Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton Tutorial/Lesson
Wonderful Tonight
G, D/F#, C, D, Em
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Video transcript
Hey everyone, my name is Ellen and today I'm going to be showing you guys how to play Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton on the guitar. And today I am featuring my Martin Triple015M guitar. So if [music] you like what you see, I will make sure to link more information about it down below. And really quick, I wanted to give a special shout out and thank you to my patrons over on my Patreon page for voting on this song as this month's patron picks. So, if you want a little bit of voting power in the songs that you see me teach [music] here on this channel, make sure to check it out. I will link it in the description box below as well. Here's a quick overview of everything I'll be covering in this tutorial today. And with that being said, let's go ahead and get started. All right, guys. So, you only need to know five different chord shapes to play through this entire song. And we're [music] going to start with our G major, which looks like this, and sounds like this. And by the way, if you don't know how to read these chord charts you're seeing on screen, I do cover how to do that my free beginner [music] series right here on YouTube. So, make sure to check that out right here. The next chord shape is our D over F sharp. So, you just want to move around your index and your middle finger. After that, we have our C major chord. There's also our D major chord. And then the last chord shape is our E minor. All right. And those are the five chords you need to know to play through this song. So, go ahead and pause the video and take as much time as you need to really look over these chord shapes, get them memorized, and also practice transitioning back and forth between them because it'll make learning the rest of the song so much easier for you. And if this is a skill you're currently struggling with, being able to transition between these chords fast enough, I do have a practice with me chord transition series right here on my channel where we take you through the skill and we build it up in real time together. So, if that's something you're currently struggling with, I would definitely check it out. I will link it in the corner for those of you [music] who need it. But once you're comfortable with these chords, then we can go ahead and talk about the strumming that I would suggest for this song. All right, guys. So, since this song is more based in a picking pattern, I wanted to keep things simple with our strumming today. So, as you can see, we are going to be counting this in an eighth note pattern. And it's going to sound like this. We have 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and down up down up down up down up. All right. This is a really common strumming rhythm, so you might have seen it in other songs before as well, and it works really great here. What we're going to do is play through this pattern one time through per chord throughout the entire song. There are going to be a few measures where we want to split the strumming pattern in half, but I'll show you that when we get there. So, let's go ahead and take a look at this first verse. As you can see, we're starting on our G chord. What you want to do is play this entire pattern through one time on G. So we have down up down up. [music] Switch to your next chord. D over F sharp. Same thing. Down up down up. Then we [music] have C. And then we have D. [music] All right. And one of the great things about this song is that chord order is at least like I'd say 60 to 70% of the song there. And the speed that we're currently going is about full tempo because this song is a little bit more on the slow side. So, let's go ahead and put all those chords and strumming together without stopping. On our G, we have down [singing] up down up D over F sharp [music] C to [singing] D. All right. >> [music] >> And this chord order with this strumming pattern you can use to play through all the verses. [music and singing] It's late in the evening. She's wondering [music] what clothes to wear. She puts on her makeup. Brushes [singing] her long hair. All right, [music] this leads into kind of like the more chorusy part of this song. And this is where we're going to see a little bit of a split measure happening. So, as you can see in the chorus on our G and D over Fsharp chords, we have a little bit of a hash mark there. Basically, what that means is that's my way of showing you guys that we're going to be splitting this measure. So, when we split a measure, we have to take the strumming pattern that we currently have, and what I would suggest doing is just taking the first half, that down, up, and you're going to repeat it for the last half as well. So, we have down, down, up, down, down, up. All right. 1 2 and 3 4. And then, right now, I'm going to go ahead and add a little vertical line here right in the middle as well. And that's going to represent where we want to change chords. Okay? So on that G to D over F sharp in the chorus, we're going to have our G chord on the left half. So we have down, [music] down, up. Switch quickly to your D over F sharp and finish it out. Down, down, up. All right. [music] Then when you get to the E minor, we're going back to a full pattern, in which case we go back to that full original strumming pattern. So let's go ahead and go through an example of the chorus. We're starting here on our C chord. C and D are going to get the full measure. So we have C down [singing] down up up down up [music] to D down down down up down up. And then remember these hash marks [music] mean we're splitting the pattern. So we're switching it to G [singing] down up to D over F sharp down up to E minor full. All right. So putting it all together without stopping it'll sound like this. We've got C [music] down, up, up, down, up, D, down, up, up, down, up. G, split to D over F sharp, E minor, [music] C for a full measure, to D for a full measure. [music] And then it goes back into that little solo section. Okay. And then she asks me, "Do I look all right? >> [music] >> Can I say yes? You look wonderful tonight. All right. [music] And that's how you can play through all of the choruses in this song. When we get to the second half of the bridge, there is going to be a little bit of a chord difference here. So the beginning of the bridge, we've got the same as the chorus. We've got C to [music] D, G, split [singing] D over F sharp, E minor. [music] right here. It's going to be a little different. And the wonder of it all [music] is that you just [singing] don't realize on that D chord. You can see there's a [music] little star there. Again, that's my way of just suggesting that I would do a single downstrum. All of these little annotations that you see on this guide here is all going to be on my printout that's on my Patreon page. So again, make sure to check that out if you're interested. I'll link it in the corner here. Then after that single downstrum, we go back to our regular strumming pattern for the rest of the song. How much I love you. [music] All right, [singing] full strumming pattern all the way to the end. So again, this strumming pattern is a fairly common one. So if you're struggling with like the coordination or anything like that of getting this pattern down, I actually have a practice with me strumming series as well where we go over this exact pattern and we build up the speed together. Um, again, it's all just about muscle memory and being able to play it without counting it in your head anymore. And that's just going to take lots [music] of practice. So, if you want a little bit of extra help with that practice, I will link that video in the corner as well. But this is the strumming pattern that I would suggest for this song and you can use it for the entire thing. All right. So, again, go ahead and pause the video and take as much time as you need to look over this strumming rhythm. Make sure you practice it enough that you have it under your muscle memory. That's the only way you'll be able to sing on top of it eventually. So again, go ahead and check out that practice with me strumming video if you need it. Um, but actually I think that this song sounds much better if you do a picking pattern. And I came up with one that's fairly simple that sounds just like the song. So let's go ahead and jump into that next. All right, guys. So for picking today, first I wanted to just mention that if you watch like a live version of this song, um, they usually do use a guitar pick to pick this song, but I prefer fingerpicking. It's just a preference of mine. So, I will be showing you guys how I fingerpick this song, but just know that if you wanted to pick it with a guitar pick, it's the same exact thing with the different strings, you would just use a pick instead of your fingers. Okay, so now let's go ahead and break down this finger picking pattern. Um, before we begin, I have a few different things I wanted to go over. First of all, I am going to be numbering my strings here. So, the low E string is six, and it goes 5 4 3 2 1 all the way to the high E string, or the lowest like bottom string here. And so I'm going to be referring to these strings as numbers throughout this section of the tutorial. And then let's talk about our hands. Our left hand, nothing's going to change here. You're still going to be holding down the same exact chord shapes that we've been playing to practice this song. So nothing's changing on the left hand. On the right hand, this is going to be doing all of the fancy work with the picking. Okay? So talking about our right hand, what I want you to do is take your pointer, middle, and ring finger, and I want you to leave those on the bottom three strings, the G, the B, and the E. And throughout this entire picking pattern, these three fingers will always be staying on these three strings. Okay? Your thumb is what's going to move around and it's going to cover the bass notes of each of these chords. So, it's going to cover six, five, and four, E, A, and D. Okay? So, now with all of the rules out of the way, let's go ahead and break down this picking pattern. If you put your G chord on your left hand, the pattern is going to be the same for all of these chords. The only thing that's going to change is the very first note. Okay? So on our G chord, you want to play your root or bass note first. So that's going to be our sixth E string. [music] And we're playing that with our thumb. So we have six and then we go 3 2 3 [music] 1 3 2 3. All right. So again, you want to make sure you have that coordination down of which finger you're using for all of these picking for the strings. So, we have thumb, pointer, middle, pointer, [music] ring, pointer, middle, pointer. Okay? [music] And you want to keep this going because the rest of the chords are going to follow this exact same um basic picking pattern. So, on our D over F sharp, again, that low note is going to be or our bass note is going to be that low E string. So, nothing changes. We have 6 [music] 3 2 3 3 1 3 2 3 3. All right, [music] our C chord. This is the first time things are going to change cuz your thumb is now going to move to this fifth A string because that's the root note. And then the rest of the pattern's the same. So we have 5 [music] 3 2 3 1 3 2 [music] 3 3. And then again with our D major chord, it's going to change one more time because now our thumb is going to move to this fourth D string. [music] All right, but the rest of the pattern is the same. So we have 4 3 2 [music] 3 1 3 2 3. All right, [music] and then the last chord in this song is our E minor. And that's going to look like our G and our D over F sharp with your thumb on the sixth E string. >> [music] >> All right. And I get asked this all the time. If you'll notice, we're actually holding down our E minor chord, but we're not actually playing the fifth or fourth string. So, if you wanted to, [music] you could take your left hand off. The reason I would advise not to do that is just in case you pick a wrong string, it'll still sound good because you have that safety net of knowing that your chord is on your left hand. Okay? Like I said, the actual basic picking pattern is the same for each chord. You just want to be mindful of which string your thumb is on. So, let's go ahead and put some of this together with that verse. We're starting on our G major. We've got 6 3 [music and singing] 2 3 3 1 3 2 3 to D over F sharp to C to D. All right. So, just be mindful this will take some time to get used to, especially if this is the first song you're ever trying to finger pick. This coordination can be really tough to like get down at first. So, just make sure to pause and take your time with this. But, if we put it more at full tempo, which will take some practice, we'll sound like this. We've got G [music] D over [singing] Fsharp. All right. So, you can hear it's quite a bit faster than what we were practicing it at. But this pattern will feel a [music] little bit easier once you get used to, you know, the pattern of it. Basically, it's late in the [singing] evening. She's wondering [singing] what clothes to wear. She puts on her [music] makeup and brushes her long [singing and music] blond hair. All right, so that's an example of the verse. And all of the verses will play exactly like that going into more of that chorus section. Again, we are going to have this split measure section from our G to our D over F sharp. And just like with strumming, that is going to change our picking a little bit. Okay. So, looking at that G chord that's split, instead of playing the entire picking pattern, what I want you to do is just play the bass note. So, we have our six. [music] Then, you're going to do your three on your index finger. And then, [music] you're going to pick your middle and your ring finger together at the same time. [music] All right? That's what that parenthesis means is I want you to do it together. And then back to three. All right? So for G in the split measure, it goes 6 3 [music] 2 and 1 3. All right. And then same with our D over F sharp, it's 6 [music] 3 2 and 1 3. And [music] throughout this song, those are the only two chords that are ever splitting a measure is G and D over F#arp. So that's the only picking pattern change you have to learn there. So let's go ahead and start at the beginning of the little chorus section. We have our C chord on. We've got 5 3 [music] 2 3 1 3 2 3 to D 4 to our [music] split measure. G 6 3 2 and 1 3 D over F sharp 6 3 2 and 1 3 [music] to E minor is the full picking [singing] pattern. All right. So if you memorize like the basics of the picking pattern, then you would apply it throughout the song to each chord. Okay? So you just want to work on the coordination of getting each of these chords down. So putting it together, the chorus would sound like this. C [music] D G split [music] D over F sharp [singing] E minor back to [music] C D [music] and on G. Okay. So with some singing and then she asks me, do [singing and music] I look all right? And I say, "Yes, [music] you [singing] look wonderful tonight." All right. And then the picking pattern for all of the chorus is again is going to be exactly like that as well. Um, again, the only place that's a little bit different is the bridge there. So, what I would suggest doing for the bridge is we're going to pick through it just like normal. And then on that little starred chord, you would switch to that single downstrum that I mentioned earlier. So the bridge would sound like this. I feel wonderful [singing and music] because I see the love light in your eyes. And [singing] the wonder of it all is that [music and singing] you just don't realize. Okay, just a single downstrum on that D. [music] How much I love you. back to picking. All right. And then this picking pattern is just like strumming. Whether you wanted to do either or, you can carry it through the entire song and it sounds really great. All right. So again, go ahead and pause the video and take as much time as you need to look over this picking pattern. As I said, if this is the first time you've ever tried to do finger picking and things like that, it can be a little confusing with the [music] coordination. So just make sure to pause and take your time to really look this over and go as slowly as you need to. And then again, if you do want to opt to use a guitar pick instead of your fingers, the [music] actual pattern or like the string numbers is still going to be exactly the same. So, you can still follow this picking pattern, but with a guitar pick instead of your fingers if you want to. Um, but after that, I wanted to show you guys that iconic little solo tab that you hear at the beginning as well as throughout the song. It's not too difficult to play. So, I wanted to go ahead and show you guys how to do that next. All right, guys. So, to keep this solo tab a little bit more beginner friendly, I am going to be utilizing string sliding instead of string bending, which is the technique that Eric Clapton actually uses when he plays live. He also plays this on electric guitar, which is easier to do string bends on electric strings. So, since I'm on an acoustic and I prefer acoustic, I'm going to use those string sliding techniques, which I think is a little bit more beginner friendly hopefully for you guys. So, um this is the tab that I came up with. Um, if you don't know how to read tabs, I would definitely suggest checking out my how to read guitar tabs video that I have here on my channel where I break it down and we do some interactive examples together and things like that. So, go check that out first and then come back here and we can break down this tab. Basically, for this tab, we're going to just stick with our highest three strings, our G, B, and E string. And I think the best way to go about this is I'm just going to suggest which fingers I like to use to fret all of these different notes and just kind of break it down for you. So, let's go ahead and start here on our B string. I'm using my ring finger on the 10th fret of the B string. All right. And as that's ringing this little like slash mark, what that means is we're going to slide our note. So you're going to take your ring finger and slide it up two frets up to the 12th fret. All right? So as it's still ringing, [music] you want to slide. Okay? And then what the other direction slash means is we're going to slide back down. Okay? So we're starting on 10. We're going to slide up to 12 and then slide back down to 10. And I'm doing this all on one pick of the string. All right? [music] And if you do it fast enough, it does sound a little bit like a string bend. All right? So that's my way of doing the string bend. I think it is a little bit easier. So do that slide up and then back down. And then from here I'm going to suggest the index finger for your eighth fret [music] on the B string and then back to your ring finger on the 10th fret. Okay. And that's that first little measure there. So we've got Okay. Good. Then the next measure is super similar. We're starting with our slide again. Then back to eighth fret with your index finger. And now we're going to hop over to our G string. And I would suggest using your middle finger on the ninth fret because [music] it's open already. Okay. So, we've got that second measure. All right. And then for the first half of the solo, you're going to do that first measure again [music] and then just hold it. Okay. Then to finish out the solo, we're going to do the first couple measures again. >> [music] >> And then to end it, this is where it's going to be a little bit different. So we're starting with our slide. Then here we're going to go back to our 10th fret with our ring finger on the B string. [music] You're going to slide up to 12 again. All right. And then we're going to take our pinky finger and do the 13th fret of the B string. And then we're going to hop over to our high E string and use our ring finger to do the 12th fret. And then our index finger for the 10th fret. All right. So the end of that little phrase there is this. All right. So the whole solo tab from start to finish would sound like this. >> [music] >> All right. And this solo tab repeats itself at the intro, during the little interlude sections, as well as in the outro section. So again, if any of this feels way too advanced, then like definitely you don't have to do it. It's totally optional. But I just wanted to show you guys an easy way to do this solo tab in case you wanted to try it out. All right, guys. So, one last time, go ahead and pause the video and take as much time as you need to look over this little tab section. Um, if sliding between those notes is hard for you, you could definitely do it without the slide and just play each individual note as written. Um, or if you are having trouble with the sliding, you might also want to check your guitar strings. Sometimes they can feel really rough if they're a little bit on the older side. So, if that's the case, you could definitely change out strings or maybe even find some coated strings or something to make sliding a little bit easier. But yeah, I do think that the sliding sounds really similar to the string bending, but is a lot easier to do, and you can do it on acoustic. So, I hope you liked the arrangement of this tab. But after you have this under your belt, whether you want to try it or not, we can go ahead and put everything we've learned in this tutorial together to play the song. One, two, ready, go. [music] Want to have fun jamming out to the rest of the song with me? >> Yeah. >> Then make sure to check out my Patreon page where you can unlock access to this as well as all my other fast track and playalong guitar tutorials. I'll make sure to leave a link for it in the description box down below. If you enjoyed learning this song with me, then you should definitely check [music] out this video. Not only does it have a super similar vibe and feel, but it's just as fun and easy to play. So, I'll see you over there. Bye.