Day 0 | Climbing the Cliffs of Dover

I have decided to learn how to play Eric Johnson’s masterpiece, The Cliffs of Dover, despite my wholly inadequate skills. This is Day 0 of my long journey.

Photo by Dimitry Ljasuk on Unsplash

First of all, I need to give you an idea of my skills level as a guitarist:

I’ve owned a guitar for years. Never played more than a couple of chords every 6 months, until I started learning how to play for real in March last year, with The Guitar Social in London (check them out, they’re great!)

For a year I played only classical and acoustic. I bought my first electric guitar just before the lockdown in March and then couldn’t play it for a month and a half due to an arm injury. So I’ve effectively been playing on an electric for only 3 to 4 months.

I still can’t strum and sing at the same time. I find fingerpicking a lot easier. I know my chords but some of my changes are still slow or hesitant. I have never practiced scales very rigorously, so they’re still pretty slow. Bends still hurt. My vibrato technique is non-existent. My hammer-ons and pull-offs are a little weak.

I can’t say I can play any song properly from beginning to end. i don’t have a very long attention span: I learn bits of songs — a couple of riffs, an intro, a solo — and I move on. And because I have a terrible memory, what I learn I usually forget pretty quickly…

See? I’m well equipped to learn a composition as easy as The Cliffs of Dover!

🤦 Why the hell are you doing this?

I can hear you laugh. “This is ridiculous! Even the best of us struggle to learn this song… you’ll give up after a week!”

You’re right. However long it lasts, it’s definitely going to be hard and frustrating. And maybe I’ll give up eventually. Perhaps sooner than later.

But here’s why I’m going to try and learn this song anyway:

1. Eric Johnson’s composition is amazing. I discovered it a few years ago with Guitar Hero (Yes I did. So what?) and it led me to fall in love with Ah Via Musicom, the album it belongs to. Cliffs of Dover is one of the very few songs I can listen to on repeat for hours without getting tired of it (Shine on you Crazy Diamond is another one). Learning something you love is great motivation.
2. I could use a goal in these dreadful times. During the past two months I went through a chaotic and nerve-racking time that, added on top of the pandemic, has stolen all sense of purpose from me. I can’t project myself further than a week ahead anymore. Depressing. So, anything that can give me a bit of focus and keep me moving forward even just from one day to the next is welcome.
3. I also figured that this journey could be a funny thing to write about and share with others. Gets me back to blogging. Nice bonus.
4. There’s a chance I actually improve my skills on the way, and, mayyyybe it gets easier and easier to learn the song as I progress?
5. Again, how awesome would it be if I eventually managed to play this song or even just part of it?!

The song

If you’re not familiar with Cliffs of Dover, here it is:

Alright, I’m going to start climbing now. I’ll report back in a bit!

See ya!