Learn Guitar Online, Eric Clapton - 3 Tips For Your Next Jam Session

Eric Clapton has the magic touch when it comes to presenting a song. If you want to play Eric Clapton songs on the guitar there's a couple of things you need to keep in mind to help you produce Eric's unique sound.

D minor pentatonic scale = D, F, G, A and C

E /// | A /// | E /// | E ///|

Learn Guitar Online, Eric Clapton - 3 Tips For Your Next Jam Session

The secret to playing Eric Clapton songs is to understand how he chooses his chords and scales carefully to help him present a song. Here's ... tips to get the famous Clapton sound.

There's two songs on the Clapton Unplugged album that uses this exact format. Both "Before You Accuse Me" and "Malted Milk" blues are based on this 12 bar blues form.

The significance of the two extra notes is that they create a very important musical tension. The musical tension is caused by the distance of a semitone. A semitone is the distance of one fret on a guitar. When you play the D Aeolian mode on your guitar notice how there is a between semitone between the notes E and F and the notes A and Bb.

Here is an example of a 12 bar blues in the key of E.

A /// | A /// | E /// |E ////|

While most guitarist are content to play the minor pentatonic scale in many instances Eric's preference is the Aeolian mode.

D Aeolian mode contains = D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C

Eric Clapton songs that use this style of chord are Layla (the original electric version), Sunshine Of Your Love, Cocaine.

Tip 3. Learn to play the 12 bar blues.

Tip 2. Play power chords for fast chord changes.

In the hands of an experience performer like Eric Clapton these simple musical raw materials can be very effective.

Does Eric's sound come from his Fender guitar? No, Eric Clapton could make just about any guitar sound great. Eric plays with a degree of emotion and sensitivity rarely found in rock or blues guitar players.

Being able to identify a song by recognizing it's form is a vital part of learning songs quickly.

You can hear a good example of Eric playing a solo based on the D Aeolian mode if you listen to "Layla" on the Clapton Unplugged album. In this solo Eric uses a combination of D Aeolian mode and the D blues scale.

The Aeolian mode contains all the notes of the minor pentatonic with the addition of two extra notes.

When playing fast Clapton songs or songs with fast chord changes use power chords.

B /// | A /// | E /// | E ///||

Here is some examples:

Tip 1. Use the Aeolian mode in your solos.