Learn a Classic Riff – Layla
Eric Clapton knows a thing or two about a catchy riff, he’s written plenty of riffs over the last 60 years that have stood the test of time and are still played by countless bands night after night. This classic riff from the track Layla stems from his days working under the psudenym Derek and the Dominoes.
The tone for this riff is unmistakably a Strat style guitar into a small, cranked Tweed style amp. To replicate this on the Blackstar Silverline, you can use the 6V6 response and the Crunch or Clean Bright channel and just turn everything up to 10!
The riff is based around two main parts. A single note, speedy run of notes and a moving chord pattern.
We typically expect a riff to sit on the first beat to kick things off, but this riff starts on the “&” of the third beat. The initial phrase is based between the open A and D. This is a fast phrase that uses hammer ons and pull offs so don’t worry too much about trying to pick everything.
As this phrase ends on the open D string on the first beat of the second bar, the chord part of the riff begins.
The initial part is a simple three power chord descend from the 5th to the 3rd to the 1st fret of the A string.
The remainder of the phrase is the bit that most people find difficult when learning this track. The way it is explained in the video, and the way you’ll see Clapton play it, is to remove your index finger from the power chord but keep your little finger in place on the 3rd of the D. Play this together with the open A string, then play the 3rd fret on the Low E with your third finger.
This is a tricky move, if this is too difficult you could just play the notes by moving your index finger around as shown in the video.
It then moves up 2 frets and repeats a similar pattern before the riff loops back around.
