# Cliffs of #@%$^&* dover



## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

I am on holidays and I took it upon myself to learn Eric Johnson's tune "Cliffs of Dover". I have always loved this song. It is a classic and timeless guitar instrumental piece imo. I find I learn alot by playing and transcribing songs that stretch me. 

I have never worked so hard on a tune though. Wow. It is a bit out of my league in some ways but I am getting there, piece by piece. I really have to break it down into small sections. 

a couple of years ago I took a couple of weeks, practicing about an hour a day, to learn Samba Pati. I esp like guitar songs with a strong sense of melody. This one is going to take alot more time than that from the looks of it. But it is an addictive process too in a way. 

I found a tab or two that helps speed up the learning curve, also, my computer can play it in slow motion without changing the pitch and that is really helpful. 

I am singing the song in my head all day of course... 

anyone else ever try to nail this one down?


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Good luck on that one, I played around with it for about a month a few years ago. Finally gave up. It's beyond my limited talents


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

My sister asked me to learn it, then played it for me.. I looked at her and went "haha.. yeah.. I should, but.. yeah.." - definitely an intimidating track to some of us!


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Budda said:


> My sister asked me to learn it, then played it for me.. I looked at her and went "haha.. yeah.. I should, but.. yeah.." - definitely an intimidating track to some of us!


Let me guess she heard it on Guitar Hero? If not, cool!!!


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

guitar hero! i just looked it up on the net and sure enough Guitar Hero has this tune, the version doesn't sound like the original but is it ever close. here is a great cover I found with a dude playing it on the fiddle... 

[video=youtube;V7r9yQG9PO8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7r9yQG9PO8[/video]


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## Bobby (May 27, 2010)

i had the tab for it when i was 16 or 17,a year or 2 after i started playing.

i never learned it all note for note,was too much of a bitch for me.i learned the main melody,the opening cadenza(though im sure it sounded horrible at the time),and picked through some of the arpeggios and runs to slowly add different parts to my own playing.

interestingly enough,one of the first songs i did learn note for note was Samba Pa Ti,one of my favourite songs,absolutely beautiful,Carlos was a huge influence on my playing.

Bobby


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Well, I'm not interested in learning it note for note, though I really dig parts of the tune. I don't have time to memorize such stuff. However, many of my advanced students want to learn it so I coach them through the technique, dynamics, and so on, with the sheet music/tab in front of us. It's a very worthy tune on several levels, besides simply being cool. It presents many musical (technique, dynamic, sight reading, tempo, legato, articulation, tone, timbre, etc) challenges. 

Highly recommended tune.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Let me guess she heard it on Guitar Hero? If not, cool!!!


I'm not sure. She has a wide taste in music though


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I had it in a magazine tears ago--it's tough.

I could play parts of it.
The faster parts were definitely out.
I don't have real fast fingers.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

bluesmostly said:


> guitar hero! i just looked it up on the net and sure enough Guitar Hero has this tune, the version doesn't sound like the original but is it ever close. here is a great cover I found with a dude playing it on the fiddle...
> 
> [video=youtube;V7r9yQG9PO8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7r9yQG9PO8[/video]


I really liked it on violin. I think what makes it difficult for most (not that I've ever attempted it) is that it doesn't use the pentatonic scale like most rock music - so it feels and sounds a little foreign. I could be wrong... Might just be the bends and trills that add the weird tension.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

I am not really interesting in playing it note for note for the sake of it just playing it, but rather because I learn so much by doing just that. I doubt I will ever play this with my bands, this is practice development for me. He does put the notes together in a very interesting and melodically unique way, the phrasing and tempo of some of the licks are also quite foreign to how I naturally approach my playing. 

When I play a song with my bands I invariably learn the form and general style of the playing and then I make it my own, so it always sound like me. But I learn alot by learning a song like this and trying to play it like EJ.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

I have learned everything up until the solo so far. I still have to practice the parts a bunch to get them smooth and up to speed in some places, but I got it down. The solo is going to be a big learning curve, I can tell... I took a break today and found an mp3 backing track for Santana's Europa, great tune, took me 15 min to learn that one... break over.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i could easily play it.....if only i didn't suck. hahahahaha


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## darkjune (Mar 27, 2008)

I thought I was the only one who had trubble with that song.It took me three sraight weeks at 6 to 8 hours a day until I finaly got it.just stick too it, then when your red in the face and sick of hearing the song so many times that if you here it again your gona flip out, thats when you will get it.lol


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

darkjune said:


> I thought I was the only one who had trubble with that song.It took me three sraight weeks at 6 to 8 hours a day until I finaly got it.just stick too it, then when your red in the face and sick of hearing the song so many times that if you here it again your gona flip out, thats when you will get it.lol


I will stick with it, at least as far as learing all the parts and how to play them well. I probably won't spend the time practicing it all to get it up to speed so I can play it well enough to gig unless I decide to play it with my band. But I have a bunch more learning to do before I get to that fork in the road. 

I have already started to incorporate some of what I have learned of his style and approach in my playing though, and that is the real point of it for me. 

darkjune, you must be joking about thinking this would be an easy thing to pull off for most players or that you would be the only one to find it a challenge - it is a doozy by almost any standard I would think.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

well I spent a couple more hours on it today and I have finally learned the whole thing from end to end. I actually even have it memorized. I can play it all the way thru but to get it up to speed and be able to play it smoothly and somewhat effortlessly will require many hours of practice. 

Whether I go the distance will depend of whether I want to play it live and on how much time I feel I would like to spend on it, I am taking an extended break from work for a while, but I might end up getting involved in other stuff before I get that worked out. 

I really have learned alot just by getting thru it though, what a tune!


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