7/27/2019 In Deep With Eric Clapton

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columns  in deep *  

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FIGURE 1a G minor pentatonic,third position

FIGURE 1b Slow blues = 126

3 63 5

3 53 5

3 63 6

G1

53 3

1

3 35

3 3 3

1

53 3

1

3 35

3 3 3 6 35

3

1/2

3 5 35

1/2

3

FIGURE 1c G minor pentatonic, extended position FIGURE 2

1 31 3 5

3 53 5 7

6 86 8 10

G7

75 76

5 35

55

5

35 3

55 3

3 13

13

3 3

3

1 31 5

3 53 5 7

6 88

1/2

6 10 6 88

68 6

7

1/2

8 67 5 3 3

5 35

1/2

13 1

3 3 3

3 3 5 3 3 3 3

FIGURE 3a G minor pentatonic, 10th position FIGURE 3b 

10 1310 13

10 121 0 1 2

1 1 1 31 0 1 3 1 3

1/2 1 1/2

13 13 1112

*

*repeat previous beat 

111312

1/4

111210

121210

1210

3 3 3

10121012

11131013101310

13

1/2

101311

1213 11

12

1/2

1211

101013 10131013

1 013 13 1013

1013

1/2

1112

131112

1/2

1211

3 3 3 3 3

FIGURE 4 G minor pentatonic, extended position FIGURE 5a G minor pentatonic, 12th/13th position

8 108 10

8 10 121 0 1 2

11 13 1 51 3 1 5

1513 15

12 1512 15

13 1513 15

FIGURE 5b

G7

12 15 1215

1215

1 1 /2

1 2 15 1 5 1 5 12 1 215

1 2 1 5 1 215

12 12

1

1215

12 15

1/2

1 5 1 5 1215

15 12 1215

3 3

FIGURE 6a G minor pentatonic, 15th position FIGURE 6b G minor pentatonic, extended position

15 181 5 1 7

1 5 1 71 5 1 7

1 5 1 81 5 1 8

13 1513 15 17

1 5 1 715 17 19

1 8 2 018 20 22

FIGURE 7a G minor pentatonic FIGURE 7b G minor pentatonic, extended position

30 2

0 20 2 4

3 53 5 7

3 5 75 7

5 7 97 9

8 10 1 21 0 1 2 1 5

FIGURE 7c

G

3 5 7 5

5

5

7 97

9 99

97

7 5

7

7

7

75 5 97 9

97 8 9

8

11/2

810

1

1 0 1 0

MESSAGE FROM GODEric Clapton in the Sixties

By andy aledort 

For most oF the past five de-cades, British guitarist Eric Clap-tn has been at the frefrnt f 

blues/rck guitar playing. hugh he hasincrprated many different stylistic ele-ments int his music during his lng andvery successful career, Claptn’s legacyas frged lng ag n his brilliance asa virtus slist, and he ill lng be re-membered as ne f the mst imprtantand influential guitarists ever.

his mnth e’ll examine that magicalperid frm 1966 t 1968, hen Claptnestablished the standard fr mdern bluesand rck guitar ith his incendiary rkith Jhn Mayall’s Bluesbreakers andCream—back hen he as cmmnlyreferred t by the mdest nickname d.

hugh Claptn initially gainedrecgnitin ith the Yardbirds, ithhm he played frm octber 1963thrugh March f 1965, his rk iththe Bluesbreakers established him asne f the best guitarists f the day. Hisinspired perfrmance n the 1966 classic Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is alsnterthy fr intrducing a mind-

bling guitar sund. rmed ith his1960 ibsn es Paul Standard, pluggedint a 45-att mdel 1962 Marshall 2x12cmb amplifier, Claptn frged a thick,verdriven sund ith tremendussustain. He rutinely turned the amp fullup, as he liked t say, “till it as abut tburst.” n thse days Claptn used light-gauge Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings(.009–.042).

et’s first lk at the scales Claptnrelies n primarily fr sling. Flling the lead f t f his greatest influences—B.B. King and Buddy uy—Claptn ftenalternated beteen minr and majr

pentatnic scales in his sls. FIGURE 1a illustrates ne f the mst cmmnly usedscale psitins fr minr pentatnic (BBf C F). FIGURE 1b shs a signatureClaptn lick based n this scale in thispsitin: it begins ith a repeated “unisnbend” type lick, as C is bent up ne hlestep t n the string, flled by afretted n the B string. he phrase endsith hammer-ns and pull-ffs played in16th ntes, ending ith a pair f minrthirds, Bf, hich are bent up ne half stept the majr third, B. Subtle use f minr-third-t-majr-third bends is a standardstylistic element f Claptn’s sling.

FIGURE 1c illustrates an extended

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