with the open D. 189 00:15:34,983 --> 00:15:36,327 Hammering second finger on. 190 00:15:36,327 --> 00:15:38,828 Open G. 191 00:15:38,828 --> 00:15:41,263 Hammer-on and flick-off at the second fret. 192 00:15:41,263 --> 00:15:44,841 Second fret, flick off on the D string. 193 00:15:44,841 --> 00:15:47,760 Third finger, third fret. 194 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:53,438 And we're back into the riff. 195 00:15:53,438 --> 00:16:39,059 Okay that whole second part of the solo... 196 00:16:39,059 --> 00:16:41,952 I really hope you've enjoyed checking out Crossroads. 197 00:16:41,952 --> 00:16:44,702 And I hope I didn't go too fast, I'm a little bit worried that 198 00:16:44,702 --> 00:16:47,201 I kind of skipped over bits too fast. But I think 199 00:16:47,201 --> 00:16:49,885 if I go through every single note and every finger 200 00:16:49,885 --> 00:16:51,763 and every fret that it should be on, it's going to make 201 00:16:51,763 --> 00:16:54,238 it a really long and tedious lesson for both of us. 202 00:16:54,238 --> 00:16:56,904 So, I'm hoping that that was kind of a good tempo 203 00:16:56,904 --> 00:16:58,801 for you. Please let me know in the comments and I'll 204 00:16:58,801 --> 00:17:03,070 try to fix it for future videos. It's a really important 205 00:17:03,070 --> 00:17:04,904 thing to understand what was going on as well, so 206 00:17:04,904 --> 00:17:07,154 if there are bits where I didn't explain whether it was 207 00:17:07,154 --> 00:17:09,279 a major pentatonic or a minor pentatonic, have a 208 00:17:09,279 --> 00:17:11,322 think about it. See if you can look at the notes that 209 00:17:11,322 --> 00:17:12,093 I'm playing and go 210 00:17:12,093 --> 00:17:14,251 "Okay, does that fit with the major pentatonic shape? 211 00:17:14,251 --> 00:17:16,413 Or does that fit with the minor pentatonic shape? 212 00:17:16,413 --> 00:17:18,650 Okay, what chord is that being played over?" 213 00:17:18,650 --> 00:17:20,730 Because I didn't get into doing that too much. I think 214 00:17:20,730 --> 00:17:22,777 that's a really important thing for you to do. It would 215 00:17:22,777 --> 00:17:25,651 be difficult for me to do it as well actually, verbally. 216 00:17:25,651 --> 00:17:28,413 By far the easiest thing is to kind of write it out and 217 00:17:28,413 --> 00:17:30,017 then put your bar lines in. 218 00:17:30,017 --> 00:17:32,692 If you can put rhythms in that's a great, great skill. 219 00:17:32,692 --> 00:17:35,336 Can't emphasise what a useful skill it is, to be able 220 00:17:35,336 --> 00:17:37,811 to read and write rhythms. If you struggle with that 221 00:17:37,811 --> 00:17:41,492 I've got a book on that [wink]. 'Understanding Rhythmic Notation'. Hint, hint. 222 00:17:41,492 --> 00:17:43,527 You can go and buy that from the website. 223 00:17:43,527 --> 00:17:45,129 But, that will definitely help you when you're kind of 224 00:17:45,129 --> 00:17:46,733 writing a transcription of something. You know? 225 00:17:46,733 --> 00:17:48,483 To write down the tab and then to be able to write 226 00:17:48,483 --> 00:17:50,398 the rhythms above it. It will help you sort out where 227 00:17:50,398 --> 00:17:51,669 your bar-lines are, so you know where the 228 00:17:51,669 --> 00:17:54,376 chord changes are. It will help you slow it down as well. 229 00:17:54,376 --> 00:17:56,250 So that's a really good little tip for you. Is making 230 00:17:56,250 --> 00:17:58,478 sure that you write the rhythms down. I do it with all 231 00:17:58,478 --> 00:18:00,395 of my tabs, when I'm tabbing out a tune, 232 00:18:00,395 --> 00:18:02,613 or transcribing it, I write down the tab first. And then 233 00:18:02,613 --> 00:18:04,323 I make sure I write the rhythm as well, because that 234 00:18:04,323 --> 00:18:06,489 means that I can learn a lot quicker, you know? 235 00:18:06,489 --> 00:18:10,692 And I'm sure that'd be helpful for you guys too. 236 00:18:10,692 --> 00:18:13,857 So yeah, do a little bit of your 'harmonic analysis' 237 00:18:13,857 --> 00:18:15,321 and make sure that you know where the notes are 238 00:18:15,321 --> 00:18:17,353 from, where they're major pentatonic or minor pentatonic, 239 00:18:17,353 --> 00:18:19,165 or something completely different. Which they're not 240 00:18:19,165 --> 00:18:22,768 in this tune mostly. And make sure you listen 241 00:18:22,768 --> 00:18:25,006 to it a lot. Make sure you get yourself a half-speed 242 00:18:25,006 --> 00:18:27,926 kind of player. That's a really, really, really important 243 00:18:27,926 --> 00:18:29,645 thing when you're learning lead guitar stuff. 244 00:18:29,645 --> 00:18:31,394 You used to be able to play along with the original 245 00:18:31,394 --> 00:18:34,254 solo at like fifty percent or seventy percent or 246 00:18:34,254 --> 00:18:36,228 whatever you could handle. Because it kind of helps 247 00:18:36,228 --> 00:18:37,644 you get the feel right 'cause you're playing along 248 00:18:37,644 --> 00:18:40,728 with them and you know, I really think that's an 249 00:18:40,728 --> 00:18:44,229 important kind of thing. And lastly the other really 250 00:18:44,229 --> 00:18:46,048 important thing of course, is to make sure you learn 251 00:18:46,048 --> 00:18:48,849 them as licks. So learning the whole solo is great 252 00:18:48,849 --> 00:18:51,398 and a really good thing to do. But probably the most 253 00:18:51,398 --> 00:18:53,551 valuable thing you could do, is break it down into 254 00:18:53,551 --> 00:18:55,244 little licks and then you can actually use them in your 255 00:18:55,244 --> 00:18:58,384 own improvisations. And I think that's kind of the 256 00:18:58,384 --> 00:19:00,120 point of learning other people's solos. 257 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:02,220 For me at least, you know, I've taken that solo, 258 00:19:02,220 --> 00:19:04,805 learned it, stolen all of the licks that I really, really like 259 00:19:04,805 --> 00:19:06,454 and I try to use them in my own playing and I'd 260 00:19:06,454 --> 00:19:08,450 recommend you do the same thing. 261 00:19:08,450 --> 00:19:10,405 'Cause that's what it's all about! 262 00:19:10,405 --> 00:19:13,165 Have fun with that and I'll see you for another 263 00:19:13,165 --> 00:19:17,116 lick solo song thing lesson stuff, sometime very soon. 264 00:19:17,116 --> 00:19:19,056 Take care of yourselves, bye.