Carl Radle’s Bass Line From Layla

[greghagger]

I'm sure that you know the guitar riff from Layla by Derek And The Dominos. This is probably Eric Clapton's more well-known riff.

 

I must admit that at one point I had heard Layla so much that I started to fast-forward it, in the days of cassette tape! But it's a brilliantly crafted Rock song in two parts that were actually recorded on different days and spliced together at a later point in the studio.

 

Carl Radle's bass line from Layla is often overlooked as there's a lot going on in the song, but it's really creative and is a lesson on how to perfectly support a song. I was reminded when doing a session yesterday that creating a bass line is a fine balance between producing a line that is repetitive but interesting at the same time, and Carl Radle was so great at this. He even switched to plectrum in the second part of the song!

 

As lots of the bass line is repeated, you only have to learn a few sections to play the whole epic 7 minutes.

 

Find out more in my latest YouTube lesson and grab my free note-by-note transcription of the bass line under the video.