52 weeks of blues

Eric Patrick Clapton is one of the greatest guitarists and blues musicians who has ever lived. From straight blues, to psychedelic heavy blues, to clean electric blues, to traditional acoustic blues, Clapton has been at the very forefront of music for 40 years. He is massively successful, winnning 18 Grammy awards and is currently the only three time inductee in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Over his long and distinguished career, he has experimented and innovated, but has never strayed from the soul of the blues.
Eric was born on March 30, 1945 in the village of Ripley in Surrey, England. His mother was 16 year old Patricia Clapton and his father was Edward Fryer, a 25 soldier from Canada posted to England. Fryer shipped off to war, then back to Canada, before Eric was born, leaving him to be raised by Patricia’s mother, Rose, and her second husband Jack Clapp. When Eric was a toddler, his mother married another Canadian soldier and left to Germany and eventually Canada. Eric was raised believing Rose and Jack were his parents and that his mother was really his sister, but thought there was something odd about not sharing the same surname as Rose and Jack. At the age of 9 Pat and her husband visited England bring with them their 6 year old son (Eric’s half brother) and the truth of his parentage was revealed to him.
This affected young Eric deeply, he became sullen and withdrawn. He wax always a quiet and polite boy, and an above average student at school, but the shock deeply scarred him. He lost interest in studies and failed the exams given at the end of primary (elementary) school. He became increasingly withdrawn, and invested most of his time into art. After two years at a middle school, he was sent to a new school to study art at age 13. He began to see himself as different to other people and an outsider.
His family were a musical family: Rose played piano and the house as filled with the sounds of big bands and jazz. His birth father was also a pianist. In 1958 rock and roll exploded onto the words and for his 13th birthday Eric asked for and received a steel string Hoyer guitar. After a few weeks of trying to play, he lost interest and put it aside to concentrate on art. In 1961, at the age of 16, Eric was accepted into the prestigious Kingston College of Art on a one year probation, but in the months leading up to the start of the school year something happened: Eric discovered the blues.
On American radio shows, he first heard the electrified Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and the three Kings – BB, Albert and Freddie. Eric connected deeply to the non-traditional roots of the blues, he saw the blues and bluesmen as the same outsiders that was. He picked up his cheap acoustic again and began to try to emulate what these black Americans were doing. He bought himself a cheap reel to reel player and recorded his practice session, and spent long hours listening back until he could perfectly copy what his idols were doing.
At Kingston, his focus was purely in the blues and he was expelled for failing to do any class work. He was 16, and was working as a labourer on building sites and stayng up all night trying to learn the blues. He started busking on the street and in 1962 convinced his parents to buy him an electric guitar – a Kay copy of a Gibson Es-335 that Freddie King played. He started playing in local pubs and in early 1963 formed his first band with Tom McGuinness who would go on to play with Manfred Mann. This R&B band performed in local pubs and clubs where Eric started to gain a reputation as a hot blues player. The band dissolved in August and Eric went back to the construction sites for a few months before he and Tom were asked to play with Casey Jones and the Engineers, a touring band set up by Brain Cassser to promote the top 40 single he had released a month earlier. After a 7 gig stretch in which Clapton became the most talked about young guitarist in the scene, in October of 1963 Clapton was asked to replace the guitarist of a band who had a regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club. The Crawdaddy club was the place for blues in London; the previous regular band were the Rolling Stones. The new band had only been formed in May that year as a backing band, and they needed a gifted guitarist to headline at the Crawddady. They were called The Yardbirds.
They played Chicago style blues and with Clapton in the mix they exploded, becoming the biggest pub band in London, attracting sell out crowds where ever they played. The great harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II saw them at a festival a few weeks after Clapton joined, and asked them to play behind him in December 1963 at the Crawdaddy. The gig was recorded and was released as an album titled “Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds”, Clapton’s first ever record. In 1964 the band released their debut single, a cover of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I wish you Would” and followed it up with Sonny Boy Williamson I’s standard “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”, which reached number 44 on the UK charts. In December 1964 another live album was released – “Five Live Yardbirds” – featuring songs by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon. Later that month that played at Royal Albert Hall. Eric developed a habit during this time of standing on stage and replacing a string whenever he broke one, which was common. The crowd would start a slow hand clap whenit happened, which lead to his nick name – “Slowhand”.
In early 1965, the Yardbirds recorded a pop single titled “For Your Love”. Although he recorded on the track, Clapton was disappointed with the pop direction that the rest of the band wanted to go in, forsaking their blues roots. The single was released on March 25, and Clapton quit the band citing his desire to remain a blues guitarist on the same day. He recommended his friend and accomplished session guitarist Jimmy Page as his replacement; Page turned it down out of loyalty to Clapton and instead suggested Jeff Beck. Beck played his first gig with the Yardbirds 2 days after Clapton walked out.
He immediately joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, an influential British Blues band that had released a few singles. He took a break for a few months to go to Greece, then returned in November 1965. The following year, the album “Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton” was released to major success – peaking at number 6 on the UK charts. On the album, Clapton used a Gibson Les Paul plugged into a Marshall JTM 45 amplifier. The sound that he got has been described as “the sound that launched British blues-rock in the mid-1960s.” The Les Paul/Marshall set up became the standard of all blues and rock that followed, and is today still the most popular guitar/amplifier combination in the world. The JTM 45 amplifier is called “The Bluesbreaker” after this album. Clapton revolutionised had modern music – after the release of the album graffiti started appearing in London, simply stating “Clapton is God”. He was 21, and had been playing guitar for 6 years.
In March 1966, Clapton had joined a studio only band named “The PowerHouse” along with Paul Jones and Jack Bruce from Manfred Mann and Steve Winwood. Ginger Baker was the intended drummer, but had other commitments. They recorded a few songs and Clapton enjoyed the freedom that came with being the front man. In June that year, Mayall and Clapton saw Buddy Guy in concert, playing with just a drummer and bass. Inspired by the freedom and creativity offered by such a set up, Clapton agreed to joined Ginger Baker’s new unnamed project, insisting that Jack Bruce be hired as the bass player although Baker had fired Bruce from a previous band, which led to Bruce pulling a knife. The three piece considered them selves the best musicians in London, the cream of the crop and that decided their name: “Cream”.
In the 28 months of Cream’s existence, they released 3 big selling albums and a host of hit singles. They fused their blues roots with psychedelic tones, used new technologies like the wah pedal, and created a sound that influenced all rock music that came afterwards – Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath both were heavily influenced by Cream. They sold 15 million albums and were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. The band fell apart due to internal conflicts but all three members were world famous by the time it ended. Clapton was regarded as only behind Jimi Hendrix as the best guitarist in the world.
After Cream, Clapton focussed on being a side man and collaborated frequently with Beatles guitarist George Harrison. He recorded the solo for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, featured on the Beatles ‘White Album’, performed as lead guitarist on Harrison’s first solo album. He appeared with John Lennon, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell in ‘The Dirty Mac’ for a TV special. In 1969, tensions in the Beatles saw Harrison quit for a few days – the remaining Beatles lead by John Lennon were recorded discussing approaching Eric Clapton to join the band as his replacement.
In 1969 he formed Blin Faith, a super group that debuted in frnt of 100,000 people and recorded an album before disbanding. Clapton performed as a side man for various bands and projects, and in 1970 recorded and released his first and self titled solo album, which included the hit “After Midnight”. More side work and guest spots continued, and seeking to get away from his virtuosity, Clapton formed a new band with the concept of playing as aband, rather than showcasing his guitar work. The name was a play on words of a nickname – Del – and Eric’ – Derek and the Dominos. The band toured and recorded an album in late 1970 that was the product of numerous free spirited jam sessions. Clapton mat Duanne Allman of the Allman brother band, and encouraged him to record slide guitar on the album. Released in late 1970, ‘Layla and Assorted Love Songs’ was an immediate flop. It wasn’t until ‘Layla’ was released as a single that the album attained great success, and is now days viewed as the epitome of Clapton’s early career.
Calpton was burnt out and was suffering a heroin and cocaine addiction, not to mention a love affair with George Harrison’s wife (and subject of Layla) Patty Boyd. He took a hiatus from music, but returned in 1974 with a string of successful solo albums and singles – “I Shot the Sheriff”, his first number 1 a cover of a Bob Marley tune that was instrumental in exposing reggae to a massive audience; “Wonderful Tonight”, “Cocaine” to name a few. He released 10 successful solo albums and a host of guest performances from 1974 to 1990.
In 1990, he was touring with Stevie Ray Vaughan when Vaughan and members of his crew were killed in a helicopter accident. The year after this tragedy, Clapton’s 4 year old son Conor fell to his death from a 53rd story window in New York City. Contrary to rumours, Conor’s mother had care of the child and Eric was not present when the accident occurred, though he did arrive about 5 minutes alter. Clapton had been working on the soundtrack fro the film “Rush” at the time, and focussing his grief into his music he created the song “Tears in Heaven”. Conor’s death marked a turning point of sort in Clapton music, he produced more acoustic based material and explored the acoustic roots of blues.
1992 saw the release of an MTV Unplugged album which has sold in excess on 24 million copies, making it one of the biggest selling albums of all time, he followed it up with an album of blues standards, a 1999 compilation of blues songs, a 2004 album of Robert Johnson songs and a follow up album of out-takes from those sessions.
As of 2015, Eric Clapton has released 22 solo studio albums, 11 live solo albums and 37 albums perform with or as part of a band. He is single handedly the most influential blues guitarist since Hendrix, and is a living legend of the blues.

“Ramblin’ on my Mind” is a blues standard. The original was recorded in 1936 by the legendary Robert Johnson in his first recording session. Johnson played it in open E tuning, using a slide. This version was recorded live at Madison Square Garden on Feb 26, 2008.
Clapton plays it in standard tuning, in the key of E. It’s a quick change 12 bar, with one bar of the IV chord used as bar 2. He actually plays it using a pick, and finger picking when necessary using his ring and middle fingers in a technique called hybrid picking. I finger pick it, so it is sometimes hard to get the exact same sounds – especially with the ‘rakes’ he uses in the intro and solos. Clapton pays homage to Johnson’s overall style (and not specifically trying to be faithful to the original version of the song), with the intro being a great example of the techniques Johnson used in several songs.
Clapton came to fame as an electric guitar maestro in the late 60s, and his solos here show it. Fast, clean picking, perfectly accurate fast bends and extended runs are all a feature. He combines bass notes and higher chord tones really well and has an abundance of ideas all throughout the song. Take it slow, don’t worry about hitting the bass notes until you are comfortable with the melody and you’ll get it.
There are a lot of rakes in the solos – heavily muting 3 or 4 strings and raking the pick down them to hit a high note. This is easier to do with a pick, but generally with your fingers you want to use the side of the palm of your picking hand to mute the strings, then starting with the thumb kind of ‘roll’ your hand off and time it so that you lift your palm off exactly as the ring finger hits the higher string. It’s difficult to execute, but it’s worth some time experimenting with it, because its adds a great emphasis and flourish to a note you want to highlight.

E                        A                                E
I got ramblin', I got ramblin' on my mind
A                                                           E
I got ramblin', I got ramblin' on my mind
B7                                   A                                    E
I hate to leave my baby, but she treats me so unkind

I'm going down to the station, catch that first mail train I see
I'm going down to the station, catch that first mail train I see
I got the blues about Miss So-and-So, Son got the blues about me.

Solo

I got mean things, I got mean things on my mind
Little girl little girl, I got mean things on my mind
I hate to leave my baby but she treats me so unkind

Outro

Straight into the Robert Johnson homage with 2 of Johnson’s signature licks in the opening turnaround, then into another of his signature rhythms in the proper 12 bar. Johnson was a master at separating melody and bass, and you can see it with the bass hitting the one-and-two-and shuffle while he plays that little riff on the G string to end one bar and start the next.

Asterisks mean bend the note. Verse 1:
Verse 2:
Verse 3 is pretty similar to the intro progression.

Clapton plays the solo over 2 progressions, and it’s a master class of blues soloing. The rakes help to break up the flow which adds emphasis and momentum to the different sections. He generally misses the bass notes, but feel free to add them in. Keep your foot tapping so you don’t lose the rhythm.

The opening riff in the outro is a thing of sublime beauty. The 3 bar extended descending run is glorious. A master guitarist playing at his best. Again, keep your foot tapping out the pulse of the song.