Trying To Learn Cliffs Of Dover 

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the video. That last lick will be the death of me honestly hahaha. What would you like me to learn on camera next? 😁🎸

Let me know how it goes. I've been "working" on this song for decades now.

This is how I learn to play songs... Especially back before The Internet. I can appreciate the struggle. This is great ear training.

The intro and the last few lines are the hardest. It's pretty sweet because you get to the end of the song and then fook up the outro and have to go back to the start and re-record. Fun times. Waiting on yours, Burrell

Your guitars tone is so warm, one of the best tones I’ve ever heard

Cliffs over Dover is such a great riff. Eric Johnson was such an underrated guitarist.

the final result I saw already, this explains why you seem to have the actual feel, because you looked at the riffs in many positions and approaches , thanks for the inspiration , I know a couple riffs from this tune but their are way easier EJ songs for me to attempt Thanks!

Hi Sophie, at 75 I've just bought my first electric guitar! Heeeelp!!! Love your skills!

Man, your timing is excellent. Great feel, especially for a difficult song like this that you just learned.

Learning one of the worlds greatest electric guitar players music, is never going to be easy. That's why Eric is one of the best in the world.

as a BEGINNER guitarist, the way you make playing look so easy while my fingers seem to have a mind of their own is crazy 😭

As someone who’s tried to learn this before the fact you did that well in an hour and a half is unbelievably impressive. Insane.

Hi Sophie, I know you think this is something we are generally not interested in seeing but.... please have it be known this is very entertaining, I don't know if it is because I myself am a hobbyist musician and I enjoy seeing how other musicians learn songs and kind of feel myself reflected like "ah! it's very humbling seeing others the way I at times sit down and try to learn music myself!" I don't know what other words to put to describe it but I think these are fun videos to make. anyway I enjoyed it and was smiling the whole time. I'm pretty sure every Eric Johnson fan has this song as their number one but I am no different, it's such a joy this song so magical so filled with awesomeness

Don't beat yourself up. It's a great piece of work. Had a teacher said "it's 90 % remembering and 10% talent. He made me sick, but he was and is that good. Thanks miss and Nick Greathouse. You folks rock

Don't ever feel bad for using a tab, it simply saves time. If somebody has already done the work on the transcription, use it. You'll sometimes of course have to make your own modifications to the tab for fingering purposes, or to correct mistakes you might find. There's a great tab for this already out there, which again saves alot of time. I know people say "ear training" etc, eh blah blah blah. Also, use the software called "Transcribe" to slow the song down if needed. I understand that RU-vid has a slow down feature as well so that's good. I will say if there doesn't exist a transcription for certain songs you will have to work it out on your own, which the aforementioned software really comes in handy. You'll never get a song absolutely perfect without the original composer helping you to edit mistakes and showing you exactly how he played it. Even the best guitar transcribers in the world sometimes need the editing of the original composer to get everything 100%

Took me hours to get the first bit of the intro down.. played it back and realized that got me 15 seconds into the song 😅 kudos for this choice. EJ made this one tricky. Goes in and out of comfortable pentatonics and lots of time signature and tempo changes.. hard to even use a metronome to play along with.. your tone is awesome btw

Insane skills. Could be way too niche, but the solo from “Drive home - Steven Wilson” is an insane solo full of passion. I reckon you’d smash it

This is awesome. I love how your showing the process. making it funny and fun. And ALOT of people who wanna get into guitar i think who are just listeners, and they dont really understand the process of sitting there for HOURS playing somthing over and over and over intill you got it. To a listener its magic because they didnt see the person do the work. Then you get the people who say "Its was a gift!" and believe it to be true. It was not a gift, It was not just given. it was achieved. I love this content.

This is refreshing, it looks exactly like when I learn a song. The "I forgot what I just did". I felt that.

That’s still absolutely insane how close it sounds. It would take me months to get half of that even

watching this made my day not because of your struggle but because of your no giving up mentality awesome young lady keep jamming God bless cant tell you how many times i gave up lol still never could get it some humans are gods

Damn, you really did a great job with this!

Impressive! As someone who has struggled for years trying to get chunks of that song down, watching someone more talented pick it apart was very helpful. Nice editing as well.

Slowing it down like that gives it a cool and smooth bluesy lick, nice work Sophie!

Things like this are so important for us to see, Sophie. Some of us just sigh, unplug our wretched axes and go watch tv. And that’s just trying to play scales straight! Hugs to you for this.

Eric Johnson is a very unique individual on guitar. Cliffs of Dover is very challenging to play and his actual technique is mind blowing. The rest of is are lucky to get even remotely close to what he played. You did great here. Well done.

Man that last lick is just so good!

Amazing seeing your playing by ear skills!

I feel your pain. Years ago we had albums that we learned from. The turntable cartridges sure took a beating.

awesome job been playing for 30 years this is a hard song to play well done. i am still worrking on this one ty.

"Every guitar player should have learn it" That's so true ❤

I worked with Eric Johnson at a gig in 1990! What a great guy and an amazing performer!!! Good luck on a most difficult song!!! Watch the live video!!!

First time I saw Eric Johnson was on Austin City Limits, totally amazed me. One of my favorites.

Your one of the best out there! Really dig your feel and warmth. Try doing some Jeff Beck he's so unique. Paints with a whole different palate.

I very much appreciate all your hard work on this! You are so smooth you make it seem effortless although I feel the the tension that goes into doing this. I’m the old days I used to turn the record player down to 16 Fromm 33 and keep picking up the needle and dropping it back. Although it was in a different key you could get the jist of it. Cliffs of Dover is so much more over the top than the lead to Zeps Rock n Roll or I’m Going Home. You were definitely born to be a guitarist. Keep up the good work very inspiring God Bless take care of those hands!

First of all, excellent job!! It really didn't take you very long to "re-learn" it. You rocked it!! Many years ago I learned it from the tab and with the help of a great teacher. In some ways, the intro is actually the hardest because it is not only so iconic but as you said, it is in free time so it is harder to nail. I never got it up to speed but man was it fun to try. The rest of the song is easier compared to the intro. Still a hard tune to get but learning the whole thing took my playing to a whole new level. I still mess around with it as exercises especially the main theme and the intro. The rest of the song is in time so you can use a metronome to work on it. The main theme is really fun once you get it. I hope you decide to do a cover once you get it. The two things that made it click for me were his use of wide spread arpeggios on the ascending bits and the descending mix of 4's, 5's and 6's (with some triplets mixed in) changing positions as he descends. They are mostly pentatonic with some passing tones or unique chordal transitional notes as he goes. This is signature Eric Johnson style stuff. I never mastered the song but went back many times to give myself a workout and test my chops. I also one day hope to be able to master the cascading descending licks and roll them into my solos. Hope you show us the rest of the song sometime soon. Keep rocking!! Love the channel!

You absolutely rock, and I love your funny comments through this. Awesome work. Love this song

Total respect. I think you did an amazing attempt. I saw Eric in concert at Birmingham and he played Cliffs of Dover. One of my all time faves and absolutely mind blowing how he plays it, with so much ease.

trust me, no one sounds like Eric Johnson, even guys like me who copy him. Took me an entire year to learn this song, and it was so hard I couldn't get a take that didn't have at least one sour note in it. The amount of progress you made in just this video is incredible, and I hope you go on to learn the whole song. I have a feeling you'd kill it harder than I can in a shorter amount of time.

The hours I have spent doing this with songs I love! You start to doubt your own sanity after a while and nothing sounds right!

I'd love to see you do the main guitar solo to Rush - La Villa Strangiato.

I love how you put that out there girl I love how you put that out there and you have shown progress be proud 🗿

I was chuffed when I learnt the main chorus melody 😂 but the intro is on another level. You did an insanely good job.

It is just about the most difficult piece to master, been working on it forever lol. Eric's using a Jazz 3 pick I believe and slants it to play more the edge of the pick which sort of skims the string both making a smoother transition over strings and gives the series of notes a connected legato sound. He also uses an upsweep picking motion in some cases. People in my Facebook Guitar group Player's Advice Exchange would have much more to articulate about it, many much better than me and more intricately familiar with all the nuances.

Hey Sophie. In the 70s and 80s, even when CDs had arrived in the mid 80s, many albums were not available on Cd and so we used vinyl records to learn from. I became a master of finding the exact point at which I needed to place the needle to find the solo or even a part of the solo. Maybe try it and see what happens?

Great series! I lasted about 15 minutes trying to figure out the first six seconds and my head is swimming. Respect for grinding on it for two hours!

Yesss!!! I knew it would be Cliffs of Dover!

Absolutely nailed it Sophie!! Your phrasing and tone are both incredible! 🙌

I don’t know if I speak for all of us, but I find it somewhat reassuring to see that even professionals like Sophie struggle from time to time. Again don’t know if it’s just me who feels this way, but that’s just how I feel. Thanks a million for sharing this Sophie

Dobry sposób na zachęcanie ludzi zdolnych do gry na gitarze. Brawo za tak ciekawie wykonywaną pracę i cały wkład w nią.GRATULACJE.❤

I've been learning this song for awhile, and i feel as if he's playing fast "clusters" of five notes; You play that intro way better than me anyway! Rock on!

Great video! Love seeing the process, not just the final product. I think more beginner and intermediate guitarist need to see videos like this. Amazing as always and much love 🙏♥️🙌🎸

I love your tone, it sounds so good and dynamic with the volume

This gave me the motivation to try to learn Cliffs of Dover’s intro (AGAIN)… Thanks Sophie for ruining my week end, I’ll think about you during my pentatonic struggles😂

Currently working through this myself. It’s a challenge to say the least. I’ve always wanted to learn to be able to play this since I first came across the song on Guitar Hero 3 when I was a 10 year old (also started playing guitar at around that age). I’m 25 now, no more excuses! Gonna set a goal to have the whole intro down up to speed by the end of September. Fingers crossed!

You are so freakin talented! It was a pleasure watching your method of learning such a difficult piece.❤

You rocked that! Very difficult to play because a lot of it doesn’t follow basic structure. Great song choice to try and I definitely would like to see more of these type of videos

I've had a running bet with my brother that I can't learn the first 45 seconds of this song... You've inspired me to start grinding on it haha. Well done!

I've been listening to Eric since the early 80s (Tones). Eric is very precise, fast, and has a particularly odd way of playing pentatonic scales with an few chromatic notes mixed in from his Electroharmonics fusion days.. Good job.. I love his style.

That's unusual !! I saw your performance of this tune and enjoyed, so I was looking for a lesson. You don't normally see a musician working a tune out. I suppose you're just like the rest of us, only better than me!! Keep it up, sky's the limit for you and enjoy every minute of your journey. Cheers

Discovered you from the newest issue of Guitar World, congrats on that by the way!!!Enjoying your channel very much!!! Especially the “Cliffs of Dover” vids!!! Love your tone and technique as well!!! Thank you for sharing this with the world!!!

Having seen Eric play this song many times i can say you are definately correct in saying its an elite song. You did exceptionally well for such a short span of time. Well done. By the way, the only guitarist i have ever heard play it almost perfectly was Steve Vai who said it was exquisite in its composition. Good times in the land of plenty back in Austin in the 80's.

So refreshing to see a video of a musician learning a song through sheer talent kudos to you.. I also feel that this is always a great way to learn and find your own licks and ideas along the way

i really like these type of videos because it show the work behind the magic, reminds people that behind the undying masks of idols there's, well, people like us jus trying to make something happen. next time anyon at all says "oh i couldn't play guitar, i'm not talented like that" show them one of these.

I'm so enjoying your process and humble conundrum when dealing with copying such a wide spectrum of Idiosyncratic players. I have done many tribute performances and have spent hours and hours doing just what you have shared with us. Your technical ability is so impressive, and I love your humble and lovable manner. Please tickle us more with these sweet and very musical shorts. Hope to meet your on the road some day.

Let's face it...Eric is a monster player. You show that you are as good as you are because you WORK at being a good guitar player. I think you did a fantastic job!

Awesome! I want to learn this song too, I am starting with the solo. If I made a video about learning it like you did it would be longer than all of the episodes of the Simpson’s combined. Old dog, new tricks kinda thing.

Hi Sophie, Fantastic to watch you work through this classic and to see the process in action.. this opening lick is such an epic for me and along with other classics of “widely guitar” such as the lick to “green tinted 60’s mind” are just so epic & iconic and dam tricky to do right… great work 🎸🤘🏼😎

Eric Johnson is kind of a guitar legend. I couldn't even play this on guitar hero, so you are doing great. keep it up

This was a fucking genuine pleasure to watch. Actually watching someone else do what I (I haven't played regularly for a couple years at this point though) though I guess not completely. I used to learn songs partly by tab. Back in the mid 00's we didn't have the best of tabs, so I would sit there constantly pausing and rewinding the song every 5 seconds. I'm not a great guitarist. Hell, I feel like I'd be overstating it to say I'm even good. I can't solo. I've tried. My fingers just can't move as fast as they need to, and my brain can't handle THAT much stimulation at once adhd sucks in that regard. I'm ok. I taught myself the rhythm guitar to a fuckton of a7x songs, more notably beast and the harlot,, strength of the world (holy fuck this was the most fun to learn), and afterlife. But watching someone else do that... and inarguably a million times better than I could even trying... its nice. I enjoy that process. It makes it feel more rewarding when you DO figure it out, and even better when you find an alternative to playing what is being played. (I sometimes have an easier time playing the needed notes, on strings not originally used) This was an amazing watch! Thanks for putting something like this out

“Maybe I just have to accept the fact that I’m never going to sound like him.” Yep, you and everybody else in the world. 😉 But you’re a lot closer than I’ll ever be. Great playing, as always, and charming, humble, personality. 👍👍

Yeah, I've revisited this song like 20 times. I can pretty much play the intro, 1st verse and I tend to stumble through the chorus. I'll pick it up after a couple months, think I'm nailing it and then play the track only to realize I'm only at like 75% his tempo. It's pretty impressive you got that far that quick. And it already sounds better than when I do it.

Eric Johnson is a perfectionist. He's very smooth. One of the best technical guitar players I've ever heard ❤️❤️🎸🎸

Absolutely amazing Sophie Respect respect respect,. And how you make the silver sky sing 🔥🔥🤘🎸💯🤠😎 Next time, a Plini section or Eruption 🙏🙏🙏👍

I'm a drummer, and this is insane!!! What monster guitarrist!!!! Very cool!

You are an amazing guitar player. Always look forward to new music from you. 😍🎶🎸💖💘

That was INSANE. I wish I could learn and play on the level that you do!

Are you planning on doing a Series on this song? Because it would be really interesting seeing the different break-downs throughout the song up until completion. Great job Sophie...this was a cool vid!!

It’s a great guitar song, nice to hear you affirm that

Eric Johnson is crazy good!

Sophie Burrell, Just want to say you're awesome and enjoyable to watch those picking riff that you do i've been following you for a longtime now . Having to watch you jam on alot of rock music that you've done and you're my reason way i've been playing for this long now . you're my mentor and i've learned alot just watching you on different areas on the freat board again you're awesome Sophie Sweetie Peace out in paradise From Honolulu Hawaii Aloha......

My tone was rolled down…oh the humanity! Love this vid, Sophie. I’ll never conquer this tune.

Makes me happy to see that’s it’s not only me who have difficulties to get a song 😁😁

This is my favorite song, and I could play it nearly dead on when I used to play.

I’m really impressed by your fluency when playing, this must be thousands of hours of practice, congrats

You are amazing Sophie, keep going and don't give up, btw, my Babci (my Polish Grandmother) was named Sophie, and she never gave up!! billy

Learning this by ear is insanely remarkable. Sophie is a badass 🤘🏾🤮🤘🏾

You won my subscription!!!! You’re really good!!!! I got to do what you do, play by ear more and different songs to get outta my comfort zone. 👏👏👏👏

Really enjoyed it Sophie you are very humble your playing on this elite piece was amazing I know we all strive to be as accurate as we can but even if the exercise teaches us new techniques I know I'm happy. Thank you for sharing the process 🙏

Hey Sophie, you are kicking ass and taking names as always. Cover “The Wind that shakes the heart”! Haven’t heard a Tremonti style player do it yet!

Amazing, you’re just missing a rest before going into the last descending phrase before being at the top of the neck again👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙂👍🏻🤘🏻❤️

this is my favourite down time activity... watching sophie do it cuz my sanity could never

You are amazing Sophie! I have tried and abandoned this song so many times over the years. It's a beast of a song ... well above my abilities.

I've watched you for years. This is not easy and I've been here. My hand still hurts from trying and failing. Cheers 🍺

Sophie...similar memory slowing down a recording to hear and learn pieces using a reel to reel. Nice to see you employ a metronome in your process. Wonderful tool while working through a "bit". Enjoy your passion and it reflects in your playing. Thankyou..Manhatten is another great tune to play. Give that one a whirl.

All good , play for yourself. Enjoy your music on the inside, make your heart happy.

Well worth all the effort, it sounds beautiful so far

I've been learning this solo for a good portion of 10 years and I'm only just at about the level you played it on a good day, great job!!

That was cool to watch you work through the song…make mistakes, adjust your speed. And how it took almost 2 hours to work through it. Nice to know that even super talent needs time to get it going. Cool video

Cliffs of Dover used to make me mellow Right Now, it makes me hard 😅 Nice effort, keep going ✌