Little Wing, Clapton style soloing tips

[Adam614ce]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72jbV9-ZOH4

Clapton with the ABB playing "Little Wing."

Can anyone give me some tips about soloing on this song? I'm assuming it's major pentatonic, but I noticed, especially in Haynes and Clapton's solos, they get some really "sweet" sounding bends that seem to be outside of that pentatonic box.

I've been trying to add some of these bends to my playing, but I'm having trouble finding them on the board. I've learned all 5 forms of the pentatonics on the neck, but still have some confusion.

Specifically around 2:17, 3:20, 3:26, 6:34, 6:45 are some good examples.

Thanks for the help :D

[Bern]

Excellent...great link ! Thanks.

[vac4873]

There are a couple of things happening in these solos that make them really interesting.


They are playing pentatonics, but built around the chord they are playing, not just on the key (F#m/A) they are in.
They are not sticking strictly to pentatonics, but adding some chromatic notes in between, using what some call the "blues scale"


Playing over the chord currently being played adds a lot of interest to your soloing. The trade-off is that it requires you to know what chord you are playing over at any given moment.

[Bob Womack]

First, Derek Trucks plays live in open E so throw any of your standard boxes out the window when listening to him because the open E form influences what he does heavily: He does lots of individual single-string runs because its easier than trying to find consonance on that E major form as the chording goes from minor to major and back.

Another thing to consider is that you can't simply sit in the root and look for this stuff from the root boxes. You need to consider the chordal changes going on behind you and work your next bend towards the next change, then some of this will make sense. As an exercise, start in the root and look for the easiest way to transition to and think in the next chord.

Finally, these guys are also "overbending," meaning working way beyond a whole step bend. It requires developing a familiarity with your locations and bends and then pushing each an extra step or so until you get an idea of where it goes. Then, when you need to get a wee bit more expressive or "crucial" you'll know when to step on the gas, as it were. ;)

Bob

[gtrwanka]

I love Derek Trucks. His playing is so unique in my opinion.

Trying mixing up your pentatonic scale with its overlapping major scale. Also if the songs in mixolydian, you can add notes from both the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic blues scales which Hendrix did a lot in his song Red House.

cheers

[Bern]

IMO, 'Little Wing' can played two ways, pop version Hendrix or blues version Clapton...at least that's what hear :). Based on that, soloing depends on the feel one wants to express, unless, one wants to strictly copy Hendrix' original.