Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Eric Clapton, Cream style blues lead – Play this by yourself! – Guitar Lesson EP450

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play an Eric Clapton (Cream era) blues lead on electric guitar by yourself – no jam track required. Lots of blues licks to steal from this one.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  7. Kenneth M says

    Thank you so much. I love these “no backing track needed” lessons. Especially in key of A using pattern 1 and 2. Thank You. Thank You. And a big thank you for following up on your statement that you were going to do more of these. Much appreciated. It motivates me. Cheers!

  13. Daniel H says

    Brian, around minute 16 you mentioned a light bulb moment for you was sliding the two note hook in position 2 (minor pentatonic) up two frets to be in position 4 (major pentatonic). Do I understand correctly that we went from playing D-shape A chord (minor scale) to a C-shape A chord (major scale)?

  15. sciencefiction says

    Amazing, Brian. Don’t think you’ve ever done one like this before. Reminds me of that old video you’ve mentioned, where Clapton’s being interviewed with his guitar sitting around talking about tone and vibrato.
    Larry

  16. jimbostrat says

    What I most like about this nice & concise solo example, Brian……you’ve encompassed several key concepts we all need to get readily under our fingers to keep us from getting stuck when soloing! Several ideas like sliding double stops and neck positions and resorting to cool chords………..very nice plus a superior way to build up our confidence when we are jamming with others and get our turn to solo. Nicely done, bud!! Jim C.

  17. James B says

    Awesome Brian ! Food for thought, I play a star spangled banner. In E 6th position. It’s ok a little straight forward. With the 4th coming up. Do you or would you do a spice up version. Your interpretation. Just food for thought. Thanks

  20. Mike R says

    Like this lesson a lot. Also, like how you used a lot of similar licks in EP 435 with the BB Lesson. Keep pounding away at how we can go from major to minor pentatonic with just a bend or one note.

    • Richard F says

      I sense a trend among the younger generations to favor American popular music from the 50’s thru the 70’s: blues, CW, rock, Western Swing, folk, Bluegrass, etc. I just saw a group of kids, ATYD (All the Young Dudes) do Albert lee’s I’d love to change the world on YT. Loved it. They did a great job.

      • Brooks C says

        Not trying to be a d-bag, but you mean Alvin Lee from Ten Years After. Albert Lee is a country guitar picker extraordinaire. Alvin Lee was a blues/rock guitar wizard and the leader of Ten Years After. Easy to mix them up

  22. michael f says

    Brian, at 17;40 lick in video 1,, you repeat that signature trill lick up on fret 10 that you did on fret 5 (first position Aminor pentatonic.)

    Aren’t we in D then?

    SLiding up to the 10th fret, we are playing in A minor 4th position (love that ringing D note), but then you stay there and mix the minor and major pentatonic licks in D? That’s what I m thinking anyway… So arent we playing the chord change at that time?

  24. Max d says

    Hi Brian, I like the way you do mention the equipment you use to record the lesson and your mention of the Spark(?) amplifier your are using for this lesson.

    Now, for several years I lived in a small flat with what’s seemed paper-thin walls. This was because, each time I began practicing on my electric guitars using the smallest of amplifier I could find, the neighbours on the other side of the wall would bang it repeatedly until I stopped!

    What saved my continuing with playing guitar – and added to pleasure in my life – was a friend introducing me to a “Fender Mustang Micro”. Physically connecting my electric guitar and a set of earphones as well as my iPad by BlueTooth, I happily played along with many YouTube recordings of famous guitarists and eventually subscribed to your weekly lessons (your latest lesson on Clapton’s style prompted this email). I now live in a house with a partner, and my Fender Mustang Micro still comes in very handy to allow very happy cohabitation with a person not at all interested in music!

    Not everyone has a sound-proof studio for practicing in each day (or so), and it may be a good idea to give a plug for this or equivalent type of equipment that would come in handy for anyone restricted in practicing on their electric guitar due to ‘noise’ limitation or just unaccommodating neighbours.

    Best regards, Max

  27. Soundbottoms says

    Great lesson Brian. I always enjoy the Clapton inspired lessons. They are all really good. It would be cool if you did a special Clapton-Cream guitar course, a series of a few lessons in this style and technique. It would appeal to many. 🙂

  28. Paris w says

    Great lesson got me working on vibrato. I got a Spark too, so nice to see you think its up to the task. I like mine a lot.

    loved the pep talk(s).

    I started late two years ago at 36 but your encouragement gets me thinking I can still learn to play some great stuff as long as I don’t get intimidated and just think of the parts (often repetitive as you point out) rather than the sum.

    Also got me listening to Cream on Spotify (dosen’t look like he’ll be taking his catalogue offline anytime soon like Young ha)

    • Richard F says

      Jonie Mitchell too (Spotify). I started taking music & guitar seriously in my thirties. Wish I had found a teacher like Brian back then. If you stay with AM, you’ll make much larger strides than I did. All the best.

  34. Michael vdh says

    I am back after 1 year or so away !! .. thought you would like some feedback, your speed has increased considerably. You’ve definitely improved on what was already what I call extremely gifted. Nice work Brian.

  35. Alfred Dowaliby says

    Wonderful lesson. Very Claptoneque solo and yes, great tone. I had to laugh when I heard the part (at about 2:55) where Brian said, although he had no affiliation with Spark, he had to plug them. I guess that makes it a spark plug.

  36. RANDY M says

    SPARK AMP. I own a PC and Spark .
    Because I had trouble playing and seeing the informationfrom my Iphone, I called Positive Grid customer service.
    At the time, they couldn’t help me connect to my PC or Visio smart TV.
    MY WORK AROUND!
    I bought an Apple product called- Lightning to Digital AV-Adapter. I also bought a 15 foot HDMI cable.
    Connecting the HDMI to the TV running it to the Lightning Digital AV Adapter and running it to a power
    supply I now can see through my TV.
    It sounds good and now I can see all of the information, I feel I got my money’s worth.
    I hope this information helps someone.
    Thank’s Brian for the Clapton lesson.
    I saw John Mayall and The Blue’s Breakers in Seattles Eagles Auditorium back in the 60’s. Our answer to the Filmore.

  41. RANDY M says

    This one’s a blast Brian.

    PS. Spark Amp, After buying and trying to use two different loopers and was unsuccessful, I recently learned that Spark is offering
    a looper that works with their amp.

  42. Seamus Walter says

    Played this to my friends with a bit of overdrive and flows very nice even without a background track! It mixed well with other licks and riffs I learnt in the past as the tempo is faster than most lessons I had and at least for me this rhythms allows for less accurate phrase and responses for the ear to accommodate. Loved it and really improved my fingers making them to move faster to meet the metronome, the hammering technique and alternate picking too.. so ticked all my weakness.

  43. Mark H says

    I keep coming back to this one. Still trying to pack all those licks and phrases into the allocated space. Every time I revisit it I get further into it.

    I’ve always thought that EC is/was/may still be an incredibly talented electric lead player. Your analysis of the early Clapton electric phrasing is dead on. You have a great ear, and many thanks for sharing it with us. I still have tons of work to do on this.

  47. Timothy O says

    Any tips on how to accomplish the full bends with vibrato at the top of the bend? I watch Brian do it effortlessly ( or so it seems to me).
    I try and it sounds…well, bad.

    Might have to resort to my time-honored tradition of “leaving out the hard stuff”.

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