Learn How To Play "I'm Tore Down" by Eric Clapton On Guitar!

In this lesson, we'll learn how to play I'm Tore Down by Eric Clapton on the electric guitar. We'll learn Andy Fairweather Low rhythm guitar parts! If your interest is in Clapton's lead guitar part - check out the full lesson here. :)

We'll look at the individual riffs with the 12-bar blues in the key of C. You'll have to some listening of your own to put the different bits in the correct order!

🤔 Did you know? This song is originally by the legendary Freddie King and written by his keyboard player Sonny Thompson. This is a bona fide blues standard!

Get into that shuffle!

One key thing here is to pick up the right amount of shuffle. It's not just about the notes! The notes are the easy parts. You'll want to build on getting the right feel and groove of this song.

There are two main riffs in this tune, and we'll go through a bit of the accents, picking, and some of the subtle things that are important in making the tune what it is! Sometimes you might hit an extra note, that's fine! Even in the original song, Andy plays additional notes here and there.

You'll encounter some stops that'll sound excellent if you're playing this in a band. You'll follow that with a rundown and a tasty slide! A lot to explore here. :)

Picking movement

You'll use alternate picking to play the riffs, and the movement of your wrist is important here. Instead of doing a standard down and up motion, you're doing more of an in and out approach. The string ends up resting on the string underneath, and with each downstroke, you'll be touching the string beneath.

There's more wrist movement going on than with a standard alternate picking. Almost like your hand is dropping into the string. It's very relaxed, and this slightly changes the sound of the shuffle. Work on it a bit on its own, and make sure you have the accent right!

Play along with the original recording

The best way to get the right feel of this song is by playing along with the original recording! You can transcribe to tune and slow it down if you need to.

You'll have an easier time following along at a pace that's a bit slower, and as you gain confidence, you can increase the tempo until you reach the right speed to match the tune. Go through all the bits and make sure you're comfortable with each one before putting it all together.

Want chords, tabs, and lyrics to follow along with I'm Tore Down? Check out JustinGuitar Tabs!