WEBVTT 00:00:59.969 --> 00:01:01.572 Hey, how are you doing? Justin here. 00:01:01.574 --> 00:01:02.767 In this lesson today, 00:01:02.767 --> 00:01:05.385 we are checking out Eric Clapton's first solo, 00:01:05.385 --> 00:01:08.092 from his song Crossroads, with the Cream band. 00:01:08.092 --> 00:01:09.565 Awesome song all-round 00:01:09.565 --> 00:01:11.089 and some great solos later on as well. 00:01:11.089 --> 00:01:13.968 For these first two choruses of solo that he plays 00:01:13.968 --> 00:01:15.481 we've got some really interesting stuff. 00:01:15.481 --> 00:01:18.168 A lot of mixing up between the major and the minor pentatonic scale, 00:01:18.168 --> 00:01:20.167 loads and loads of great licks. 00:01:20.167 --> 00:01:21.373 So, what we're going to do... 00:01:21.373 --> 00:01:23.087 Go to a close-up, I'm going to play it once through, 00:01:23.087 --> 00:01:24.608 just kind of at a slow tempo. 00:01:24.608 --> 00:01:26.649 So any of you fast learners can just kind of watch 00:01:26.649 --> 00:01:28.007 where I'm putting my fingers and off you go. 00:01:28.007 --> 00:01:30.607 But then I'm going to try to break it down, lick by lick 00:01:30.607 --> 00:01:32.896 and explain kind of a little bit about what he's doing, 00:01:32.896 --> 00:01:34.205 where he might have gotten the idea from, 00:01:34.205 --> 00:01:37.968 so you can kind of chop it up yourself and steal the 00:01:37.968 --> 00:01:39.768 individual licks and improvise with them yourself. 00:01:39.768 --> 00:01:40.648 That's the plan. 00:01:40.648 --> 00:01:42.689 So, let's get to a close-up. 00:03:03.734 --> 00:03:09.470 Lick number one 00:03:09.470 --> 00:03:13.277 And lick number two 00:03:13.277 --> 00:03:15.157 Now both of these licks are quite similar. 00:03:15.157 --> 00:03:17.795 This is an A major pentatonic scale. 00:03:17.795 --> 00:03:20.212 Very common to use this second to fourth fret, 00:03:20.212 --> 00:03:21.863 second to fourth fret, 00:03:21.863 --> 00:03:30.920 on the fourth string and the third string. 00:03:30.920 --> 00:03:32.363 So really, the big difference here, 00:03:32.363 --> 00:03:40.259 the first time it's a bend 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:42.454 And the second time he slides up from 00:03:42.454 --> 00:03:44.523 the fourth fret to the sixth fret. 00:03:44.523 --> 00:03:47.408 Lick number three is staying with the 00:03:47.408 --> 00:03:55.153 major pentatonic. 00:03:55.153 --> 00:03:58.928 So it's really here, five to seven... 00:03:58.928 --> 00:04:02.991 We might let those two ring together a bit actually. 00:04:02.991 --> 00:04:05.448 Two five's. 00:04:05.448 --> 00:04:07.241 Playing both five's and hammering down the 00:04:07.241 --> 00:04:10.290 third finger on the seventh fret. 00:04:10.290 --> 00:04:13.367 Five, seven. 00:04:13.367 --> 00:04:15.965 Now here we've got that little kind of minor to major thing. 00:04:15.965 --> 00:04:18.073 Fifth fret to sixth fret. 00:04:18.073 --> 00:04:28.703 While holding down the fifth fret on the second string too. 00:04:28.703 --> 00:04:34.330 And lick number four... 00:04:34.330 --> 00:04:36.478 Straight up the minor pentatonic scale. 00:04:36.478 --> 00:04:38.609 So, now we've changed straight away from the 00:04:38.609 --> 00:04:44.537 major pentatonic to the minor. 00:04:44.537 --> 00:04:46.295 It's an important bit, to get that. 00:04:46.295 --> 00:05:06.044 So, these first few licks together. 00:05:06.044 --> 00:05:09.319 And all of that is of course played over the A chord. 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:20.707 Now the band's moved to D and he plays this... 00:05:20.707 --> 00:05:26.683 Really like that lick, this is a great one. So... 00:05:26.683 --> 00:05:29.687 Nice bending, seventh fret. 00:05:29.687 --> 00:05:32.208 Up to the root note. 00:05:32.208 --> 00:05:35.656 Eighth fret, second string, bend. 00:05:35.656 --> 00:05:43.624 And then, leaping off to the fifth fret to seventh fret hammer-on. 00:05:43.624 --> 00:05:51.147 Love that lick, great. 00:05:51.147 --> 00:05:53.094 This is an interesting one as well, so we've got 00:05:53.094 --> 00:05:55.885 this little hammer-on and flick-off. 00:05:55.885 --> 00:05:59.932 To the A. 00:05:59.932 --> 00:06:03.605 It's a little bit muted on the record, you go... 00:06:03.605 --> 00:06:07.556 Now, I always thought it was... 00:06:07.556 --> 00:06:11.179 That he's bending and playing the E on the second string. 00:06:11.179 --> 00:06:13.147 But when I was doing this transcription, I could 00:06:13.147 --> 00:06:16.018 hear that the E note and the G note, which is the 00:06:16.018 --> 00:06:17.093 next one are ringing together. 00:06:17.093 --> 00:06:19.972 And you can only get that here. 00:06:19.972 --> 00:06:24.885 So, I sussed out that it was... 00:06:24.885 --> 00:06:27.864 So, it makes it a little trickier, but it's a lot nicer. 00:06:27.864 --> 00:06:30.248 And you get that nice kind of... 00:06:30.248 --> 00:06:32.403 Where you bend and then slide up to the same note, 00:06:32.403 --> 00:06:41.654 so you've got... 00:06:41.654 --> 00:06:48.614 That's the whole lick. 00:06:48.614 --> 00:06:49.986 Really like that one. 00:06:49.986 --> 00:06:54.135 Then we've got... 00:06:54.135 --> 00:06:56.653 Now I suspect, to be honest, this was actually just 00:06:56.653 --> 00:06:59.015 meant to be... 00:06:59.015 --> 00:07:01.691 And a straight jump which is pretty common in a lot 00:07:01.691 --> 00:07:04.254 of the guys that influenced Eric Clapton. 00:07:04.254 --> 00:07:05.813 But he gets a little... 00:07:05.813 --> 00:07:09.070 Where he's gone from the ninth fret to the tenth fret. 00:07:09.070 --> 00:07:12.453 I suspect he's just kind of missed it a bit. 00:07:12.453 --> 00:07:16.133 There's a little step up there. 00:07:16.133 --> 00:07:18.571 Then we've got a little eight, ten. 00:07:18.571 --> 00:07:23.946 And that's a ten. 00:07:23.946 --> 00:07:29.569 Then we're going to get back down. 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:33.371 We've got here a little eight to ten hammer-on... 00:07:33.371 --> 00:07:38.847 With an eighth fret on the thinnest string. 00:07:38.847 --> 00:07:45.552 And then a nice little run-down. 00:07:45.552 --> 00:07:47.386 Yeah and I always used to play that slightly wrong, but... 00:07:59.173 --> 00:08:01.174 A little bit awkward how, 'cause we've got this little 00:08:01.174 --> 00:08:04.613 five-six hammer-on. Two notes on the note E, the 00:08:04.613 --> 00:08:08.066 fifth fret of the second string... 00:08:08.066 --> 00:08:11.068 And we've definitely got a pretty strong curl... 00:08:11.068 --> 00:08:15.317 It's not a proper bend, it's just a curl with the first finger. 00:08:15.317 --> 00:08:19.317 To the root, and then the same finger has to jump off 00:08:19.317 --> 00:08:26.983 the A and slide down to the D, the fifth fret of the fifth string... 00:08:26.983 --> 00:08:33.507 And he's playing the root note twice. 00:08:33.507 --> 00:08:36.844 And we're finishing that off with a very classic little 00:08:36.844 --> 00:08:42.619 Clapton lick... 00:08:42.619 --> 00:08:54.375 It's a real, proper Clapton ending. 00:08:54.375 --> 00:08:56.889 Mostly minor pentatonic of course, but we're adding 00:08:56.889 --> 00:08:58.452 in the little... 00:08:58.452 --> 00:09:00.726 bit of major there. 00:09:00.726 --> 00:09:09.195 Forming just an A-triad. 00:09:09.195 --> 00:09:12.134 Okay, let's have a look at that whole first section, 00:09:12.134 --> 00:09:58.249 the whole first twelve bars. Here we go... 00:09:58.249 --> 00:10:00.970 Okay and then after that, he kind of jumps up 00:10:00.970 --> 00:10:02.332 the neck a little bit. 00:10:02.332 --> 00:10:05.133 So, he's got quite a leap on and he's jumping up to 00:10:05.133 --> 00:10:10.190 I think it's here, right? So, the thirteenth fret of the second string. 00:10:10.190 --> 00:10:12.887 To the fourteenth fret of the third string. 00:10:12.887 --> 00:10:14.886 He could be going... 00:10:14.886 --> 00:10:16.605 Or... 00:10:16.605 --> 00:10:18.566 So, I'm not one hundred percent convinced it's up here. 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... 00:10:24.050 --> 00:10:26.502 Thirteenth fret with a curl. 00:10:26.502 --> 00:10:32.051 Fourteenth fret, then... 00:10:32.051 --> 00:10:34.879 So, thirteenth fret curl. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.735 Fifteen. 00:10:36.735 --> 00:10:38.173 Twelve. 00:10:38.173 --> 00:10:39.958 Curl. 00:10:39.958 --> 00:10:42.716 Fourteenth fret twice. 00:10:42.716 --> 00:10:43.569 Then to the thirteenth fret. 00:10:43.569 --> 00:10:50.563 So... 00:10:50.563 --> 00:10:55.600 Very nice little lick again, nice. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:03.074 Using the A minor pentatonic scale. That one... 00:11:03.074 --> 00:11:13.623 Now he gets into using this, very very, again very Clapton-esque kind of.. 00:11:13.623 --> 00:11:15.324 Now again, I'm not one hundred percent sure 00:11:15.324 --> 00:11:16.934 what fingers he might use for that. 00:11:16.934 --> 00:11:19.998 I think he uses his first and second finger quite a lot 00:11:19.998 --> 00:11:25.326 for this riff from videos and stuff I've watched. 00:11:25.326 --> 00:11:27.094 And then, 'cause he's using first and second finger, 00:11:27.094 --> 00:11:30.934 when the third comes down, to get that little slide 00:11:30.934 --> 00:11:36.899 back to the fifth fret, it's a real kind of a strong slide... 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:40.015 So... 00:11:40.015 --> 00:11:44.252 Sliding up to the ninth fret from the seventh fret. 00:11:44.252 --> 00:11:48.879 Eight, nine. Eight, nine. And then third finger 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:52.836 is going to overtake it and slide down to the seventh fret. 00:11:52.836 --> 00:12:00.841 Fifth fret. 00:12:00.841 --> 00:12:04.341 Then we've got the same. 00:12:04.341 --> 00:12:08.330 But with a hammer-on from eight to ten. 00:12:08.330 --> 00:12:17.399 Then eighth fret with a curl. 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:25.057 Then we're right up the dusty end again. 00:12:25.057 --> 00:12:30.490 So we're holding the twelfth fret, and bending the fifteenth. 00:12:30.490 --> 00:12:34.961 Sometimes I'm convinced that it's just a single bend. 00:12:34.961 --> 00:12:38.677 Other times I swear I can hear the two notes together. 00:12:38.677 --> 00:12:40.767 So, you have a listen and decide which one. 00:12:40.767 --> 00:12:48.376 I think it's the two notes together, I think, on... 00:12:48.376 --> 00:12:52.337 More of that minor pentatonic. 00:12:52.337 --> 00:12:56.056 Then... 00:12:56.056 --> 00:13:02.937 Really nice sort of slow release from the fifteenth fret. 00:13:02.937 --> 00:13:05.724 And then we've got, our little Clapton-esque, little run 00:13:05.724 --> 00:13:11.493 with the first and second fingers again. 00:13:11.493 --> 00:13:15.734 But with a slightly different ending this time... 00:13:15.734 --> 00:13:19.851 Also I think this time he goes... 00:13:19.851 --> 00:13:21.813 He's kind of separating the notes. So, I think 00:13:21.813 --> 00:13:26.375 he's going seven slide nine, eight, nine, eight, eight. 00:13:26.375 --> 00:13:31.572 I think. 00:13:31.572 --> 00:13:36.498 And here... 00:13:36.498 --> 00:13:43.130 A nice little slide up there to follow the chord changes. 00:13:43.130 --> 00:13:49.370 Then we've got another nice bit. 00:13:49.370 --> 00:13:51.776 A little, short slide up to the eleventh fret. 00:13:51.776 --> 00:13:54.365 Ten. 00:13:54.365 --> 00:13:56.265 Then eleventh fret again. 00:13:56.265 --> 00:13:59.494 This is now, for kind of a D. The chord has moved to D. 00:13:59.494 --> 00:14:02.529 So, he's playing off of this D-7. 00:14:02.529 --> 00:14:08.153 Arpeggio. 00:14:08.153 --> 00:14:13.749 And then we're back to the root. 00:14:13.749 --> 00:14:19.777 Now this one, here we're back to A major pentatonic. 00:14:19.777 --> 00:14:25.172 This note here is B bending to C sharp. 00:14:25.172 --> 00:14:28.730 Which is incidentally the same as that one at the beginning... 00:14:28.730 --> 00:14:30.846 Is the B note bending to a C sharp. 00:14:30.846 --> 00:14:37.003 C sharp being the major third. 00:14:37.003 --> 00:14:40.130 That's of course saying "Hey, we're back on the A." 00:14:40.130 --> 00:14:42.453 So just to clarify this a little bit more, 00:14:42.453 --> 00:14:47.536 the lick before... 00:14:47.536 --> 00:14:53.291 This is a D lick. Right? D-7 arpeggio. 00:14:53.291 --> 00:15:00.306 And we're using those notes from the D triad. 00:15:00.306 --> 00:15:05.187 Then to say "Hey we're back in A." He's going... 00:15:05.187 --> 00:15:07.399 Bending the B to the C sharp. Which is 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.885 saying "Hey, we're back on our A chord here at this point." 00:15:10.885 --> 00:15:13.965 So, it's important to see that's kind of how those licks 00:15:13.965 --> 00:15:23.881 are working. You know? He's following the chord changes. 00:15:23.881 --> 00:15:26.732 Now after that, he's got a little run-down there with his finger. 00:15:26.732 --> 00:15:32.013 And he finishes with a little... 00:15:32.013 --> 00:15:34.983 Starting with the open D. 00:15:34.983 --> 00:15:36.327 Hammering second finger on. 00:15:36.327 --> 00:15:38.828 Open G. 00:15:38.828 --> 00:15:41.263 Hammer-on and flick-off at the second fret. 00:15:41.263 --> 00:15:44.841 Second fret, flick off on the D string. 00:15:44.841 --> 00:15:47.760 Third finger, third fret. 00:15:47.760 --> 00:15:53.438 And we're back into the riff. 00:15:53.438 --> 00:16:39.059 Okay that whole second part of the solo... 00:16:39.059 --> 00:16:41.952 I really hope you've enjoyed checking out Crossroads. 00:16:41.952 --> 00:16:44.702 And I hope I didn't go too fast, I'm a little bit worried that 00:16:44.702 --> 00:16:47.201 I kind of skipped over bits too fast. But I think 00:16:47.201 --> 00:16:49.885 if I go through every single note and every finger 00:16:49.885 --> 00:16:51.763 and every fret that it should be on, it's going to make 00:16:51.763 --> 00:16:54.238 it a really long and tedious lesson for both of us. 00:16:54.238 --> 00:16:56.904 So, I'm hoping that that was kind of a good tempo 00:16:56.904 --> 00:16:58.801 for you. Please let me know in the comments and I'll 00:16:58.801 --> 00:17:03.070 try to fix it for future videos. It's a really important 00:17:03.070 --> 00:17:04.904 thing to understand what was going on as well, so 00:17:04.904 --> 00:17:07.154 if there are bits where I didn't explain whether it was 00:17:07.154 --> 00:17:09.279 a major pentatonic or a minor pentatonic, have a 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:11.322 think about it. See if you can look at the notes that 00:17:11.322 --> 00:17:12.093 I'm playing and go 00:17:12.093 --> 00:17:14.251 "Okay, does that fit with the major pentatonic shape? 00:17:14.251 --> 00:17:16.413 Or does that fit with the minor pentatonic shape? 00:17:16.413 --> 00:17:18.650 Okay, what chord is that being played over?" 00:17:18.650 --> 00:17:20.730 Because I didn't get into doing that too much. I think 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:22.777 that's a really important thing for you to do. It would 00:17:22.777 --> 00:17:25.651 be difficult for me to do it as well actually, verbally. 00:17:25.651 --> 00:17:28.413 By far the easiest thing is to kind of write it out and 00:17:28.413 --> 00:17:30.017 then put your bar lines in. 00:17:30.017 --> 00:17:32.692 If you can put rhythms in that's a great, great skill. 00:17:32.692 --> 00:17:35.336 Can't emphasise what a useful skill it is, to be able 00:17:35.336 --> 00:17:37.811 to read and write rhythms. If you struggle with that 00:17:37.811 --> 00:17:41.492 I've got a book on that [wink]. 'Understanding Rhythmic Notation'. Hint, hint. 00:17:41.492 --> 00:17:43.527 You can go and buy that from the website. 00:17:43.527 --> 00:17:45.129 But, that will definitely help you when you're kind of 00:17:45.129 --> 00:17:46.733 writing a transcription of something. You know? 00:17:46.733 --> 00:17:48.483 To write down the tab and then to be able to write 00:17:48.483 --> 00:17:50.398 the rhythms above it. It will help you sort out where 00:17:50.398 --> 00:17:51.669 your bar-lines are, so you know where the 00:17:51.669 --> 00:17:54.376 chord changes are. It will help you slow it down as well. 00:17:54.376 --> 00:17:56.250 So that's a really good little tip for you. Is making 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:58.478 sure that you write the rhythms down. I do it with all 00:17:58.478 --> 00:18:00.395 of my tabs, when I'm tabbing out a tune, 00:18:00.395 --> 00:18:02.613 or transcribing it, I write down the tab first. And then 00:18:02.613 --> 00:18:04.323 I make sure I write the rhythm as well, because that 00:18:04.323 --> 00:18:06.489 means that I can learn a lot quicker, you know? 00:18:06.489 --> 00:18:10.692 And I'm sure that'd be helpful for you guys too. 00:18:10.692 --> 00:18:13.857 So yeah, do a little bit of your 'harmonic analysis' 00:18:13.857 --> 00:18:15.321 and make sure that you know where the notes are 00:18:15.321 --> 00:18:17.353 from, where they're major pentatonic or minor pentatonic, 00:18:17.353 --> 00:18:19.165 or something completely different. Which they're not 00:18:19.165 --> 00:18:22.768 in this tune mostly. And make sure you listen 00:18:22.768 --> 00:18:25.006 to it a lot. Make sure you get yourself a half-speed 00:18:25.006 --> 00:18:27.926 kind of player. That's a really, really, really important 00:18:27.926 --> 00:18:29.645 thing when you're learning lead guitar stuff. 00:18:29.645 --> 00:18:31.394 You used to be able to play along with the original 00:18:31.394 --> 00:18:34.254 solo at like fifty percent or seventy percent or 00:18:34.254 --> 00:18:36.228 whatever you could handle. Because it kind of helps 00:18:36.228 --> 00:18:37.644 you get the feel right 'cause you're playing along 00:18:37.644 --> 00:18:40.728 with them and you know, I really think that's an 00:18:40.728 --> 00:18:44.229 important kind of thing. And lastly the other really 00:18:44.229 --> 00:18:46.048 important thing of course, is to make sure you learn 00:18:46.048 --> 00:18:48.849 them as licks. So learning the whole solo is great 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:51.398 and a really good thing to do. But probably the most 00:18:51.398 --> 00:18:53.551 valuable thing you could do, is break it down into 00:18:53.551 --> 00:18:55.244 little licks and then you can actually use them in your 00:18:55.244 --> 00:18:58.384 own improvisations. And I think that's kind of the 00:18:58.384 --> 00:19:00.120 point of learning other people's solos. 00:19:00.120 --> 00:19:02.220 For me at least, you know, I've taken that solo, 00:19:02.220 --> 00:19:04.805 learned it, stolen all of the licks that I really, really like 00:19:04.805 --> 00:19:06.454 and I try to use them in my own playing and I'd 00:19:06.454 --> 00:19:08.450 recommend you do the same thing. 00:19:08.450 --> 00:19:10.405 'Cause that's what it's all about! 00:19:10.405 --> 00:19:13.165 Have fun with that and I'll see you for another 00:19:13.165 --> 00:19:17.116 lick solo song thing lesson stuff, sometime very soon. 00:19:17.116 --> 00:19:19.056 Take care of yourselves, bye.