In this Layla guitar lesson we're going to learn how to play the absolute classic Eric Clapton guitar riff. We'll cover the lead, chords & rhythm, so let's dive in!
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Dan Holton
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First thing to say is that I think Dion has done a brilliant job in this video, capturing the essence of the track beautifully. When it comes to Eric Clapton parts, the best way to learn is to take the main elements of the track, such as the riff and base chord progression, but then be quite loose with things like rhythm and exact licks. This is because, to put it bluntly, that's how Clapton would approach it.
So, without further ado, let's check out the video lesson and talk through the main elements of the track.
Layla intro guitar riff
So let's dive straight into the main reason guitar players learn this track, the intro. We actually have two parts to the intro section, the low end guitar and the high end guitar. Both parts are based in the key of D minor, and work over the core progression of | Dm Bb | C Dm | or we could argue it's just powerchords like this | D5 C5 Bb5 | C5 D5 | - Either way your first focus is to get the first lower end riff learnt.
To help you along with this, theory wise, we are using the D minor pentatonic box 4 alongside simple powerchord shapes, both visualised here:
Once you have that part learnt, we will be tackling the main high end version of the riff, which is again based around the D minor key and uses the D minor scales in Box 1 and Box 2. It's basically your D minor pentatonic, but we do also use note from the D minor scale as well, so well worth assigning it to that. Here are those two shapes:
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One of the hardest parts to this solo is the hammer on and pull off in that main speedy part. Clapton himself talks about the fact that this riff live still keeps him on his toes, all these years later! So you need to take that part separately, slow it down and make sure the hammer ons and pull offs are nice and clear.
Dan Holton
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Layla Verse Chords
As we then move into the verse section we modulate keys, moving into the key of C#m. This modulation is very cool, and really distinguishes the verse from the chorus… It also gives us some really cool theory to dive into. Firstly, the modulation from the C to the C#m at the end of the chorus and start of the verse is quite an intense key change. From D minor to C# minor is simply moving back a semitone… Very cool, but hard to explain why it works. I suggest we just leave that one to a "it just works, and they probably didn't know why either!".
When you actually get to the chords themselves, we have this progression | C#m | G#m | C#m C D | E | F#m B | E A | F#m B | E A | which is mainly rooted in the C# minor key with a few choice extra moments. The chords as as follows:
Rhythm wise you can play anything you like here really. We'd recommend you stick to a 16th note pattern, but there is no core strumming that defines the song. It's actually quite busy in this whole section, so you are welcome to play whatever you like… As long as you are in time and changing the chords well, you're all good!
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Finally, the last bit of theory I want to throw at you is that the A major at the end acts as a secondary dominant moving back to the Dm chorus. Of course, A in the key of C#m is the 6th degree, but we're repurposing it as the 5th of D minor, which pulls us back to that chord. Cool!
Dan Holton
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Before we dive into the final section, the structure of the song is nice and simple. It just goes intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, extended chorus, outro… And we'll talk about that outro now.
Layla outro part
Now we move into the outro section, which has got a lot going on, but at the root of it is a rather lovely chord progression. Now the whole loop here is quite large, and looks like this:
| C | C/E | F | F | C | C/E | F | F | Bb7 | Bb7 | C | C |
| C | C/E | F | F | Bb7 | Bb7 | C | C |
| C | C/E | F | F | Bb7 | Bb7 | C | C |
| Am | Dm | G | C | Am | D | G | G |
… Phew! It's quite repetitive, but there are a few bits there to learn. As you may have gathered it's all in C major now, so we have once again modulated keys. This time the modulation is for the purpose of softening the track and taking the energy to a new place. You can play these chords anywhere you like, but using the open positions is probably wise here, as well as a barre chord for Bb7. The chords look like this:
Finally, the last thing to discuss is what scales you can use to improvise over the final section. Well, this is all in the C major key, so ideally C major pentatonic and C major diatonic scales will be best suited. Depending on how many shapes you know up and down the neck will depend on how far you can explore this, but as a good start, here is shape 1 of the C major diatonic and pentatonic scale…
There we have it! The great Layla, broken down for your convenience. Thanks again to Dion for his fantastic work with the video, and thank you for stopping by to check out the lesson. Do drop the lesson a like and comment on YouTube to let us know how you got on!
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