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76 GUITAR PLAYER OCTOBER 2000 guitarplayer.com ric Clapton and B.B. King—two of the most exciting and original guitarists to play the blues—have instantly recognizable sounds. Is this because of their tone? Their phrasing? Their touch? Yes, yes, and yes! These, and many less tangible clues, tell us who we’re hearing. n Like most of us, King and Clapton started by copying their heroes. For King, the list included T-Bone Walker, Lonnie Johnson, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Clapton was inspired by Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and the three Kings—Freddie, B.B., and Albert. Eventually, King and Clapton transformed their hero worship into the unique styles we now know and love. But how and when did the Jell-O set in its mold? The best way to answer these questions is to revisit early and mid-period recordings by King and Clapton, and observe how each guitarist spun new fabric from the threads of their forebears. Blues a la King In the mid 1950s, King was under the spell of T-Bone Walker, who blended jazz, R&B, and jump blues into a refined, modern hybrid. Ex. 1, a hip turnaround lick, shows the kind of jazzy lines that were part of King’s Walker-inspired vocab- ulary at the time. Note the chromatic descent from E to D in bar 1, and the descending D and Db triad shapes in bar 2 (beats one through three). The dissonant Db triad eventually works its way down to a C triad (the first three eighth- notes of bar 3) before outlining the tonic G chord with B and D—its 3 and 5. Regal King Among King enthusiasts, there is little debate that Live at the Regal is one of his finest works— and one of the classic live records. Recorded in 1964, the album captures King holding court at Chicago’s Regal Theater, backed by a tight, six-man ensemble. We hear how he could work an audience of young fans into an ecstatic fren- zy with his combination of crafty showmanship, emotive guitar, and honey-toned vocals. One of the most precious jewels in Live at the Regal’s crown is “Sweet Little Angel”—a King original and a staple of his ’50s and ’60s live shows. His performance is chock-full of choice licks, and Ex. 2 offers a sweet taste of slow-blues sugar. The final G, C, G, C, C cadence in bar 2 is a patented King move—particularly the double C at the end of the line, which is played on the first and second strings, respec- tively. You can fret the final C with your 3rd or 4th finger, and you can either hit the note spot on or slide into it from a half-step below for a King-sanctioned variation. Thrilling Blues King followed Live at the Regal with a string of sparkling releases, but his next big record was 1969’s Completely Well, which featured his ca- reer-making crossover hit, “The Thrill Is Gone.” This is where we really begin to see King move beyond his ’50s jump-blues roots and into his own style. Although the moody, minor-key “Thrill” contains slightly schmaltzy, overdubbed violins, most of the album features a revved-up King and raw, meaty tones. Based on some of King’s Completely Well ideas, Ex. 3 offers a stirring route from I to IV (a progression found in the fourth and fifth bars of a typical 12-bar blues). Notice how the tension builds in bar 1 with the use of upbeats (the and of beats one and two) and a blustery hammer/ pull move (beat four). The rhythmic tension ========================= T A B & = 134ö # 44 ö ö ö öb ö öb ö ö ö ö ö öb ön öb ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö Î G D 12 12 10 11 11 10 12 12 12 10 11 9 10 11 8 9 3 3 1 2 2 1 3 3 3 1 1 2 2 3 3 1 1 2 3 1 10 10 10 12 9 8 ===================== T A B & = 64ö 44 î ö#ö ö ö eö# öö öö ö ö e# ö ö ö ö ö ö î ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 3 1 3 1 2 2 1 3 1 1 C 10 8 8 10 7 8 8 9 8 8 9 10 8 8 8 8 3 13 ============================ T A B & = 140ö ### 44 ä e öJ ä öJ e ön ö ö ö ö ö 3 ( ) ( ) ö . ö ä öJ ö . öJ î 3 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 3 ( ) ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ A D7 12 12 (14) 12 12 (13) 10 10 12 11 10 (15) 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B B grad. B 11 12 öJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ’ Ex. 1 Ex. 2 Ex. 3 then releases in bars 2 and 3, where there is rel- atively little activity. Bar 2 has another kind of tension, however, as you gradually bend B (and of beat two) up to D. Your audience should won- der, “Wow—are you going to make it?” Lucille Rattles and Hums In the ’70s and early ’80s, King’s albums— such as To Know You Is to Love You and Midnight Believer—presented his vocals as the main at- traction, and his guitar tones tended to be a little thinner and less present in the mix. But in 1988, King teamed up with U2 and producer Jimmy Iovine to record “When Love Comes to Town” on Rattle and Hum. This song bares the brashest tones King’s fans had heard in a long while. His lead breaks on “When Love Comes to Town” are righteous, matching U2’s fiery energy blow for blow. Drawn from King’s ideas, Ex. 4 demonstrates the action. This four-bar phrase begins with an attention-getting, E minor pen- tatonic burst. King brightens the minor mood by following the descending five-note run with C#—a note from E major pentatonic. Again, King emphasizes upbeats to add ten- sion to the melodic line. Here’s how: • By starting on the last eighth-note of bar 1, he anticipates the first note of bar 2. • The Gn on the and of beat two adds more upbeat momentum. • The final bent B (and of beat four) finishes the bar on an upbeat. Set between the decidedly unsyncopated bar 1 and the even more square bar 3, the up- beat-heavy bar 2 perfectly balances the phrase’s overall feel. King is a master of such controlled tension, and this is one of the skills that separates the men from the boys in blues. Slowhand’s Blues Power While Eric Clapton’s work in the Yardbirds is noteworthy, it wasn’t until he left the birds nest and joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers that he came into his own as a heavyweight blues cham- pion. Ex. 5—a I-IV-I phrase inspired by Clapton’s Bluesbreaker-era lines—illustrates how the young Slowhand was already cocksure enough to take his time with a solo. Note the use of sustained notes in each bar, which give the phrase a com- ================================ T A B & = 116ö #### 44 ön ö ö ön ö öJ ä ä öJ ö ö e# ön ö ö ä 3 e ö( ( ) ) 1 1 3 3 3 1 ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ 3 2 10 10 12 12 9 9 11 11 11 (12) 11 9 10 (12) E B R B1/4 B Î ö ö ö e# ön ö ö ö ú1 1 3 3 3 1 ( ) ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7 9 6 7 7 (8) 5 5 B ö 8 4 . Ex. 4 hough it’s not known what equipment King actually used for the raw, barky tones of his 1950s sessions, there are several mid-’50s photos of him onstage with a blond Gibson ES-5 (equipped with three P-90s, three volume controls, and one master tone control) and an early-’50s Fender “wide-panel” 2x10 Super. Around 1960, King took up a PAF- equipped Gibson ES-355, and his tone instantly morphed into the rich, voice-like wail we typically associate with him. Judging from the sound of his ’60s and early-’70s albums, it’s likely that he recorded them using Fender Twin Reverb or Super Reverb combos. Since the ’80s, King has played his 355-inspired Gibson Lucille signature model through Lab Series L5 amplifiers. Clapton achieved his ballsy Bluesbreakers-era tone using the now-classic (but then- revolutionary) Les Paul-and-Marshall union—specifically, a 1960 Les Paul Standard through a 50-watt ’62 Marshall 2x12 combo outfitted with non-stock KT66 power tubes. Clapton usually ran the amp flat out, despite recording engineers’ pleas that he turn down. His prized Paul was stolen in ’66, and he replaced it with a 1961 SG-shaped Les Paul. Recording with Cream, Clapton ran this guitar into a pair of 100-watt Marshall stacks. (In the July ’85 GP, engineer Tom Dowd recalled Cream’s 1967 Disraeli Gears sessions: “I re- member Eric using a wah-wah pedal and a pair of Marshall stacks, but I don’t remember a fuzzbox. The sound was mainly just the Marshalls turned all the way up.”) For Clapton’s round, “woman tone”—as featured on Disraeli Gears’ “Swlabr” and “Outside Woman Blues” solos—he would roll back his tone controls, or leave the wah at half-mast. In the ’70s, Clapton ditched his Les Pauls and pledged allegiance to the Strat. He plugged into an early-’60s blond Fender Showman and various high-watt Music Man amps to dial in relatively clean tones. In ’94, he dug into his collection of vintage guitars and amps to record From the Cradle. Among the instruments featured on this roots-revisit- ed album were an early-’60s ES-335, several Gibson archtops, and a Fender Custom Shop Eric Clapton Signature Strat. He also used various Fender amps, including a Twin, a Champ, and his blond Showman. —AL T O N A L R E C A L L T posed—in both senses of the word—vibe. Also notice how bar 2’s downbeat D is set up by a de- scending triplet (Cn, A, E) on beat four of bar 1, and how bar 3’s A7 is anticipated by bar 2’s two final notes (C#, A). Such anticipations can really help keep a solo rolling. (For a more detailed ex- ploration of Clapton’s Bluesbreakers-era hand- iwork, check out Jesse Gress’ transcription of Clapton’s “Little Girl” solo—from Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton—in the Sept. ’00 GP.) Heavy Cream After leaving the Bluesbreakers in July 1966, Clapton formed Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce. While the guitarist’s musical heart and soul still belonged to the blues, Baker and Bruce shared a penchant for a wild, polyrhythmic, electrified breed of jazz. The fusion of these elements made Cream unique, and gave Clapton a new context in which to work his blues mojo. There are several old-school blues numbers on Fresh Cream—the band’s 1966 debut—includ- ing Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and Skip James’ “I’m So Glad.” But ironically, the record’s most down and dirty cut is the Bruce original, “Sleepy Time Time.” The slow, 12-bar blues offers a golden op- portunity for Clapton to burn, and he does just that. Ex. 6 is a I-IV-I-V7 turnaround lick in the spirit of E.C.’s “Sleepy Time Time” moves. Strange Blue Disraeli Gears, the follow-up to Fresh Cream, found the band stepping into psychedelic ter- ritory, with more adventurous songwriting and wilder tones—including Clapton’s first recorded use of a wah pedal. Still, his blues roots were as evident as ever on such cuts as “Strange Brew” (on which E.C. borrows liberally from Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” solo) and “Sunshine of Your Love.” Of course, a big part of Clapton’s magic is that even when he cops licks from other players, he adapts the phrasing and dynamics to make the lines his own. (As Clapton admitted in the July ’95 GP: “I’ll start with a Freddie King line and then go to a B.B. King line. I’ll do some- thing to join them up, so that part will be me.”) Derived from Clapton’s “Strange Brew” solo, Ex. 7 shows an archetypal Slowhand move in which you deftly pivot between the eighth-position and fifth-position A minor pen- tatonic boxes. The pivot point is the third-string slide down from the 9th fret to 7th fret (bar 2, beat three). Simply reverse the maneuver to shift back up (bar 3, and of beat four). Bell Bottom Blues In 1970, Clapton rode yet another musical wave with Derek and the Dominos. Recruiting bottleneck ace Duane Allman, Clapton created the masterpiece Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with songs such as “Layla,” “Bell Bottom Blues, ” and “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?” Layla showed a mellower side of Clapton, and the songs had little to do with the blues. But even without a 12-bar, I-IV-V backdrop, Slowhand couldn’t help but imbue his lines with a sad ============================= T A B & = 64ö 44### e ö ö ö e öb ö ön ö öJ ä ön ö ö 3 3 3 ú . ön ö# ö 3 ún . Î A7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8 ( ) ) ( 3 1 1 3 4 1 1 3 1 1 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A7 D7 7 (9) 5 5 7 (8) 7 5 8 5 5 B B R B1/4 7 5 5 6 3 ====================== T A B & = 58ö 44 ö ö# ú ö ö öb ö 3 öb ä ö ö ö ö öb ä ä öb ö ö 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 4 1 3 `~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~`~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ C F C G7 P F 9 9 8 10 10 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 11 10 10 B1/4 ö# ö .~~~~~ ~~~~~ 1 2 C 8 9 . ================================ T A B & = 106ö ### 44 ön ö . ú . ön ö . ö ö ö ö ön 1 3 2 1 D7 let ring - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8 10 10 8 8 10 7 5 B1/4 ú Î ä ö ö ön ön ö Î A7 ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 1 3 2 ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ 7 7 9 8 8 8 10 e 9 3 ö .~~~~~ ~~~~~ Ex. 5 Ex. 6 Ex. 7 soulfulness. Ex. 8, an A minor pentatonic lick evocative of Clapton’s Layla-era playing, suggests this reflective side. The faux pedal-steel move (bar 1, beat three) plays up the lick’s slightly coun- try flavor. Make sure to hold the bent E (and of beat two) when you strike the high G, so that you have, in effect, a released bend on the second six- teenth-note of beat three. Rocking the Cradle With such records as 461 Ocean Boulevard, Another Ticket, Money and Cigarettes, and Behind the Sun, Clapton spent much of the late 1970s and ’80s positioning himself as a singer and song- writer, and it seemed he had hung up his “guitar hero” hat for good. But in 1994, Clapton released From the Cradle—a collection of classic tunes by Lowell Fulson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, El- more James, and Freddie King. The record is much more than a salutary gesture to Clapton’s ancestors—it’s a full-blown bluesfest, with riveting vocal performances and some of the baddest gui- tar he has ever recorded. Ex. 9 is in the same mood as Clapton’s soloing on some of Cradle’s slow blues tracks, such as “Third Degree,” “Reconsider Baby,” and “Some- day After a While.” With its opening triplet, this phrase is a variation of one of the prime blues licks of all time. The lick is generally attributed to T-Bone Walker, who used it on his early-’40s recording of “Stormy Monday.” It’s hard to over- state Walker’s impact on blues guitarists. As B.B. King himself explained in the Mar. ’75 GP, “I can still hear T-Bone in my mind today from that first record I heard—‘Stormy Monday.’ He was the first electric guitar player I heard on record. He made me know I just had to go out and get an electric guitar.” For a jazzy, Walker-esque twist, replace the b3 (Bb, first string, 6th fret), with the 9 (A, a half-step lower, at the 5th fret). The lick works nicely as an intro or turn- around, and can be very effective in bars 6 and 7 of a 12-bar blues in G—in which case, the chords would be C (or C7) for the first bar of the lick, and G (or G7) for the second bar. Here’s why this lick sits so nicely at that point in a 12-bar pro- gression: The Bbs reference C7 (they’re the chord’s b7) and the Bns harmonize with G or G7 (they’re the n3). Beyond the Cross- roads “There’s nothing wrong with trying to play like someone—in the beginning. But then as you learn, you start to think that there’s already one of them. So you try to play as you play,” counseled King in the Sept. ’93 GP. In other words, once you’ve got these King- and Clapton-style licks un- der your belt, it’s your duty to make them your own. How? Try these tips for extra-credit blues homework: • Using each of these phrases as a template, craft new licks by slightly varying the rhythms and note choices. Each lick can spawn scores of variations. • The tempo markings are given to indicate the tempo at which Clapton or King might play each respective lick, but you can personalize these lines by trying them at a variety of tem- pos—from dirge to walking pace to sprint. • Try playing some of these licks an octave higher or lower than written. Recasting them up or down an octave can give them a new spin, while keeping their musical conception intact. (And while you’re at it, try transposing them to other keys. Sometimes just moving a lick up or down a few frets lets you hear it from a different perspective.) • Listen to recordings of King and Clapton without trying to dissect their lines note for note. Try to tune into the essence of their phrases with- out literally walking in the kings’ footsteps. g =================== T A B & = 66ö 44 ä ö ö ö e ö ö ö ö e öb ö ö Å ö . öJ î 1 3 1 ( ) ( ( ) ) 3 4 3 ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Am C/G F G 5 5 7 7 (9) 8 (9) 7 7 7 (8) 5 5 (5) hold B - - - - - - - - R B R ==================== T A B & = 92ö # 44 e ö ö ö ön ö öb ö ö e ö ö öb ö 3 3 3 3 e ö ö ö ö öj î 3 3 ( ) ) ( G 3 1 1 4 4 3 3 1 5 (7) 3 3 3 3 6 6 3 5 5 (7) 3 5 3 4 5 5 3 2 B1/4B B R b n2 3 3 1 1 Ex. 8 Ex. 9 THE KING’S ENGLISH o add an authentic, singing sound to the King licks in this lesson, you’ll need to enhance on your notes with a touch of B.B.’s “hummingbird” vibrato. Try this: With your fretting-hand elbow loosely planted at your side, extend your hand and gently curl your fingers