Wonderful Tonight Guitar Lesson – Eric Clapton

Genre:

Difficulty:
Length: 16:11

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Wikipedia page
Artist website
Music video

• Arpeggios
• Chord embellishments
• Hammer-ons
• Open chords
• Pull-offs
• Slides

Wonderful Tonight is, well, a wonderful song 😉 You will be able to learn it as an early beginner, even if you just picked up the guitar not long ago. In fact, this was one of the first songs I ever learned, I still remember playing the main riff to one of my friends just a few weeks after I got my first guitar.

Our video tutorial on Wonderful Tonight will cover several sections of the song, including the popular main riff, as well as the chords you could play while someone is singing the lyrics. In fact, if you learn all of the chords, you will be able to play along with the actual song. Try it once you can, it’s awesome!

We’ll start the lesson by learning the intro riff to Wonderful Tonight. It is undoubtedly one of Eric Clapton’s most known riffs, and you, as a guitar player, must know it as well. It is very simple though, I’ll walk you through it step by step.

Next, we’ll learn the chords used in the song. Wonderful Tonight is in the key of G, so the chords will revolve around this key. Nice and simple, no barre chords at all. The verse can be split up into several sections, but the chord progression during each section is nearly identical. I’ll explain it in detail during the video lesson, and make sure you print out the tabs as well after logging in. The chord progression is simple, but the 3 variations they play are a bit confusing at first. But that’s why we have tablature 🙂

Once you know the chords, you can choose how you want to play them through the song. As a beginner, a single strum per chord will do. That’ll already improve your timing and sense of rhythm playing it along with the original song.

After you are comfortable with the chords and changing in between them, have a go at the arpeggios I teach you in the lesson as well. They sound great, and they’ll really improve your muscle memory in your plucking hand as well. Make sure to start out slowly, and use alternate picking to play each note of the arpeggio.

And once you can, have a look at the arpeggio embellishments we’ll learn at the end of the lesson. They’ll add a fine, delicate touch to the arpeggios, making them just a bit more interesting.

Wonderful Tonight song details

Wonderful Tonight was written by Eric Clapton and released in 1977 on his 5^th album, Slowhand.

Clapton wrote the song about George Harrison’s (The Beatles) wife, Pattie Boyd. George and Pattie divorced, and Clapton married her in 1979.

The song didn’t reach the top of the charts, it topped out at 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. Despite this, it is one of the most memorable songs created by Eric Clapton.

If you want to refine the skills you learned in Wonderful Tonight, check out these lessons on songs by clicking these links:
Arpeggios / Chord embellishments / Hammer-ons / Open chords / Pull-offs / Slides

Please log in and revisit this page to download this song's tabs and backing track (along with hundreds more on the site).