Intermediate
Intermediate
- Focus on Clapton’s continuously inventive rhythms.
- Add slides, bends, and grace notes to otherwise ordinary phrases.
- Understand how most guitar licks can be modular by playing the same notes over different chords.
Recorded live in concert, March 10, 1968 (first show) at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, Cream’s version of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” still, 56 years later, stands as a high point of blues/rock soloing. While numerous magazine articles, book chapters, and album liner notes have been dedicated to this one solo of Eric Clapton’s–which is actually five different choruses/solos of 12-bar blues–the one aspect that could use even more attention is Clapton’s use of rhythm. Long story short, over the course of 60 measures, Clapton never once plays the same rhythm twice!
To make this lesson a bit more manageable I have focused on just the first 12-bar blues progression. I have also opted to:
1. Not do a note-for-note transcription (there are several book, magazine, and online transcriptions readily available) but rather present the nature of the solo, which is to say, embrace the spirit of “modular lick improvisation.”
2. Modify some of the pitch choices to keep the entire lesson rooted in the so-called “pentatonic box,” more formally known as A minor pentatonic.
3. Modify some of the phrasing, changing some of Clapton’s original moves that veer out of the pentatonic box.
4. Move a couple of the phrases down an octave.
5. Play all the licks twice, first over an A chord, then over a D chord, to demonstrate that these licks are modular and can be played over multiple chords, thus increasing their potential uses.
Clapton’s Rhythms
Ultimately, I’m of the belief that music speaks for itself. Nevertheless, occasionally it’s nice to overanalyze a timeless performance to understand what it is that makes it so. This is that time and place.
Ex. 1 is Clapton’s opening phrase–moved from A major pentatonic to A minor (see notes above). Right from the start, we have something rhythmically curious as Clapton is starting on beat 3 of the measure. Years later Clapton would complain about this, “God, I’m on the 2 and I should be on the 1.” Yet, this is one attribute that contributes to the solo’s charm. Note that this is the only two-measure phrase in the lesson.
Ex. 2 provides another opportunity to skip the downbeat as this lick starts on the “and” of 2. Also note that the rhythms in this phrase are strikingly different from Ex. 1. This rhythmic invention continues throughout.
Ex. 3 gives us our first grace note, a quick hammer-on from C to C#, a blues rock staple that Clapton will reiterate throughout the five solos–however, never the same way twice.
Ex. 4 is noteworthy as it is a simple ascension of the A minor pentatonic, with a quick two-note descending pull-off, though with three different rhythms in the space of one measure.
Ex. 5 is our first lick with a bend. Focus attention on the rhythmic phrasing, as this is a complex move, in particular the second bend, which is performed with staccato phrasing.
Ex. 6 starts with a rapid, hammer-on/pull-off combination, distinct from previous phrases.
Ex. 7 may be a bit tricky for some players as the opening bend is a half-step, played with the index finger (rather than the more common ring-finger bend). It is also worth pointing out that Clapton first performs this C to C# move with a bend, which is then followed by a hammer-on combination of the same two notes.
Ex. 8 is a phrase I have moved down an octave from the original. This lick provides us with our first slide. Note the simple elegance of the rhythms.
Ex. 9 is another down-the-octave move that works wonderfully in this position. It is also a one-measure phrase that has five discrete rhythms and a divine mixture of slurs.
Ex. 10 reconsiders Ex. 7’s phrasing of the C to C# move in reverse: hammer-on first, bend second.
Ex. 11 concludes the first 12-bar with more slurs and, once again, the C to C# phrase, but with altered rhythms.
Four More Solos to Go
It is humbling to realize that after all of those examples we still have 48 more measures to go! Now it’s your turn to break down the phrases. The second 12-bar is the arguably the easiest as it has the fewest notes, nonetheless the articulations will challenge many players. Solos three through five are the barnburners! My main two pieces of advice for those learning those solos:
1. Drop them down an octave. All the licks fall nicely in the pentatonic box at the fifth fret; performing them in the original position (the 17th fret) may be uncomfortable at first, if you’re not used to playing that high up the neck.
2. Play them slowly! The licks are all so rhythmically electrifying that speed is not the crucial factor here. Fast, slow, high, low, these are the least of your concerns, just get those rhythms right. Then start incorporating them into your own playing as soon as possible.
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Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Pedal
The Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Effects Pedal may look like your old favorite but that's where the similarity ends. Improved circuitry with a new chip yields the ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive guitarists crave. Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume while the Hi-Boost/Hi-Cut tone controls adjust brightness. Features true bypass switching, a die-cast zinc case, and 3-year warranty. From subtle cries to shattering screams, the Maxon OD-9 delivers a huge range of tones.
Features
Improved circuitry with a new chip yields ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive
Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume
Hi Boost/Hi Cut tone controls adjust brightness
True bypass switching
Die-cast zinc case
AC/DC operation (order optional Maxon AC210N adapter)
Product Specs
Input: 1/4" mono jack
Output: 1/4" mono jack
Power: 9V DC, 6 mA, center pin minus (not included)
Dimensions: (WxDxH) 74 mm x 124 mm x 54 mm
Weight: 580g
Founding Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has died at 84.
Official statement from Phil Lesh's Facebook page:
He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love. We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time.
This is a developing story.
Vintage-style reverb, tremolo, and vibrato sounds abound in a 3-in-1 stomp that might be the only box you need.
Here’s part two of our look under the hood of the funky rhythm guitar master’s signature 6-string.
Hello and welcome back to Mod Garage. In this edition, we’re continuing our journey through the Fender Cory Wong Stratocaster wiring, bringing it all together.In the previous installment, the last feature on the funky 6-stringer’s signature axe that we discussed was the master volume pot and the corresponding treble-bleed circuit. Now, let’s continue with this guitar’s very special configuration of the tone pots.
Tone pot with Fender Greasebucket tone system:
This 250k tone pot is a standard CTS pot with a 90/10 audio taper found in all U.S.-built Fender guitars. The Cory Wong guitar uses the Fender Greasebucket system, which is added to the pot as a ready-to-solder PCB. The Greasebucket PCB is also available individually from Fender (part #7713546000), though you can use conventional electronic parts for this.
Fender introduced this feature in 2005 on some of the Highway One models and some assorted Custom Shop Strats. The Greasebucket name (which is a registered Fender trademark, by the way) is my favorite of Fender’s marketing names, but don’t let it fool you: Your tone will get cleaner with this modification, not greasy and dirty.
According to Fender, the Greasebucket tone circuit reduces high frequencies without adding bass as the tone knob is turned down. Don’t let that description confuse you. A standard Strat tone control does not add any bass frequencies! As you already know, with a passive system you can’t add anything that isn’t already there. You can reshape the tone by deemphasizing certain frequencies and making others more prominent. Removing highs makes lows more apparent and vice versa. In addition, the use of inductors (which is how a passive pickup behaves in a guitar circuit) and capacitors can create resonant peaks and valleys (band-passes and notches), further coloring the overall tone.
Cory Wong bringing the funk onstage.
This type of band-pass filter only allows certain frequencies to pass through, while others are blocked. The standard tone circuit in a Strat is called a variable low-pass filter (or a treble-cut filter), which only allows the low frequencies to pass through while the high frequencies get sent to ground via the tone cap.
The Greasebucket’s band-pass filter is a combination of a high-pass and a low-pass filter. This is supposed to cut high frequencies without “adding” bass, which has mostly to do with the resistor in series with the pot. That resistor means the control will never get to zero. You can get a similar effect by simply not turning the Strat’s standard tone control all the way down. (The additional cap on the wiper of the Greasebucket circuit complicates things a bit, though; together with the pickups it forms an RLC circuit, but I really don’t want to get into that here.)
The standard Fender Greasebucket tone system is used in the Cory Wong Strat, which includes a 0.1 μF cap and a 0.022 uF cap, along with a 4.7k-ohm resistor in series. These are the values used on the PCB, and without the PCB it looks like the illustration at the top of this column.
Push-push tone pot with preset overwriting function:
The lower tone pot assigned to the bridge pickup is a 250k audio push-push pot with a DPDT switch. The switch is used to engage a preset sound by overwriting the 5-way pickup-selector switch, no matter what switching position it is in. The preset functionality has a very long tradition in the house of Fender, dating back to the early ’50s, when Leo Fender designed a preset bass sound on position 3 (where the typical neck position is on a modern guitar) of the Broadcaster (and later the Telecaster) circuit. Wong loves the middle-and-neck-in-parallel pickup combination, so that’s the preset sound his push-push tone pot is wired for.
The neck pickup has a dedicated tone control while the middle pickup doesn’t, which is also another interesting feature. This means that when you hit the push-push switch, you will engage the neck and middle pickup together in parallel, no matter what you have dialed in on the 5-way switch. Hit the push-push switch again, and the 5-way switch is back to its normal functionality. Instead of a push-push pot, you can naturally use a push-pull pot or a DPDT toggle switch in combination with a normal 250k audio pot.
Here we go for the wiring. For a much clearer visualization, I used the international symbol for ground wherever possible instead of drawing another black wire, because we already have a ton of crossing wires in this drawing. I also simplified the treble-bleed circuit to keep things clearer; you’ll find the architecture of it with the correct values in the previous column.
Cory Wong Strat wiring
Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Wow, this really is a personalized signature guitar down to the bone, and Wong used his opportunity to create a unique instrument. Often, signature instruments deliver custom colors or very small aesthetic or functional details, so the Cory Wong Stratocaster really stands out.
That’s it! In our next column, we will continue our Stratocaster journey in the 70th year of this guitar by having a look at the famous Rory Gallagher Stratocaster, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!