In this Eric Clapton style guitar lesson, I have lent the backing track towards the Cream recording of 'Sitting on Top of the World'. It's not the same, but is a good reference point if you want to check out the phrasing I'm going for with regards to what Eric plays. To keep things authentic, I have improvised from start to finish, and have tried to navigate the major and minor pentatonics in much the same way as the young Eric Clapton did back then, all the time thinking about note choice, vibrato, phrasing and string bends.

The Gear:

So we are looking at elements to Eric's playing at that time back in the late 60's. In Cream he was using a Gibson 335 and a hand painted psychedelic SG. He was using Marshalls on full, both live and in the studio. For certain things in the studio he would also use Fender twins but for this session, think loud Marshall. He utilised simple Blues licks for spice, but a lot of his playing at the time, in between the moments of fire, was all about great phrasing and note choice. This is the part players think they can do when you mention Blues, but it's very hard to execute and an art to do it well. Eric consistently throughout his career, has taken the humble major and minor pentatonic and through great vibrato, string bends, slides, hammer ons and pull-offs, he has made the guitar speak to millions.

Guitar playing is as personal as your own voice, so I will always sound like a poor imitation of the man himself, but hopefully you will get something out of seeing me try. Trust me, to really play like Eric is much harder than you think!