9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hey, how are you doing? Justin here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In this lesson today,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we are checking out Eric Clapton's first solo,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from his song Crossroads, with the Cream band.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Awesome song all-round

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and some great solos later on as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For these first two choruses of solo that he plays

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we've got some really interesting stuff.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A lot of mixing up between the major and the minor pentatonic scale,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
loads and loads of great licks.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, what we're going to do...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Go to a close-up, I'm going to play it once through,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
just kind of at a slow tempo.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So any of you fast learners can just kind of watch

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where I'm putting my fingers and off you go.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But then I'm going to try to break it down, lick by lick

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and explain kind of a little bit about what he's doing,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where he might have gotten the idea from,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so you can kind of chop it up yourself and steal the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
individual licks and improvise with them yourself.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's the plan.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, let's get to a close-up.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Lick number one

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And lick number two

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now both of these licks are quite similar.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is an A major pentatonic scale.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Very common to use this second to fourth fret,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Second to fourth fret,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on the fourth string and the third string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So really, the big difference here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the first time it's a bend

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And the second time he slides up from

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the fourth fret to the sixth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Lick number three is staying with the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
major pentatonic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So it's really here, five to seven...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We might let those two ring together a bit actually.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Two five's.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Playing both five's and hammering down the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
third finger on the seventh fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Five, seven.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now here we've got that little kind of minor to major thing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fifth fret to sixth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
While holding down the fifth fret on the second string too.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And lick number four...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Straight up the minor pentatonic scale.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, now we've changed straight away from the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
major pentatonic to the minor.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's an important bit, to get that.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, these first few licks together.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And all of that is of course played over the A chord.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now the band's moved to D and he plays this...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Really like that lick, this is the great one.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Nice bending, seventh fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Up to the root note.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Eighth fret, second string, bend.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then, leaping off to the fifth fret to seventh fret hammer-on.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Love that lick, great.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is an interesting one as well, so we've got

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this little hammer-on and flick-off.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To the A.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a little bit muted on the record, you go...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, I always thought it was...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That he's bending and playing the E on the second string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But when I was doing this transcription, I could

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hear that the E note and the G note, which is the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
next one are ringing together.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And you can only get that here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, I sussed out that it was...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, it makes it a little trickier, but it's a lot nicer.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And you get that nice kind of...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Where you bend and then slide up to the same note,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so you've got...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's the whole lick.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Really like that one.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we've got...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now I suspect, to be honest, this was actually just

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
meant to be...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And a straight jump which is pretty common in a lot

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the guys that influenced Eric Clapton.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But he gets a little...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Where he's gone from the ninth fret to the tenth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I suspect he's just kind of missed it a bit.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's a little step up there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we've got a little eight, ten.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And that's a ten.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we're going to get back down.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We've got here a little eight to ten hammer-on...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
With an eighth fret on the thinnest string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then a nice little run-down.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yeah and I always used to play that slightly wrong,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A little bit awkward how, 'cause we've got this little

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
five-six hammer-on. Two notes on the note E, the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fifth fret of the second string...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we've definitely got a pretty strong curl...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's not a proper bend, it's just a curl with the first finger.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To the root, and then the same finger has to jump off

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the A and slide down to the D, the fifth fret of the fifth string...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And he's playing the root note twice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we're finishing that off with a very classic little

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Clapton lick...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a real, proper Clapton ending.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Mostly minor pentatonic of course, but we're adding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the little...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bit of major there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Forming just an A-triad.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Okay, let's have a look at that whole first section,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the whole first twelve bars. Here we go...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Okay and then after that, he kind of jumps up

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the neck a little bit.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, he's got quite a leap on and he's jumping up to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think it's here, right? So, the thirteenth fret of the second string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To the fourteenth fret of the third string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He could be going...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, I'm not one hundred percent convinced it's up here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's just to me, my gut-instinct, says it's this part of the neck. So...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thirteenth fret with a curl.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fourteenth fret, then...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, thirteenth fret curl.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fifteen.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Twelve.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Curl.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fourteenth fret twice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then to the thirteenth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Very nice little lick again, nice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Using the A minor pentatonic scale. That one...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now he gets into using this, very very, again very Clapton-esque kind of..

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now again, I'm not one hundred percent sure

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what fingers he might use for that.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think he uses his first and second finger quite a lot

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for this riff from videos and stuff I've watched.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then, 'cause he's using first and second finger,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when the third comes down, to get that little slide

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
back to the fifth fret, it's a real kind of a strong slide...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sliding up to the ninth fret from the seventh fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Eight, nine. Eight, nine. And then third finger

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is going to overtake it and slide down to the seventh fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fifth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we've got the same.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But with a hammer-on from eight to ten.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then eighth fret with a curl.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we're right up the dusty end again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So we're holding the twelfth fret, and bending the fifteenth.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sometimes I'm convinced that it's just a single bend.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Other times I swear I can hear the two notes together.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, you have a listen and decide which one.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think it's the two notes together, I think, on...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
More of that minor pentatonic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Really nice sort of slow release from the fifteenth fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then we've got, our little Clapton-esque, little run

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the first and second fingers again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But with a slightly different ending this time...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Also I think this time he goes...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He's kind of separating the notes. So, I think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he's going seven slide nine, eight, nine, eight, eight.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And here...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A nice little slide up there to follow the chord changes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then we've got another nice bit.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A little, short slide up to the eleventh fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Ten.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then eleventh fret again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is now, for kind of a D. The chord has moved to D.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, he's playing off of this D-7.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Arpeggio.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then we're back to the root.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now this one, here we're back to A major pentatonic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This note here is B bending to C sharp.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which is incidentally the same as that one at the beginning...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Is the B note bending to a C sharp.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
C sharp being the major third.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's of course saying "Hey, we're back on the A."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So just to clarify this a little bit more,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the lick before...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is a D lick. Right? D-7 arpeggio.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we're using those notes from the D triad.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then to say "Hey we're back in A." He's going...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Bending the B to the C sharp. Which is

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
saying "Hey, we're back on our A chord here at this point."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, it's important to see that's kind of how those licks

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are working. You know? He's following the chord changes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now after that, he's got a little run-down there with his finger.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And he finishes with a little...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Starting with the open D.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hammering second finger on.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Open G.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hammer-on and flick-off at the second fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Second fret, flick off on the D string.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Third finger, third fret.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we're back into the riff.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Okay that whole second part of the solo...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I really hope you've enjoyed checking out Crossroads.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I hope I didn't go too fast, I'm a little bit worried that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I kind of skipped over bits too fast. But I think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if I go through every single note and every finger

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and every fret that it should be on, it's going to make

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it a really long and tedious lesson for both of us.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, I'm hoping that that was kind of a good tempo

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for you. Please let me know in the comments and I'll

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
try to fix it for future videos. It's a really important

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
thing to understand what was going on as well, so

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if there are bits where I didn't explain whether it was

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a major pentatonic or a minor pentatonic, have a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
think about it. See if you can look at the notes that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm playing and go

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Okay, does that fit with the major pentatonic shape?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or does that fit with the minor pentatonic shape?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Okay, what chord is that being played over?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because I didn't get into doing that too much. I think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's a really important thing for you to do. It would

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
be difficult for me to do it as well actually, verbally.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By far the easiest thing is to kind of write it out and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
then put your bar lines in.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If you can put rhythms in that's a great, great skill.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Can't emphasise what a useful skill it is, to be able

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to read and write rhythms. If you struggle with that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I've got a book on that [wink]. 'Understanding Rhythmic Notation'. Hint, hint.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You can go and buy that from the website.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But, that will definitely help you when you're kind of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
writing a transcription of something. You know?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To write down the tab and then to be able to write

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the rhythms above it. It will help you sort out where

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
your bar-lines are, so you know where the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
chord changes are. It will help you slow it down as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So that's a really good little tip for you. Is making

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sure that you write the rhythms down. I do it with all

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of my tabs, when I'm tabbing out a tune,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or transcribing it, I write down the tab first. And then

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I make sure I write the rhythm as well, because that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
means that I can learn a lot quicker, you know?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I'm sure that'd be helpful for you guys too.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So yeah, do a little bit of your 'harmonic analysis'

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and make sure that you know where the notes are

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from, where they're major pentatonic or minor pentatonic,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or something completely different. Which they're not

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in this tune mostly. And make sure you listen

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to it a lot. Make sure you get yourself a half-speed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
kind of player. That's a really, really, really important

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
thing when you're learning lead guitar stuff.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You used to be able to play along with the original

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
solo at like fifty percent or seventy percent or

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
whatever you could handle. Because it kind of helps

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you get the feel right 'cause you're playing along

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with them and you know, I really think that's an

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
important kind of thing. And lastly the other really

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
important thing of course, is to make sure you learn

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
them as licks. So learning the whole solo is great

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and a really good thing to do. But probably the most

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
valuable thing you could do, is break it down into

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
little licks and then you can actually use them in your

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
own improvisations. And I think that's kind of the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
point of learning other people's solos.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For me at least, you know, I've taken that solo,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
learned it, stolen all of the licks that I really, really like

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I try to use them in my own playing and I'd

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
recommend you do the same thing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
'Cause that's what it's all about!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Have fun with that and I'll see you for another

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
lick solo song thing lesson stuff, sometime very soon.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Take care of yourselves, bye.