A guitar update. I am still in the process of learning Clapton’s superb, unplugged version of Layla – I have the verse and chorus parts sussed and now just need to sit down and learn the 2 solos – but progress is slow. What with a run of visitors and our Italian excursion, I haven’t had many opportunities to concentrate on the song.
Now, in theory, I should be able to – but I have a new problem. Our two wee puddies are NOT fans of my guitar playing. The acoustic guitar they will sometimes tolerate, but often it causes them to run from the room. That however is nothing compared to their terror of the electric guitar. The unfortunate thing is that the cats’ food, their toys and, more importantly, their litter tray are all in the same room as my guitars. I tried a couple times to have a play on the electric and the result both times was that a poor puddy in need of his litter tray was too scared to come and use it, so pooped in a corner upstairs. Having endured 5 years of cleaning cat poo off the floor, I REALLY don’t want to encourage that so am laying off the electric for now, or at least only playing if they are well and truly asleep.
Anyway, as Layla was taking longer than hoped, I also turned my attention to a Blur song from their 1994 Parklife album that I have always wanted to learn: “Magic America”. Unfortunately, no guitar tab book was ever made for the album, which is really rubbish. However, I am getting better at working out songs by ear, so thought I’d have a bash at it. It took a couple days to transcribe it and a couple more to get the hang of it, but I am very pleased that I have now mastered it.
Now, on with those 2 mean solos from Layla…