Learn How To Play "Hey Hey" by Eric Clapton On Guitar!

In this lesson, we'll learn how to play Eric Clapton's version of Hey Hey. This is a cover from the original by Big Bill Broonzy - an all-time classic and worth giving a listen! It's a great song to learn for more advanced guitar players and an actual 'complete package' if you play it yourself!

This is a fantastic acoustic blues from Clapton's infamous Unplugged album. It's not as hard as it might seem at first - the trick is to take it slow and nail each section one at a time, building the new bits onto what you already know. Grab your guitar, and get ready to play the Blues!

Learning Approach

To learn this song, you're learning approach should be to explore the bits one at a time. Once you correctly understand the individual parts, it'll be easier to put it all together. What might challenge you more is getting the tempo at the same speed as the original recording. It's a fast tempo, but feel free to slow things down when you're leaning it - it still sounds great!

You'll notice Eric Clapton's playing style often uses the thumb to play the bass notes. He tends to use his second finger more for the upstrums, creating this mixture of fingering to play alternative strums. You'll need to try that on your own - a lot of the blues fingerpicking placement is really up to what works best for your anatomy and playing style.

💡 There's an excellent solo in there - it's got a great blues guitar style and is ideal for improvising. Totally worth check it out if you're up for a solo exploration. :)

Practice Tips

When you're learning complex songs such as this one, know them slowly to ensure you get it right! Transcribing it and writing out your Tab will be helpful. make sure you focus on nailing that rhythm! Once the rhythm goes a bit weird, your audience can tell something is just not right.

In traditional Blues, like Robert Johnson, things happen more randomly with extra notes here or a few extra bars there. But with modern Blues, like with Clapton, things happen more consistently, so focus on getting in time with the beat and make your chord changes in the right place. It all starts with really listening to the original recording to understand what's going on.

Want Tabs for this Hey Hey song lesson? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!