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Lesson 4: Influence on Clapton

 
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It is all too common in a Texas Blues to go back and play your boogie patterns in between your solo phrases. In this lesson, I am going to show you a way that Freddie King would approach this using double stops and other techniques. Again, his playing had a huge impact on Eric Clapton and the sounds in this lesson may already be familiar to you. Let's listen!

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
The Freddie King Style
Styles:
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
Lesson 4: Influence on Clapton song notation
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Lesson 4: Influence on Clapton By Anders Mouridsen

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Questions & Answers

1 year ago
Hi Great lick and fun to play!! I have a theory question: the lick is based on harmonized double stops. According to what I understand, as the key is E, the lick should be based on the E Mixolydian scale. If I apply this scale though, the third double stop should be G#-B, instead of G-B, as you are playing. I know that what you play is correct, as it sounds great and as I have seen it used this way in other songs. I can't explain it from a theoretical point of view 'though. I could say that G-B are part of the minor pentatonic, hence it sounds great or that it works because G is pulled slightly sharp ... or maybe both ... But I don't know if that is the correct explanation . Am I missing something? Thanks for your feedback.
Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! You're not missing anything! A hallmark of the blues is the blurring between major and minor third sounds. That particular double stop leans on the minor 3rd - which you correctly state is not part of E mixolydian. But it is common to interchange the minor 3rd for the major 3rd and vice versa in blues and rock - and, indeed, it does sound cool when you bend that double stop slightly sharp to approach that major 3rd note. Hope this helps!