Learn to play Layla by Eric Clapton on guitar.
We have put together the very best free lessons available online (Over 4.3 million people have watched these video lessons on their quest to play Layla.) and we are adding new lessons as they become available.
You can listen to the song here on Spotify while you play along!
Our Top Choice
Marty Music
Over 2.3 million people have viewed this lesson online.
Marty brings his calm, yet precise and patient style to this lesson. Learn to play Layla from an incredible teacher.
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GuitarLessons365Song
This lesson has been viewed over 1 million times!
All joking aside, the intro to Layla by the imitable Eric Clapton provides an excellent exercise in legato, quick chord shifts, bending and vibrato.
You really have to work on the proper vibrato and bending technique to make the upper octave melody sing.
But because this is such a great song, working on it should be quite pleasurable to the ear throughout. 🙂
This Layla guitar lesson video starts with the famous opening riff in the lower octave. There are lots of moving parts to this riff so be sure to follow along with the video closely to see how to accurately play all of them.
After that we move to the upper octave riff section that is instantly recognizable and I personally never get tired of playing it.
Pay close attention to the timing of the hammer-ons and pull-offs since doing those too fast can throw off the rhythm. Then of course there is the responsibility of keeping all the bends in tune while still applying a nice vibrato to the notes.
All in all there are a few parts of this Layla guitar lesson that will challenge most players. But that is a good thing right? We are all here to get better and what better way than playing what is one of the greatest guitar based songs of all time. 🙂
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GuitarZero2Hero
This lesson has been viewed over 800,000 times.
This is such an awesome song and an absolute classic. I can vividly remember being 8-9 years old and watching the DVD of this performance, I didn’t even know how to play guitar back then! It’s extremely fun to play and has a lot to it so you’ll be sure to pick up a few new tricks from learning this song. In the video i’ll teach you all the rhythm parts as well as both guitar solos in the song.
00:00 LESSON PREVIEW
01:19 INTRO RIFF
06:18 INTRO SOLO
10:44 VERSE CHORDS
14:19 CHORUS RIFF
15:52 MAIN SOLO
26:43 SONG DEMONSTRATION PLAYTHROUGH