Chords for Eric Clapton talks about his guitar and plays some licks (1968)
Tempo:
96.15 bpm
Chords used:
A
D
E
G
B
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
The electronic guitar is also dismissed as nothing but a [C] jangling noise machine,
incapable of [C#] subtlety or delicacy.
Lead guitarist Eric Clapton has [N] built his reputation as a blues player
on just these qualities, subtlety and delicacy.
He explains, for example, how his guitar has four primary controls,
controls for volume and controls for tone quality.
Those two are the volume.
This one is for that pickup,
and that one is for that pickup.
And this is the tone for that pickup, and this is the tone for that pickup.
And just by, you know, [D] turning them all off or turning them all on,
you can get a completely different sound.
You know, you [C] just get
[F] [A]
[Dm] You get it very, very thin, [B] like this.
[C#] [A] What you play when you've done that makes a difference, [E] you know, because you can play
What do you mean by that?
Well, you know, just the amount of pressure you put on with the flat pick, you know,
because you can hit the strings very hard or hit them very soft, you know,
or just touch them at any volume.
[C]
[G] You see?
[F] Now I can play that at the same volume but [A] softer.
[B]
[Em] [E] The sound that's characteristic [N] of electric guitars is the wow-wow effect that you make with the pedal.
I have to kick this to start it.
Could you play some and explain how it's done?
[E]
[D] [Am]
As I rock the pedal, you can hear it through the amplifier, as I rock the pedal,
it takes [G#] bass off and puts treble on, you see, like that.
So in actual fact, your volume isn't going down very much but the tone is going wow-wow like that.
Another characteristic of your particular playing is a kind of whining noise,
usually described as woman tone.
Yeah, let me turn this thing off.
Can you tell us what that is?
The woman [D] tone is produced by using either the bass pickup or the lead pickup,
but with all the bass off.
In fact, if you use both pickups, you should take all the bass off on the tone control.
That is to turn it down to one or on the tone control and then turn the volume full up. And it's supposed [A] to sound like this. [A] [Am] The [Am]
kind of blues I play is I started playing was one of accompaniment, of lead accompaniment, so that is quite difficult. There [G] are basic things that you have to learn about that style itself, which is the finger vibrato that you have to use, which is like that. [C#] [D#] Which is very important. Could you [G] just do that again? Yeah. [B] [A] [G]
[D] You see, that itself is very difficult, can take you a long, long time to play and get that perfected. When you're improvising, do you use stock phrases as the raw material? And if so, can you show us some? Yeah, there are phrases that I always play that are stock phrases that I work from, which are [G#] just like [Am] [A] [G] These runs are put together from old phrases that I [E] first started on. [D] [A] Now they're just [G] all kind of messed up with other things which I learned like that. [D] [A] If a guy likes playing football, then that's what he'll use to get all of his basic angry bits out of him. That you build up through any day. You can just like someone who took the horn of the car behind you and you'll get angry and you'll have no release for it. Well, that happens to everybody. But I've got the advantage of being able to play that out on the guitar by being sort of fairly aggressive in the way I play, not the way I use it. That can be done too with people like The Who. Can you show us? Pete Townsend. What do you mean? You want me to break the guitar up? Well, no, not quite. Just an example of aggression [F#] in your music. [B] [B]
[F] [E]
[G#] [E]
incapable of [C#] subtlety or delicacy.
Lead guitarist Eric Clapton has [N] built his reputation as a blues player
on just these qualities, subtlety and delicacy.
He explains, for example, how his guitar has four primary controls,
controls for volume and controls for tone quality.
Those two are the volume.
This one is for that pickup,
and that one is for that pickup.
And this is the tone for that pickup, and this is the tone for that pickup.
And just by, you know, [D] turning them all off or turning them all on,
you can get a completely different sound.
You know, you [C] just get
[F] [A]
[Dm] You get it very, very thin, [B] like this.
[C#] [A] What you play when you've done that makes a difference, [E] you know, because you can play
What do you mean by that?
Well, you know, just the amount of pressure you put on with the flat pick, you know,
because you can hit the strings very hard or hit them very soft, you know,
or just touch them at any volume.
[C]
[G] You see?
[F] Now I can play that at the same volume but [A] softer.
[B]
[Em] [E] The sound that's characteristic [N] of electric guitars is the wow-wow effect that you make with the pedal.
I have to kick this to start it.
Could you play some and explain how it's done?
[E]
[D] [Am]
As I rock the pedal, you can hear it through the amplifier, as I rock the pedal,
it takes [G#] bass off and puts treble on, you see, like that.
So in actual fact, your volume isn't going down very much but the tone is going wow-wow like that.
Another characteristic of your particular playing is a kind of whining noise,
usually described as woman tone.
Yeah, let me turn this thing off.
Can you tell us what that is?
The woman [D] tone is produced by using either the bass pickup or the lead pickup,
but with all the bass off.
In fact, if you use both pickups, you should take all the bass off on the tone control.
That is to turn it down to one or on the tone control and then turn the volume full up. And it's supposed [A] to sound like this. [A] [Am] The [Am]
kind of blues I play is I started playing was one of accompaniment, of lead accompaniment, so that is quite difficult. There [G] are basic things that you have to learn about that style itself, which is the finger vibrato that you have to use, which is like that. [C#] [D#] Which is very important. Could you [G] just do that again? Yeah. [B] [A] [G]
[D] You see, that itself is very difficult, can take you a long, long time to play and get that perfected. When you're improvising, do you use stock phrases as the raw material? And if so, can you show us some? Yeah, there are phrases that I always play that are stock phrases that I work from, which are [G#] just like [Am] [A] [G] These runs are put together from old phrases that I [E] first started on. [D] [A] Now they're just [G] all kind of messed up with other things which I learned like that. [D] [A] If a guy likes playing football, then that's what he'll use to get all of his basic angry bits out of him. That you build up through any day. You can just like someone who took the horn of the car behind you and you'll get angry and you'll have no release for it. Well, that happens to everybody. But I've got the advantage of being able to play that out on the guitar by being sort of fairly aggressive in the way I play, not the way I use it. That can be done too with people like The Who. Can you show us? Pete Townsend. What do you mean? You want me to break the guitar up? Well, no, not quite. Just an example of aggression [F#] in your music. [B] [B]
[F] [E]
[G#] [E]
Key:
A
D
E
G
B
A
D
E
_ _ _ The electronic guitar is also dismissed as nothing but a [C] jangling noise machine,
incapable of [C#] subtlety or delicacy.
Lead guitarist Eric Clapton has [N] built his reputation as a blues player
on just these qualities, subtlety and delicacy.
He explains, for example, how his guitar has four primary controls,
controls for volume and controls for tone quality.
Those two are the volume.
This one is for that pickup,
and that one is for that pickup.
And this is the tone for that pickup, and this is the tone for that pickup.
And just by, you know, [D] turning them all off or turning them all on,
you can get a completely different sound.
You know, you [C] just get_
[F] _ _ [A] _ _
[Dm] You get it very, very thin, [B] like this. _ _ _
_ [C#] _ _ [A] _ What you play when you've done that makes a difference, [E] you know, because you can play_
What do you mean by that?
Well, you know, just the amount of pressure you put on with the flat pick, you know,
because you can hit the strings very hard or hit them very soft, you know,
or just touch them at any volume.
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ You see?
[F] Now I can play that at the same volume but [A] softer.
_ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [Em] _ [E] The sound that's characteristic [N] of electric guitars is the wow-wow effect that you make with the pedal.
I have to kick this to start it.
Could you play some and explain how it's done?
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
As I rock the pedal, you can hear it through the amplifier, as I rock the pedal,
it takes [G#] bass off and puts treble on, you see, like that.
So in actual fact, your volume isn't going down very much but the tone is going wow-wow like that.
Another characteristic of your particular playing is a kind of whining noise,
usually described as woman tone.
Yeah, let me turn this thing off.
Can you tell us what that is?
The woman [D] tone is produced by using either the bass pickup or the lead pickup,
but with all the bass off.
In fact, if you use both pickups, you should take all the bass off on the tone control.
That is to turn it down to one or on the tone control and then turn the volume full up. And it's supposed [A] to sound like this. [A] _ _ [Am] The _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
kind of blues I play is_ I started playing was one of accompaniment, _ of lead accompaniment, so that is quite difficult. There [G] are basic things that you have to learn about that style itself, which is the finger vibrato that you have to use, which is like that. _ [C#] _ _ [D#] Which is very important. Could you [G] just do that again? Yeah. _ [B] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ You see, that itself is very difficult, can take you a long, long time to play and get that perfected. When you're improvising, do you use stock phrases as the raw material? And if so, can you show us some? Yeah, there are phrases that I always play that are stock phrases that I work from, which are [G#] just like_ [Am] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] These runs are put together from old phrases that I [E] first started on. _ _ _ [D] _ [A] _ _ Now they're just [G] all kind of messed up with other things which I learned like that. [D] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ If a guy likes playing football, then that's what he'll use to get all of his _ basic angry bits out of him. That you build up through any day. You can just like someone who took the horn of the car behind you and you'll get angry and you'll have no release for it. Well, that happens to everybody. But I've got the advantage of being able to play that out on the guitar by being sort of fairly aggressive in the way I play, not the way I use it. That can be done too with people like The Who. Can you show us? Pete Townsend. What do you mean? You want me to break the guitar up? Well, no, not quite. Just an example of aggression [F#] in your music. _ [B] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G#] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
incapable of [C#] subtlety or delicacy.
Lead guitarist Eric Clapton has [N] built his reputation as a blues player
on just these qualities, subtlety and delicacy.
He explains, for example, how his guitar has four primary controls,
controls for volume and controls for tone quality.
Those two are the volume.
This one is for that pickup,
and that one is for that pickup.
And this is the tone for that pickup, and this is the tone for that pickup.
And just by, you know, [D] turning them all off or turning them all on,
you can get a completely different sound.
You know, you [C] just get_
[F] _ _ [A] _ _
[Dm] You get it very, very thin, [B] like this. _ _ _
_ [C#] _ _ [A] _ What you play when you've done that makes a difference, [E] you know, because you can play_
What do you mean by that?
Well, you know, just the amount of pressure you put on with the flat pick, you know,
because you can hit the strings very hard or hit them very soft, you know,
or just touch them at any volume.
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ You see?
[F] Now I can play that at the same volume but [A] softer.
_ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [Em] _ [E] The sound that's characteristic [N] of electric guitars is the wow-wow effect that you make with the pedal.
I have to kick this to start it.
Could you play some and explain how it's done?
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
As I rock the pedal, you can hear it through the amplifier, as I rock the pedal,
it takes [G#] bass off and puts treble on, you see, like that.
So in actual fact, your volume isn't going down very much but the tone is going wow-wow like that.
Another characteristic of your particular playing is a kind of whining noise,
usually described as woman tone.
Yeah, let me turn this thing off.
Can you tell us what that is?
The woman [D] tone is produced by using either the bass pickup or the lead pickup,
but with all the bass off.
In fact, if you use both pickups, you should take all the bass off on the tone control.
That is to turn it down to one or on the tone control and then turn the volume full up. And it's supposed [A] to sound like this. [A] _ _ [Am] The _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
kind of blues I play is_ I started playing was one of accompaniment, _ of lead accompaniment, so that is quite difficult. There [G] are basic things that you have to learn about that style itself, which is the finger vibrato that you have to use, which is like that. _ [C#] _ _ [D#] Which is very important. Could you [G] just do that again? Yeah. _ [B] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ You see, that itself is very difficult, can take you a long, long time to play and get that perfected. When you're improvising, do you use stock phrases as the raw material? And if so, can you show us some? Yeah, there are phrases that I always play that are stock phrases that I work from, which are [G#] just like_ [Am] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] These runs are put together from old phrases that I [E] first started on. _ _ _ [D] _ [A] _ _ Now they're just [G] all kind of messed up with other things which I learned like that. [D] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ If a guy likes playing football, then that's what he'll use to get all of his _ basic angry bits out of him. That you build up through any day. You can just like someone who took the horn of the car behind you and you'll get angry and you'll have no release for it. Well, that happens to everybody. But I've got the advantage of being able to play that out on the guitar by being sort of fairly aggressive in the way I play, not the way I use it. That can be done too with people like The Who. Can you show us? Pete Townsend. What do you mean? You want me to break the guitar up? Well, no, not quite. Just an example of aggression [F#] in your music. _ [B] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G#] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _