help with Tears In Heaven

I play that part with a barre - makes the hammer/pull pretty easy.

Also, I'm pretty sure Clapton frets some of the bass notes in that piece with his thumb. That doesn't apply to this part, but you might find it useful as you keep going.

noteboat, what doe you mean by barring it... could you expand on that more, i mean i know what a barre is and everything i just don't understand how to do it in this. thanks!

Sure - after the hammer-on to F# on the low E string, I lay my index finger flat across the first three strings. You can use that partial barre for the A and C# notes, and keep it down while you hammer/release the D note.

I dont use a bar when I play it.
I do the first hammer on the low E with my middle finger.
There is an open A played next (It gives time to move my fingers)
I then fret the G and B strings with my index and middle fingers and play the hammer, pull with my ring finger. The rest you know.

thanks for the help guys. this song is a difficult song to play, i've only been playing for 5 months but i have made surprising progress, i practice for 5 hours a day (under the circumstances i live in.. which will soon change darnit) i won't have as much time but this is a beautiful song. and i've been practicing hard. i'm new to picking more than one string at once but luckily i learned a song before that, that did that so i wasn't so lost. i have a feeling this will take a LONG LONG time.

I think I still play it a little different:

I hammer on the low E with my thumb, play the open A string with my index finger. I then hold the A (sus, I think) with my middle finger and ring fingers and pluck the G string with my thumb, B string with my pointer finger, G string again with my thumb. I then go to the next part and hold it with my little finger on the B string, middle finger on the G string and index finger on the low E. I either pluck the B with my middle finger, G with my index finger and low E with my thumb, all at the same time. Or I pluck the B and G string at the same time with my index finger and the low E with my thumb. Either way works and sounds good.

Keep trying, you'll get the hang of it.

ya i will eventually.. missileman has helped i've gotten the hang of the hammer pull with his explanation not that i don't appreciate the other comments, i do. this one is a toughie eric clapton wow a great guitarist.

Damn rejected, you and I are in the same situation I guess!

I've also been playing for five months, practicing hard all the time (not five hours a day though, :oops: ), had nothing else to do... :D

But in a month I'll begin with my degree and will probably have no time at all playing.. I'll have to cut back on my sleeping, and play at night. :roll:

darn, i feel bad for you, thats a great thing about being younger :lol:

thanks a ton guys!!!!!!! you have no idea how much that helped. i have the hammer on pull off part down now. noteboat i am using that thumb like you told me. it helps.

Also, alot of the songs I wanted to play when I started I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. So I moved on to other songs. Remember, songs that are easy for some are hard for others. After awhile I'd go back to those songs, sometimes I'd get them, sometimes I wouldn't. Sometimes I had to go back to them four or five times before I got the hang of it. Tears in heaven was one of those songs for me. But eventually, I cracked it.

that one part was my problem, i've been working on the song all night, i can play it all the way through not as good as clapton and sure not as perfect as i could get it.. but i'm getting there. thanks for the advice though.

I think I still play it a little different:

I hammer on the low E with my thumb, play the open A string with my index finger.
Your post confused me for a while. I was thinking how are you hammering with your thumb?
Then It hit me, you are refering to your picking hand right?
My post was just how I fret.
I use my thumb on the low E and A strings , index on the G and middle on the B. for my picking hand.

those are the fingers i use to pick.. so taking it from someone who knows how to play the song, i'm guessing i'm picking correctly.