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How to play Cocaine by Eric Clapton

Cocaine by Eric ClaptonIf you want to learn how to play Cocaine by Eric Clapton, this is a great place to get started

This time we are going to look at the song “Cocaine,” by Eric Clapton. The song was actually written by J.J.Cale in 1976 and Eric Clapton made it popular in 1977 on his record “Slowhand.” I chose “Cocaine” because it is very easy to play and dissect, while still containing many of the important points to remember when writing a great song.

Key And Scale

This song is in E Minor Aeolian, which is a mode of the G Major scale.

E Minor Aeolian = E,F#,G,A,B,C,D
G Major = G,A,B,C,D,E,F#

Eric Clapton uses the Blues scale for all of his guitar playing in this song. The Blues scale is a modified Pentatonic scale and we build a Pentatonic scale by using the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th notes of the Aeolian scale. We omit the second and the sixth notes, leaving us with five notes to choose from and the name “Pentatonic.”

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How to play Soul Sacrifice by Santana

XXXIf you want to learn how to play Soul Sacrifice by Santana, this is a great place to get started

This is the start of a new series of articles in which we choose a song and then break it down harmonically to look at the theory behind it. Though we will show you how to play the song, and there will be tabs and music notation, these are not meant to be note for note tabs of the songs. These articles are meant to show you how to play the song, introduce you to music theory, and show you how you might apply it to your own music. This series might also be good for guitarists who are in a cover band and need to play these songs, but want to do it while retaining their own identity and originality.

This time we are going to look at the song “Soul Sacrifice” by Santana. Written in 1969, Soul Sacrifice was one of the band’s first songs. They performed it the same year at the Woodstock festival in Bethel NY and it was considered by many to be one of the highlights of the entire three day festival. The live performance of this song turned Santana into an instant success. This is an instrumental song loaded with powerful drums and guitars. We are going to look at the studio version of Soul Sacrifice from their debut album “Santana.”

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