Erci Clapton (Cream Era) Style Analysis

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 9 - God Revisited! Cream Era Eric Clapton

 Get your strawberries, because here come the Cream....

I'll get my coat.

When we last investigated Eric Clapton, it was focusing on his playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers on the iconic “Beano” album – now it's time to wind the clock forward and look at the next instalment of his career alongside bassist and singer Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, in the ill-fated supergroup Cream.

Cream formed when Clapton left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers for good in 1966 and met Bruce and Baker as the two were playing with the Graham Bond Organisation and were becoming progressively more frustrated and jaded with the band, Ginger Baker had decided to strike out on his own, and sought out Clapton – now something of a blues superstar. Bruce and Baker had – well, a checkered past, put it that way – but Clapton had been very impressed by Jack Bruce when he had briefly stood in with the Bluesbreakers on bass, and while Clapton agreed to join the new band Ginger Baker was setting up it was on condition that they brought in Jack Bruce as bassist and vocalist. The three were well known for their proficiency and Cream is widely regarded as the first “supergroup” - but ultimately the tensions between Bruce and Baker would cause them to split in November 1968.

They did keep busy, however – recording Fresh Cream (1966), Disraeli Gears (1967), Wheels of Fire (1968) and Goodbye (recorded in 1968 but released 1969). Indeed, one of their standout tracks - “Politician” - was allegedly written while in a waiting room at the BBC while waiting to perform live, so they clearly weren't ones to waste time. They even impressed Hendrix, who – on learning of their demise – stopped playing Hey Joe live on air for the BBC and dropped into a cover of their most famous song, “Sunshine Of Your Love”. Unfortunately the tensions between Bruce and Baker were never resolved, even at a reunion gig in 2006, and both men sadly died still carrying their enmity – Bruce in 2014, Baker in 2019.

However, sad as the eventual story of Cream proved to be, that's not why we're here – so on to the licks!

We begin with a fairly standard “tension and release” lick, based on the Magic Three Note concept in G minor pentatonic, taken from the cover of Albert King's blues standard “Born Under A Bad Sign”. Clapton begins with a brief walk up to the root note, played by bending the F (b7, 18^th fret on the B string) up to the root and holding it with some vibrato, before concluding it with a run down to the root again an octave lower on the 17^th fret D string.

The next excerpt is taken from the famous “Crossroads” solo, and Clapton is using A minor pentatonic, but notice his use of major 3^rd (C#, 6^th fret on the G string) – this run up serves as a kind of “launch pad” for his flurry of legato. Take note of the double stop in the second bar, where Clapton hammers G into G# before finishing on the E note (7^th fret A string), outlining the change to the V chord (E, in this key).So while we tend to think of EC as strictly pentatonic, in fact he's often more aware of chord tones.

Staying with the iconic “Crossroads” solo, this next lick is taken from the end solo where Clapton is up at the 17^th fret and and just burning, pedal absolutely to the metal. Notice the triplet phrasing (and the Magic Three Notes – see, even the big boys use them!) building the tension before releasing with a held bend up to the root note on the 20^th fret B and running down the scale.

Finally we take a look at the solo from one of the most famous Cream songs, “Sunshine Of Your Love”, based in D minor pentatonic. Notice the double stops in the opening bar, and the nifty position shifts in the second, moving into the 2^nd position minor pentatonic connected by slides.

It's also worth noting that at this point Clapton was very much into his “Woman Tone” era, using the famed psychedelic Gibson SG generally with the tone controls rolled right down, and generally with the bridge pickup selected. This can be quite tricky to get used to, akin to trying to run through mud or water, but it's an interesting effect to try.

See you next month as we revisit Jimi Hendrix with an examination of his “Are You Experienced” solos – stay safe out there and see you over on YouTube for the demonstration video!