Post on 23-Feb-2016
description
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