Learn how to play "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton On Guitar!

In this lesson, you'll learn how to play Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton on guitar. Mr. Clapton sure knows how to write a song! Wonderful Tonight is an eternally popular ballad with a great rhythm.

This song is great to learn on guitar for advancing beginner guitar players and will put into practice basic techniques. Make sure you're confident with the G chord to play this tune. :)

🤔Did you know? Eric Clapton wrote this song for Pattie Boyd, a famous English supermodel from the 60s. Her blonde hair definitely inspired the lyrics!

Chords & Strumming

Wonderful tonight is in the key of G major on guitar. To play it, you'll mostly need G, D/F#, C, D, and Em chords. Some people actually leave off the D with the F-sharp bass and play a regular D. You can decide what's easier for you to play, but keeping the bass note will definitely give more depth to your sound.

Now, for the strumming, start with the simplest strumming with 4 downstrums per bar. Once this basic strumming is consistent, you can get into Eric Clapton's picking pattern and add variations to make things more interesting!

Picking Pattern

For the alternate picking, use your finger as an anchor - it'll make things much easier! You'll want to rest your little finger on your guitar's body. Make sure your hands aren't stiff and relax your posture. Your finger will act as a bridge will help your reach different strings.

The most important thing here is keeping your rhythm consistent. So focus on that, and experiment with different variations to find one that suits your own style! If you're liking this lesson, you can add it as your favorite in your dashboard!

Follow along to Wonderful Tonight's Tabs with the JustinGuitar Tabs website feature. Try it out for free :)