Quick Lesson! Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out - Eric Clapton/Scrapper Blackwell Blues Guitar

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A quick fire bonus lesson on this fantastic Clapton/Scrapper Blackwell/Bessie Smith blues standard in the Key of C!
Here’s my original playthrough of this piece;
• Nobody Knows You When ...
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[@jimc6687]

You made me put down my ancient D-35 and break out my slightly more ancient 1966 000-18 for this one, Alex. Nice to the point paced lesson on this old classic........with some variations and generalities for us to keep! Jim C.

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks Jim! Man, I’m so jealous of that 000-18.. a dream guitar for me!

[@karllongbottomguitars9192]

Love the thinking of a chord as part of a different chord, brilliant stuff 👏 👌

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Many thanks Karl, really glad you got something out of the lesson 🙏🏻🍻

[@martinlindsay9838]

Great to have this lesson, Alex. It will make me go back to work on it! Bring on the lead……

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks Martin! I remember you played this really nicely, good to hear you’ll revisit it. I plan to put a video together about improvising over these changes using triads very soon 🙏🏻

[@floydmorrison2025]

Great stuff, Alex! 'Clapton Unplugged' was formative for me!!! Besides the great music, there were so many amazing guitars on display...Clapton's 1939 000-42 (gifted from George Harrison) & Cardiff's own Andy Fairweather Low's massive non-cutaway Gibson Super 400 come to mind. I LOVE that Lonnie Johnson lick!!! I use it on a bunch of Mississippi John Hurt songs, as well. I always bend the Eb note all the way up to E to achieve FULL DRONE lol 🤣but as you say, it's all about that dissonance. I've always thought of that E7 trill as the Robby Krieger 'Love Me Two Times' trill. Is there any American style of music that you haven't mastered, Alex?!? For an Englishman, you're making THIS American feel thoroughly under-read in my own country's library hahaha 😢 I'm looking forward to your next slightly Punkier video, where you tackle Robert Quine, Thurston Moore, James Williamson & Johnny Ramone 😁👍😂Thanks for another awesome video!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Ah man, yea the whole Unplugged show is fantastic! MTV unplugged used to be such a big deal right?!.. so many great shows put out under that series. Oh man, thank you so much for the kind words!.. like you, I’m a student of all styles. Funnily enough I was planning to put out a Slint or Mogwai video at some point soon.. will definitely have to do some Sonic Youth as well as some punk stuff. Punk was totally my thing in my teens.. Bad Brains were always a favourite 👌🏻🍻

[@adamcherry434]

Once again v enjoyable. By exposing the essentials without doing a laborious breakdown you create high curiosity about giving it ago.✌️

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Much appreciated! Thanks for checking it out buddy 🙏🏻

[@cjbuk74]

Great stuff, thanks !

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Glad you liked it! 🙏🏻

[@uberjam-sam8512]

Nice and easy. Good one to get down quickly and build on. Tyvm

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Absolutely buddy, that’s the way!

[@paullarge5983]

Yes Alex!!. Loved this one.. nice and basic for my 'boxing glove' style playing. Im going to work on this and will play it to you next time we meet 😂 If you do a version where I can play an upright bass at the same time that would be perfect!! Another great video and hope the success continues.

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Ah man, you’re such a legend!.. thanks Paul! ❤️ Yeah dude let’s jam it next time we hang out, this would sound ace with you playing double bass. Be good to hear you playing it on acoustic guitar too 👌🏻🍻

[@jamsessionemmusicademartor8288]

Nice work!! Thanks for sharing!!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks for watching!

[@ericmintz6689]

Hi, Alex. The F# dim chord shape @ 1:24 is new to me. I see the flat 3rd (A) and the flat 7th (Eb), but not the flat 5th (C). Maybe this falls under the rubric of "If the root is in the chord, the 5th is not required" (and vice versa) that applies to shell voicings. I'm not conviced it sounds better than the fully diminished chord on the same 4 top strings (frets 4, 5, 4, 5 from D string to high E string), but the transition from a "rootless B7" to the next chord (C) is nice. (Just thinking out loud... no reply needed).

[@ericmintz6689]

And I see in your "using triads to solo over Down and Out" video, you use a top 3-string shell voicing for F#dim 5-7-5 (C-F#-A) - the flat 5, root, and flat 3, without the flat 7 (Eb). That makes a half-diminished chord, which sounds solid. I'm learning a lot from your arrangement of this simple classic tune!

[@jeremyversusjazz]

Man…i started really digging into fingerpicking this style w my acoustic which sat in the case for years and it was really satisfying but then i signed up for the open studio pro barry harris stuff and the acoustic went right back in the case! I also spent ages on jt’s fire and rain-learning it the right way…but again, 6thdim harmony ended such base pursuits! Lol btw clapton couldnt really solo over this. Just sayin. He could play and sing it but his solo dont make the changes. At least what ive heard. Just sayin’