Cliffs Of Dover Guitar Lesson Videos – Eric Johnson

By Carl Brown | August 14, 2013 |

This Cliffs Of Dover guitar lesson video will take you through every note of Eric Johnson's classic instrumental, one of the most popular rock instrumentals ever recorded.

It is an extremely demanding piece of music to perform. I have studied Eric Johnson's technique for decades and this track is his signature tune.

I will cover the entire piece note-for-note. From that instantly recognizable intro, all the way through to the ending cadenza, it is all here.

Eric Johnson has a very particular right and left hand technique, so make sure you pay close attention whenever I give the picking indications.

Have fun with this in-depth look at "Cliffs of Dover" by the incomparable Eric Johnson. It is a blast to play after you get it into your hands, not to mention it is an incredible show stopper!! Good Luck!! Carl...

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Cliffs Of Dover Guitar Lesson - Eric Johnson

Posted in Song Lessons and tagged , , , ,

25 Comments

  1. Luis on October 12, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    Thank you so much it really help me a lot, please please do Tender Surrender of Steve Vai : ) .

  2. kenny dagovetz on November 5, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    do you have tabs for this song

  3. Eric on November 8, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    Amazing tutorials. Beats martyzsongs any day! You deserve the millions of views not him.

  4. peter on November 10, 2013 at 10:54 am

    awsome good job,best teacher.one thing anyway you can do a fast run through the song before teaching it yes i know the tune but it would be cool too hear it as intended.thanks ….

    • Carl Brown on November 19, 2013 at 7:08 pm

      Hey Peter, there is a full performance video for this song. Check the list of the videos again. The last video gives a complete demonstration of the entire song. EJ himself even saw it and shared it with all his FaceBook followers 🙂

  5. Daniel on November 17, 2013 at 12:46 pm

    Is there a way that you can give us the tabs? I find your videos kinda difficult to get all the notes in the song

    • Carl Brown on November 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm

      Sorry I wish I could but can’t due to international copyright restrictions. 🙁

  6. Bruce on November 25, 2013 at 8:19 am

    Carl, can you speak to how to achieve the correct tone? You seem to have nailed it, but I always struggle in this area.

    Thanks!

  7. Tony on January 4, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    Yes I second that…can you describe how you get the tone…that would be cool given how good you plated it.

    • Carl Brown on January 6, 2014 at 10:03 am

      Hey Tony, I used a Line 6 POD HD500 for the audio in these “Cliffs Of Dover” videos.

      I no longer have it so I can’t tell you exactly how I got the tone except that I probably used an Eric Johnson preset that I downloaded directly from the Line 6 website and just tweaked it a bit to fit my guitar. 🙂

      Carl…

  8. Vinnie Kelley on January 14, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    I’d like to point out 2 things. One….that tabs are available. Eric sells some. Hal Leonard published a book on Eric with this amazing composition. Two..The grass is always greener. Videos will make you want the tab. Tab will make you want the videos. I needed both to learn this. This work by Carl seems to be essential to anyone who seriously wants to study this song or style. Even if you get the tab please don’t overlook this fantastic job that Carl has done. I you’re mortal like me you will need it.

  9. Ron S on May 5, 2014 at 10:47 pm

    Excellent instructional video… Absolute best lesson video on the web.!!
    Carl… would you share the string type, brand and gauge you typically use for electric?

    • Carl Brown on May 6, 2014 at 10:35 am

      Hey Ron, I typically use a standard 10 gauge set of Daddario’s on all of my guitars. EXL110’s to be exact.

      My 7 string Ibanez has a standard 10 gauge set with an added 62 gauge string. 🙂

      Carl…

  10. anthony layne on February 25, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    You can’t give us tabs but what about the musical rhythm? I like practicing to a metronome on fast runs so if I can play at tempo or slightly above tht when following the song it will be on

  11. Ronan O'Brien on October 4, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    Hey Carl you’re the best. I’ve looked all over youtube for great lessons and you are by far the best. You are so professional and obviously invest your time into teaching. I recently started playing and Stairway to Heaven was first song I learned. Thanks to you I learned the entire thing in only two months. I have one request: can you do some more GN’R like Welcome to the Jungle, Estranged, and Coma especially. Otherwise you’ve got every lesson I want Please keep these awesome lessons coming.

  12. brian cheatham on April 4, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    Thanks, Carl! You are the Man! This lesson is insane and it will provide me with entertainment for weeks!

  13. Matthew Ratliffe on March 19, 2018 at 9:45 am

    Hi Carl, I was wanting to post a song lesson request today. The Artist is “Buckethead” and the song is “Too Many Humans”. I would really enjoy help with he lesson and your thoughts on some of the effect changes throughout the track. Thanks-Matthew

    • Carl Brown on March 19, 2018 at 10:00 am

      Hey Matt, I wold love to do some Buckethead but would just need a lot of people to request it to be worth it form me considering anything he does will take quite a bit of time to transcribe.

      Hopefully others will chime in as well. 🙂

  14. Andrew Wheeler on March 19, 2018 at 11:27 am

    Amazing. Awesome lesson. And regarding buckethead – any light you could shed on him would be most appreciated. We wouldn’t even need a song of his – more like just a “motifs” or “tips/tricks” video to explain how he approaches his runs – for example, is he thinking modally, melodically, playing over the changes, playinig thru the changes, etc? If I could vote for one buckethead song, though, Soothsayer would be the one!

  15. Sohum Basu on April 29, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    Hey Carl! I love your videos. I need some help So, I want to learn to play fast. How do I get started with it? Do I have to learn fast songs or do exercises?
    Thanks.

  16. Kyle Grothouse on May 8, 2018 at 11:07 am

    Hey Carl,

    Thanks so much for all your efforts creating these lessons. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am for you and for this site. I would also like to chime in about Buckethead lessons. His songs are awesome and I would love it if you made some lessons on a few of his songs. Soothsayer would be a good first song choice as mentioned above.

    Thanks again.

  17. Tommy Rad on February 3, 2020 at 5:09 pm

    Hey Carl,

    Was one of the best all around performances of “Cliffs if Dover” anyone has ever done, aside form the composer and artist, EJ. This was the first song I took a stab at when I joined up years ago. All I needed was the video lesson and to hear it played through while watching each video, and full performance was extra helpful too. I gotta tell ya, to all the members out there, I truly believe that ‘Tab’ is unnecessary and a waste if energy. Just watching and listening is more than enough to learn any song and or any lead/solo…
    I started in 1975 and every song I learned back then was by ear, with an LP, or a cassette tape. Listening and lifting the turn table’s arm trying to put the stylus back to the correct groove so as to hear it again…or a little less aggravating was the ‘new’ cassette tape decks..wow, that was the shxt… just press reverse for a tad and find your spot…At any rate, by the time I was 17 I was in a rock band in the Los Angeles/Santa Barbara, California tri-counties…and for 7 years in that particular rock band we all learned in the way I previously explained, as did many of you out there of my era…So in this case, with Carl just laying it out before our very eyes, note for note, with a proper tone, and actually explaining the right hand picking to boot… I mean come on, this stuff is being hand fed to us by a consent professional instructor and guitarist with outstanding lesson plans for actual guitar lessons and techniques. The “song lessons” offered are ‘free’, free free free, free free, free…Laugh out loud, Laugh out loud, ha ha….alright guys, I’m just sayin’ tabs aren’t allowed by copyright law, so give Carl a break on the Tabs questions. And hey Carl, I’m back with ya for a spell.
    Thanks,
    tommyRad…

  18. ben on August 27, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    hey carl do ya think you can do keep yourself alive by queen? thanks

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