[Blues Guitar Licks] A solo in the style of Clapton

Dan from Your Guitar Academy invites you to play an easy and fun solo for electric guitar in the style of Clapton. The main objective of this lesson is to give you an overview of the techniques and tricks used by Clapton during his Cream period. Pick up your guitar and let’s get started!

This course focuses on Eric Clapton’s Cream era of playing. His carrier has spanned for more than 50 years and one of his most intense and prolific moments was during the Cream period.

The legendary band Cream was formed of 3 incredible musicians: Ginger Baker (drummer), Jack Bruce (bassist), and Eric Clapton. As Clapton was quoted in saying these 2 other musicians really pushed him to his absolute limits.

Check out this really cool proper Cream sounding solo, a 12 bar style blues.

Here is a preview of the score.

“Silly_Beer_Clapton_solo_GuitarPro7_File”
(click on the picture to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

Download the free Guitar Pro 7.5 demo here.

A few tips

Let’s go first through the pentatonic shapes we are going to need. Most guitarists already know these diagrams but Clapton is a true pentatonic man, especially during these years. So you really need to learn them. He was very influenced by a lot of classic blues players like Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters for instance who played them a lot.

The first positions you need are the pentatonic shapes 1 and 2 in the key of A minor.

Practice these shapes using one finger by fret. For instance, when playing the first box of the scale, play the root on the low E string with your index and play the next note, the flat third (b3), with your little finger.

Then try to pinpoint the root notes, symbolized by an “R” on the diagrams and try to memorize them.

When improvising, you can end a phrase on the root, it will sound very complete. Can you end it with a flat third (b3)?. It will sound like a question mark. You will have to come back to the root note afterward. Knowing where the roots and flat thirds are will help you hugely.

How and where does Clapton links these shapes? He links them in a very specific place, between the fourth and the fifth degrees of the scale. For instance, play the fourth note and then slide to the second position on the fifth note. Take a look at Dan’s video to learn how to do that more easily.

Access the free backing track here YourGuitarAcademy.com.

Practice with Guitar Pro 7.5

To play this solo correctly, use the Guitar Pro 7.5 Speed Trainer to slow down the score. Select bars and practice at your pace. Then accelerate step by step before reaching the normal tempo.

Dan Holton

Dan has been sharing his passion for the guitar for years to thousands of guitarists through the company he founded and manages: Your Guitar Academy.com.

Your Guitar Academy

“Here at Your Guitar Academy, our mission is to make you the best guitar player you can be. We will do that by providing premium guitar education to everyone across the world, no matter your finances, location or level. 

We have 3 ways you can learn with us – Via our free online courses, via our Zoom guitar lessons, or via our 1-2-1 lessons with tutors in the UK (London, Leeds & Worthing, and many more).

Get in touch to have a chat with our amazing team, and we’ll guide you to the perfect learning style for you!” Dan.