Members leftystratman Posted March 28, 2016 Members Share Posted March 28, 2016 I just found an old video of my band jamming out while my guitar gently weeps, so I uploaded it to YouTube. I tried to play like the Slowhand, randomly improvising, and I would love to have some pointers from the veterans! I'm getting back to playing in a band, so I'd much appreciate any advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted March 28, 2016 Members Share Posted March 28, 2016 Sounds alright. You could play more motivic and leave out some of the pentatonic connectivity but it's improvising. You gotta find your way. With most that means walking the same old trails till you get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftystratman Posted March 28, 2016 Author Members Share Posted March 28, 2016 Sounds alright. You could play more motivic and leave out some of the pentatonic connectivity but it's improvising. You gotta find your way. With most that means walking the same old trails till you get it. Totally agreed. The pentatonic is still the easy way out while improvising, I need to focus more on phrasing and creating melody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 28, 2016 Members Share Posted March 28, 2016 I thought you captured the essence of the weeping guitar from the original recording. An area where I think you could improve, especially if you are attempting to "play Clapton", is in the phrasing. Clapton's style is more BB King than SRV. If you listen to BB King you'll notice that he leaves a lot of space between the phrases. Clapton does this too but it's more obvious with BB. Letting the music breath makes it more listenable and gives it longevity. When everything runs together, like it did in your example, it can become tiring even when it is good and not hold the listener's interest. In addition to BB King, I would suggest litening to Robben Ford - maybe even jam along with the recordings - to get some good ideas on using space in your playing. Notice on this track... … how he draws the listener in with the quiet bits and the spaces increase the anticipation so that when he does cut loose near the end it really means something. If he had played that way (cutting loose) throughout the whole piece it would have lost the impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted March 29, 2016 Members Share Posted March 29, 2016 Don't attempt to play Clapton. He is hard and has lots of friends in the mafia. Seriously though, this definitely captures the feel of Clapton's solo. My thoughts: 1. The solo is too long. If you ever play this live, keep it short, sweet but good.2. I know those parts are all about the 'weeping', but your technique on the long bends near the beginning are a bit too forced, and come across as a bit unpolished or rough. Also, you are bending too much and too repeatedly up to the root note... in that solo the more interesting part is where he goes to the third or fourth in those phrases IMO.3. Phrasing - think about where it all starts and ends in its bursts.4. The guys behind you weren't behind you enough - they need to back off and produce a base for you on the solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftystratman Posted March 29, 2016 Author Members Share Posted March 29, 2016 1. The solo is too long. If you ever play this live, keep it short, sweet but good. 2. I know those parts are all about the 'weeping', but your technique on the long bends near the beginning are a bit too forced, and come across as a bit unpolished or rough. Also, you are bending too much and too repeatedly up to the root note... in that solo the more interesting part is where he goes to the third or fourth in those phrases IMO. 3. Phrasing - think about where it all starts and ends in its bursts. 4. The guys behind you weren't behind you enough - they need to back off and produce a base for you on the solo. it's true, it was way too long, I wan't going to play that long. at the end of the first bit, I thought the singer would come back! but he kept strumming, so I also kept playing random licks there. thanks for the tips! I'm always learning something new! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftystratman Posted March 29, 2016 Author Members Share Posted March 29, 2016 I thought you captured the essence of the weeping guitar from the original recording. An area where I think you could improve, especially if you are attempting to "play Clapton", is in the phrasing. Clapton's style is more BB King than SRV. If you listen to BB King you'll notice that he leaves a lot of space between the phrases. Clapton does this too but it's more obvious with BB. Letting the music breath makes it more listenable and gives it longevity. When everything runs together, like it did in your example, it can become tiring even when it is good and not hold the listener's interest. In addition to BB King, I would suggest litening to Robben Ford - maybe even jam along with the recordings - to get some good ideas on using space in your playing. Notice on this track... … how he draws the listener in with the quiet bits and the spaces increase the anticipation so that when he does cut loose near the end it really means something. If he had played that way (cutting loose) throughout the whole piece it would have lost the impact. Loved that video, thanks!! it's great to see how he plays off what the rest of the band are playing, too. very tasteful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted March 29, 2016 Members Share Posted March 29, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 29, 2016 Members Share Posted March 29, 2016 I couldn't hear it very well so I'm not sure if you were using it, but you want to use a Leslie cab emulator with a medium speed warble to get that bent note sound. That's a key item to getting a close match besides the notes themselves. You should also dig up some more contemporary versions of the songs. There was a Tribute version to Harrison after he dies that Clapton played on that really smokes. The beat is better accented to a more modern rock feel and it gives you a nice groove to playing the song over the original which is pretty tame sounding by todays standards. I played the song for a good 10 years in a band and the newer version Clapton did is allot more fun to play but it does keep most of what the original had, minus Harrison of course. Clapton was doing allot of other fill in work after Cream and he did several solos on other peoples albums. If you want to capture more of Clapton's style from that era there's one song he did on Steven Stills first solo album called "Come Back Home". You may be able to find it. After playing to that one a few times and the Beatles tune will feel real simple afterwards. (Its a good album by the way, Hendrix does a very unique solo on that album too) You'll find the song at approximately the 13:44 mark on this You Tube. Clapton kicks in about 1/2 way through. I learned allot from it when I first learned it. I think its one of his best solos myself. He uses all those riffs throughout his career. [video=youtube;AYQjxZURQwE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AYQjxZURQwE#t=82 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted March 30, 2016 Moderators Share Posted March 30, 2016 Don't attempt to play Clapton. He is hard and has lots of friends in the mafia. I played him at chess and Twister. He's very good at Twister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesmann Posted March 31, 2016 Members Share Posted March 31, 2016 [quote woops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesmann Posted March 31, 2016 Members Share Posted March 31, 2016 I thought you guys did great on this tune. I don't know if I could give any pointers other than play and listen, seek and find with every tune you select to do. research your gear. A lot can be said with a few pedals. I did my attempt on this song a few years ago with a cheap 8 track boss thingy that I put on youtube too. its ok I guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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