Eric Clapton A look into Rock Blues

By: Levi Lewis

Contents

Eric Clapton Biography Composition History Listening Guide “Hideaway”, “Sunshine of Your Love”,

“Tears in Heaven.”

Biography Introduced to the

Rock Hall of Fame 3 times

one of the most influential guitarist of all time

Number 4 in Rolling Stones 100 best guitarists

Biography Born March 30, 1945 Grew up in Surrey

England Raised by his

Grandparents Very Musical family

Biography Depressed by

unusual circumstances of his childhood

Flunked out of school Attended Hollyfield

Road school of art

Biography Eric asked for his first

guitar at age 13 Played blues Inspired by B.B. King

Biography Eric joined his first

band at 17 Supported himself

through construction labor

Joined the “Yardbirds”

Earned the nickname “God”

Biography Joined “Fresh Cream” Achieved superstar

status Invented new blues

guitar sounds

Biography Eric began his solo

career Made himself known

through the 70’s and 80’s

Won a Grammy for “Tears in Heaven”

Composition History Worked in blues,

rock, Worked in bands,

and as a solo artist

Composition History “Hideaway” 1966 six on the charts in UK The Bluesbreakers Eric Clapton 29 on billboards top 100 Originally written by Freddie King

Composition History “Sunshine of Your Love” (Fresh) Cream Eric Clapton Inspired by Jimi Hendrix Written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown “Woman tone” 1664 Gibson SG

Composition History “Tears in Heaven” Inspired by Clapton’s son Conor Written with the help of Will Jennings Featured in the film “Rush” Clapton won 3 Grammy’s with this song

Listening Guide “Hideaway” 0:05 The drummer

counts them in using his sticks

0:10 Eric’s blues guitar twains in leading the band with amplifier at a high octave

0:11 A pianist tunes into the fast tempo of the blues guitar hammering the pianos action

Listening Guide 0:13 The drummer

gently hits the cymbals of the drums acting as a tambourine joining the allegro mix chanting to the beat of the electric guitar

0:35 The music alternates between the background of the two guitars, tambourine and the piano, with blues guitar

Listening Guide 0:45 By this time the

trombone is highly recognizable with it’s long bursts of sound protruding into the solo

0:56 The blues guitar solo ends and the piano takes over with the cavatina leading the group in short bursts of sound back and forth between roles

Listening Guide 1:53 The blues guitar

takes a short solo leading them to seemingly all stand out, as they compete with each others instruments for glory

2:47 The battle is broken with a harmonica taking the rest of the band back it it’s regular tempo as the harmonica makes it’s solo

Listening Guide 4:00 The bands

tempo picks back up to it’s original beat with the piano and blues guitar standing out

4:17 The pianist strikes his last not hard throwing the lead to the blues guitar

Listening Guide “Sunshine of Your Love” 0:02 Electric guitar

bursts out with alternating notes

0:05 The drummer strikes the toms as it welcomes itself to the song

0:06 The electric guitar and drums alternate between each other

Listening Guide 0:18 The vocalist

begins singing, keeping up with alternations of the drums and guitar

0:53 The guitars tempo changes to fast paced, forcing the drums to slam the toms at a doubled rate

Listening Guide 1:09 The electric

guitar leads the band back to its original tempo and alternation

1:48 The guitar, drums, and vocalist lead back to the faster paced notes and lyrics, then simultaneously hold notes taking us back full circle

Listening Guide 2:47 The electric

guitar solo makes for more complication as it hits even higher octave pitches

2:54 Electric guitar solo ends, bringing us back to theme 1

Listening Guide 3:35 The vocals,

electric guitar and drums return to quicker alternations

3:55 The vocals, electric guitar and drums all hold notes to once again come full circle

Listening Guide “Tears in Heaven” 0:01 The music is

introduced with adagio tempo of acoustic guitar

0:12 The vocals are introduced with two hits on hand percussion

Listening Guide 0:39 The acoustic

guitar tempo get much slower, and the vocalist holds on to his notes much longer. The vocals end with two short chords strung on the acoustic guitar

Listening Guide 1:52 The music once

again comes full circle with a musical solo, only this time there is clearly a flute distinguishable in the background with long held high octave notes

Listening Guide 2:35 We are then

brought back to original theme, that now seems to hold a much slower somber tempo with an incorporated tremolo arm affect on the acoustic guitar to draw out dramatic notes

Listening Guide 3:48 Original tempo

is brought back, with guitar and vocals slowing down

4:10 Chorus is repeated in the lyrics accompanied by theme 2 to bring the song to a close

BibliographyBiography, Composition History, Listening Guidewww.ericclapton.comWikipedia/Eric Claptonwww.johnmayall.comYoutube.com/hideaway/sunshine of your

love/tears in heavenGoogle images