Nothing but a fun lesson today from a new Gary Clark Jr. song called, “When My Train Pulls In.”
This was brought to my attention recently, and while I’m a bit familiar with Gary Clark Jr., I’ve been trying to hear more of his music. He’s become quite popular recently as a modern blues player.
So if you like his music, you might enjoy this lesson. And if you haven’t heard his music, this might inspire you to check it out further.
61 replies to "Gary Clark Jr. When My Train Pulls In Lesson"
Been listening to Gary Clark Jr for a while now. He was “discovered” as a blues player as mentioned above. But if you listen to some of his later material he delves into some very interesting musical ideas. At first I thought it would be , more or less, the same old which is fine. But he has other ideas. Creative comes to mind. “The Story of Sonny Boy Slim”. Check it out. Took me a few listens.
May you live a long and healthy life. Thank you for all you do.
Hi Griff, Thank you for sending the Gary Clark Jr. riff from “When My Train Pulls in”. Was just wondering. Does this riff sound similar to the one from Jimmy Page in the the song “Black Dog”? Thanks.
It does, doesn’t it?
Hi Griff, I really like these videos you do. They work well as inspirational samples to go with your course. I like Gary Clark Jr’s version of Come Together too.
Thanks Griff, I love this song. I’ve seen other videos with the chords but appreciate you explaining what is going on with the theory and different sounds. Now I know not only how to play the song but how it was put together.
7:45 nothing but the A minor scale…Did you mean E minor?
Listen again. He did say E minor.
At 7:32
He did. I heard what you heard but if we’re good enough to know the difference we’re doing something right already. Thanks for it pointing out -it’ll minimize confusion.
What am I missing? Right clicking on the download link does not give me an option for Save Target As in the context menu. I am using Google Chrome and Windows 7. Any ideas?
Saw him as an opening act for Clapton. He was great
Like this groove. Sounds a little like some early Neil Young riffs too. Cool. Spending some time today on this one in between rolling power outages here in Dallas-Fort Worth area – Steve (playing electric w/no electricity) wow!!
Me too. No amp!
Very cool.
I first got into Gary via watching my Crossroads dvds…maybe 1.5 years ago now. I still watch all of them very regularly on rotation aswell as your vids Griff,and Martys on “the youtubes”
I got my first electic,an epiphone 57 goldtop with P90s about 6 months ago after quite a bit of playing more electric blues stuff on acoustic and more rock on drums until i could get it.
Youve helped me heaps Griff…love the blues till death now:) cheers from South Western Australia bro.
Nice lesson. Not familiar with Gary Clark Jr. but something new aside from the usual blues players covered is great to hear. Recently ran across Albert Cummings eg. workin’ man blues and I’m Free for those who might want to check him out.
Griff,
Sounds a lot like “OH WELL” by Fleetwood Mac in their early days when they were a blues band.
I mean the main riff.
yup new I heard that riff somewhere years ago
That’s what I’m talkin about
Griff nice course and teaching great job
Maybe try to do a video on how to copy phrasing?how to copy solos?its such an important aspect of blues guitar—training the ear to feel the phrases!
Thanks for this video Griff.
Been a Gary fan for a while here, for fun check out his blues based movie “Honeydripper” from 10 or 12 years ago also, actor/performer…
The Blues continues to evolve and Gary was an important piece in the evolution. The North Mississippi (& Arkansas) Hill Country “trance style” guitar blues is COOL, sounds great and is fun to listen to & play. Groove Based! There is a cat named Jesse Cotton Stone who deserves our attention. Del’s favorite JCS songs: Devil Woman Blues & Can’t Hang On. Keep Listening Griff…
Check out Luther Dickinson and the North Mississippi Allstars, from Holly Springs, MS. Also the late RL Burnside for Hill Country blues!
Good stuff. Thanks Griff. First saw GCJ in 2010 at Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. Clapton plucked him out of Austin to be on the bill, which was his first national exposure. Seen him a bunch of times since. This song was on his 2012 album Blak and Blu. On that he also does a killer version of Hendrix “Third Stone from the Sun”. Peace.
So glad to see this on Griff’s blog. I was lucky enough to see Gary Clark, Jr. open for Eric Clapton last October at Madison Square Garden. Huge talent. Highly recommend you see him live when he’s in your neck of the woods. He plays as if he’s channeling Hendrix with a dash of Muddy Waters and then adding his own magic on top. Great show including a Jimmy Vaughan set and the three of them together for the encore. Awesome.
Awesome lesson Griff!. Slightly different feel but similar riff as Aerosmith same old song and dance.
He has a real cool solo acoustic version on YouTube
Nice lesson. Hadn’t heard Gary Clark Jr, but like the sound. Found an acoustic version he did on YouTube that has a great sound as well. I don’t have the technique to do all of what he does, but will work on some parts.
Thanks for expanding my horizons and giving me more ideas to inspire more playing.
Great video, too bad there isnt tab for this one.
Yeah someone should do some tabs for this one.
Why? It’s quite a simple tune with no surprises. I’m not trying to be obnoxious here. Griff did a really good breakdown and it’s easy to follow.
Hey Griff, I just like the sound and it fits well for the song..
All good.
Cheers Michael -Sydney-Australia Sept 2017
Glad to see a lot of Gary Clark Jr fans here as I am. I too first picked up on him from the Crossroads DVD and really dig this song. I wish I had gotten one of his blue Epi Casino signature models when they were out. Inspired me to get a Casino anyway. Love how dirty his sound is with all the distortion. Been wanting to learn this number and do it with my jam band. Thanks Griff.
GCJr. did this song at Crossroads 2013. It’s probably up on uTube somewhere. I just watched it again on the DVD; fabulous!! He’s got a rhythm guitarist on a Gibson double-neck who plays the whole track on the 12-string neck. Behind the riff it looks like he’s playing a D-Major triad on the top 3 pairs at the 7th fret – so that’s B on the 7th fret of the first string, G on the 8th fret of the second string, and D on the 7th fret of the third string. That’s a G Major chord (G, B, D) – BUT, think of it as E minor 7th without a root (E, G, B, D without the E) and that’s what it is. Gary is playing his Epiphone semi-solid that I think is a Casino, very much like Griff’s 335 in the lesson, and brother to my DOT!! If you find this on uTube or the DVD, DO NOT FAIL to check out the NEXT song – “Please Come Home”. It’s not blues, but it’s amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing !!!
Cheers from the Great South Land,
ChrisG.
Nice variation on the ‘blues’ theme which uncovered a couple of interesting and new concepts for me. Actually, it never ceases to amaze me how the same few notes, like this riff, can sound so different and distinctive – the blues is alive !
Glad to see you grabbing onto G C Jr– he blew the top off Chicago Blues Fesr as headliner and opening for EC at Mad Square Garden this year,
Love seeing you dissect this tune! more! As usual,Griff,you’re an inspiration.
This was the song I heard that impressed me enough to see what Griff and you all thought of his playing. Thanks Griff for choosing this number!
You are a superior guitar player 100 times over”…..just saying. I like what he’s doing for blues. .peace
Great griff, been trying to figure that out also like to play brite lights
I’ve used a downloaded tab to play that riff for a while which just focuses around an open E chord.
Your version makes way more sense plus explains the rest of the song nicely. Thanks heaps
Griff….
I’m so glad GCJr finally hit your radar!….Great riff!
Please, Please…..PLEASE….!!!
show us what he’s doing on ‘Don’t owe you a Thang
(Can I git an Amen?!)
I like that A LOT. Whenever I can master Traveling Blues I will get back to this must have lesson. Thanks!
Gary Clark Jnr was due to play with Eric Clapton in Los Angeles in March this year until the concert was cancelled due to EC sickness.
Great lesson as always.
How about doing an artist focus series. I really like Gary Clark Jr.
he has some great music and it would be fun to focus on artists like him.
Thanks
Check out 1969 Fleetwood Mac video
Peter Green. Song name “oh well”
May not be exact same riff but darn close
Then different direction
Yeah Peter Green…thanks Craig for naming the artist…
Craig, I LOVE that song. “Can’t tell you ’bout the shape I’m in, I can’t sing I ain’t pretty and my legs are thin. Don’t ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to.” I remember figuring it out off the 45 back in about ’69 or ’70. I wore that single out jumping back and forth on the riff until I finally got it. Peter Green has always been one of my favourites. I’ve got the “Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac” albums, the ones he did with Mayall, and the recent stuff with Splinter Group etc.
Cheers from OZ. Chris G.
Thought you might find this interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyaHoCaS9W0
Hmmm… Been a bgu’er now for sometime. Griff is no less than GREAT in his playing, teaching and inspiring! Gary,… not so much…
Gotta agree with you
I’ve been a bgu member quote a while and own a lot of courses beyond all access. And I loved this lesson and hope for some more. One man’s treasure…. my .02.
This is really nifty. I’m a bit ashamed to say that I came across Gary Clarke Jr watching the film “Chef” with the kids. I like this a lot, but for something fascinatingly similar, look up Songhoy Blues from Mali and the first track on their first album, “Music In Exile”. It’s a song called “Soubour” and a similar thing is going on.
Beyond my level of skill yet, I really enjoyed watching and listening. Really like the riff. Thanks Griff and Gary.
Cheers Griff
For the lesson off now to check him out 😎🎶
Griff,
My favorite is his version of Catfish blues. Would love to see you break it down.! Going to work on this now. Great pick up.
Another vote for Catfish Blues. This one first made me a Gary Clark Jr. fan.
Thanks for another great lesson Griff. That 2nd that Gary plays, I’ve used it a lot with a minor blues but I thought of it as a 9th. I like to sit on it for a few beats with a slow vibrato. I think it is a cool note in a minor blues.
I love this stuff. Was in the look out of some pattern to start on Phrygian minor. Thanks million Griffith.
Cool riffs. Will be adding this to the list.
It sounds good,I dig it! Great update!
It’s cool to see that your lessons are alive and you listen to the students requests.
Bye Griff.