This one’s a little tough to name…

… but when you hear it, I think you’ll recognize it šŸ™‚

It’s a super common idea with a lot of possibilities…

The way I played it is just one possible way you can play a blues with this riff…

And I’ll try and show you a few options later in the video.

It’s not a super long one and, as always, something that I hope you can put into practice right away.


    28 replies to "An Acoustic Clapton Johnson Riff"

    • Tom

      Iā€™ve seen that A referred to as ā€œlong Aā€.

    • Michael Chappell

      Hey Griff,
      Thanks for this lesson and as always I love the acoustic Riffs so as to just play by yourself anywhere in the home or front or back Porch.

      Cheers
      Michael-Sydney-Aust 28 August 2023

    • JOE WEAVER

      LOVED IT IS WHERE I ALREADY HAVE BEEN PLAYING NEAR THAT SO WHAT THIS IS IS EASIER TO GET THANKS GRIFF.

    • Vic Soboleski

      Grrrrrr. Mind just goes blank when trying to count and play and listen ā€¦ need a simple counting exercise with simple strum thatā€™s not completely simple /straight but easy enough where I donā€™t fog over immediatelyā€¦I really seem to have no internal rhythm ..or an internal rhythm that I can vocalize

      • Mark Austin

        Griff has a lesson set I mentioned below. Beginning Blues Guitar Soloing. It is exactly what you are looking for. It is helping me tremendously. As with you trying to ‘walk and chew gum’ at the same time is difficult for me!

    • Mark Austin

      Thank you Griff. As a beginner, just about 10 months, most of the daily lesson are above me. I’ve got your beginner blues and beginner blues solo course. They are wonderful lesson plans. But this lesson is really cool! I’ve learned enough from your course to be able to actually play this rhythm! I may have to improvise on the chords but learning this is truly awesome. I’ll be playing in on porch this afternoon for Play Music On Your Porch Day! Again thank you Sir!

    • Bradley J Boys

      Thanks for the great lesson Griff.

    • Anne

      Fun lesson

    • Willem

      Thanks for the fun rifs. I can use them all.
      Willem

    • Chris Adams

      Excellent lesson, great blues concepts.

      Aussie Chris

    • Kenneth P

      Fantastic lesson ā€¦ I know what Iā€™ll be working on for the next few days ā€¦ Going to be a fun weekend.
      I was just thinking about how I needed a little rhythm fun thing to play , and here it is .
      Once again , your teaching is spot on ā€¦ you have away of making it so attainable and fun ā€¦šŸ”ŠšŸŽ¶šŸŽø

    • Shane

      So Good Griff! Great delivery on the lesson. It was fun , I could do it right away,
      Thanks!Shane

    • Mike Hart

      To me, the hardest part of this move has always been hitting the 7th of the open E-chord cleanly with my pinky. The A and B chord moves and stretch are no problem, for some reason. Something about articulating a bent pinky accurately as opposed to an outstretched pinky.
      Would it stiil be ā€œkosherā€ to play the E using the ā€œB-moveā€ at fret 9 instead of at the open position while voicing the open 6th string E to give it that thud sound? I know, I knowā€¦ give it a try and if it makes me grimmaceā€¦ just turn that grimmace into a blues-face. Okay, good suggestion. I just donā€™t want to run afoul of the Blues Police. Thanks.

    • Robert Young

      Exactly the type of thing Iā€™m looking for. A simple move I can throw into some of the things Iā€™ve learned from How to Jam alone!

    • Richard

      SĆ»re is cool stuff … thanks Griff

    • R.B.

      Griff; this “roots” stuff is great and keeps me on track with the essentials. RB

    • R.B.Owens

      Griff; this “roots” stuff is great and keeps me on track with the essentials. RB

    • Sam

      I love this stuffšŸ˜Ž

    • Thomas Guitarman

      Robert Johnson could make that stretch on the B had huge hands like Hendrix

    • Thomas Guitarman

      NICE basic , this works well fingerpicked as well

    • Dennis

      As a subscriber to blues unleashed it would be nice to have these videos that you produce on Friday available on your site if they are I havenā€™t found them yet and I really do enjoy everything that you do and youā€™ve really sparked my playing that I havenā€™t done it for a few years so Iā€™m getting an hour of day of practice and itā€™s all because of that one video I saw free from you and your blues unleash course thanks again

      • Elio Spinello

        If you are a member of the BGU forum, that are all listed under the “Griff’s email archive” area. You can also find them posted to the BGU Members’ Facebook group.

      • Griff Hamlin

        Thanks, Dennis… most all of the email lessons I send out are posted right here on the blog. If you go up to the navigation bar and click “Lessons” it will give you a list of them all in chronological order, and you can search them.

        Also, I’ve found that, more often than not, good old Google can find my lessons faster than I can. Simple google something like, “Griff Hamlin mixing major and minor blues sounds” and you’ll likely get whatever you’re after.

    • Louis Ogden

      Good lesson, Griff. Thanks!

    • LJ

      Cool

    • Ian Chadsey

      Easy progression by effective

    • Interstate slim

      Thanks Griff, hope youā€™re enjoying the free state of Texas. Iā€™m going to work on this today, I like the little flavor tips on the chords. Been working on chords and strumming for the last 6+ months( gospel, folk, etc..) due to my brother in lawā€™s ( professional musician) encouragement to try something other than blues soloing. He was right it has helped my playing quite a lot. Iā€™m glad I have a lot of your courses to help in that area of strumming and rhythms. Enjoy your day.

    • Tom Hopsicker

      Very useful. Thanks

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