Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover - live 1990
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- Опубліковано 2 лют 2008
- Live at the Bottomline, NY, 1990.
Cliffs of Dover is appeared on EJ's 1990 "Ah Via Musicom" album. The song takes its name from the white Cliffs of Dover along the British shoreline.
It was voted number 17 in Guitar World magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and won a Grammy award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in1991.
The song is featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and this video game appearance prompted a renewed interest in the song and Eric Johnson mostly among younger audience.
(Text extracted from Wikipedia)
you know a song is extraordinary when its intro got its own intro
😂😂 so true!!
😂🎉🔥💯
wtf 😂
And it ending gots it's own ending 😅😅😅hahaha 🤣🤣🤣
I love this version! do you this version as well? ua-cam.com/video/5Nd7EZ3k39s/v-deo.html
every cliffs of dover vid i see is longer than the one before it
Murray Moore underrated comment!
And?
So what? what`s your point?
3 hour cliffs of dover
His jacket also gets smaller
nearly every time he plays it live you can hear the bassist and drummer desperately trying to yank the tempo down before the song kicks in completely and i absolutely love it
Lmao it’s great. He just wants to run with it and the rest of the band has to yank it back in. Not all of us can be Gods, Eric!
@@trevorclark7985 not at that point, he hadn't. The album just came out.
He gets them during the second round of solos. It's subtle, but you can hear Eric speed up slightly towards the end of a phrase and then the bass and drums cover the tempo shift through their transition into the next phrase. I think it's around 6:50. Then they spend the rest of the song fighting at the end of phrases. The rhythm guys were like, "We give you an inch and you're trying to take a mile!"
Haha this is so funny you're totally right
I don't always lead Cliffs of Dover with a guitar solo, but when I do, it's 5 fucking minutes of epicness.
- Eric Johnson
-Michael Scott
That's how we know u bs
KaleKain Get over your fucking self.
LMNOP OTAY don’t be jealous and angry be happy for him and inspired
Watching Eric navigate those interesting chord shapes along the neck of the guitar is almost as hypnotizing/soothing as watching Bob Ross paint trees on a blank canvas...
this is the first eric johnson video i have ever watched im my life. I was in an argument with a friend about whos the best speed rock guitarist (of course there is no right answer its all about opinion) i said yngwie malmsteem and he said Eric Johnson. I never heard of him until then...
so i decided to look him up on youtube, clicked on this video. Words can't describe what I'm feeling like right now. its like ive changed
Speed isn't everything, for years I would have said Malmsteen. Now possibly Herman Li .But this is so fast and unbelievably clean, its a pleasure to watch.
Is there a race going on???
@@athanasiusdicia117 The thing is, even when playing fast, he never stops expressing interesting and beautiful melodic ideas. At least IMO. And there can be a certain beauty in speed!
Malmsteen is still the grand master OG of speedy non blues licks though. He and EJ are two totally different animals. For one, Yngwie doesn't write songs in a major key like this lol
Johnson is I think undeniably a much more tasteful player than Malmsteen. Beyond Black Star I struggle to find a track of his that gives me much of an emotional feeling that isn't equivalent to a teenage boy cheering at a series of ever more frequent and large explosions as a monster truck runs over a car.
his pinky is beating the frame rate of the camera
***** you know how long it took me to understand that?
I recall dozens of years seeing a video of the sitar player Ravi Shankar on tv. His hands were beating the frame rate of the camera
lahadc as a guitarist I can tell you that’s it’s not beating the frame rate, we just hold it in weird positions sometimes and don’t use it as much as we should
The "intro" is amazing
yea amazing right??
The reason why i keep coming back.
GH Legends Of Rock *
super grandiosa la entrada
nah, it's too much
Andlarse respect your opinion but disagree
quite possibly one of the cleanest/ tightest guitar players i have ever seen.
Walt Campbell Steve vai and Joe satriani are both pretty clean too.
Michael Angelo is the tightest i've ever heard.
Eric Johnson uses the clean tones, not just clean playing.
I disagree. His tempo is way off and he seems to pay no attention to the drummer
Saw him live a few years ago here in Phoenix and he was awful missed notes. However even him at his worst is better than I am at my best playing guitar
I mastered this on my “Air Guitar”.
I can play
the vid
This is definitely the best version I've heard on UA-cam.
This version stands alone as the only one where Eric seems to have the patience and confidence to just build and tease ideas all the way to their conclusion without impulsively shredding or rushing out into random jazz territory when the improv is slowing down. He's so good here, so deliberate and clean. It's like proof of God or something. I've never heard anything as good, even from him, anywhere. Even other recordings at the bottom line from 1990, the same show, same piece, aren't even close to this one.
(The 6 minute recording from Austin in 88 is pretty good too)
yeah, cause its the real one😁 A few covers are great too, but Eric made those 6 strings his hooker
He won a grammy for this performance
@@elsciocco4360 yup, hit platinum too
@@vipergtsmre yeah so proud to have guy like him on earth
A good friend of mine would rehearse at the ARC, Austin rehearsal Complex, in the early 90's. EJ was there at that time. My friend said that he would be there into the early hours and EJ would be there down the hall. He said EJ would play the same riff over and over, it was clear that he mastered the part so my friend didn't understand. One day he asked a staff member about EJ, the staff member told him that EJ was not practicing the part, he was testing different gear. He was obsessed with his tone. He would try different batteries in his pedals, switch cables and there positions. So his obsession is our reward. GOD bless EJ.
art never dies! thumbs up if you're still watching this over a decade after this was releases!
2 decades :)
22 years
It's 2023 now! 🎉
2023. Tá vivo???
2023 🤘🏻
I just experienced one of the best nights of my life! Went to the Aladdin in Portland Thurs 8/16 & 22 years after this performance, saw Eric Johnson live & up close. He was amazing-he actually made me cry he’s so good. After autographs, photos & midnight, a small group of us standing with him outside his idling tour bus sang Happy Birthday as he turned 58 on 8/17. The band put on an incredible show for a three-piece & I couldn’t stop grinning the whole night. Simply magical!
ur comment might be 8 years old but that's great I'm jelly :DD
@@itsmelmao2769 fr lol that’s a great experience
Incredible. How does he hit those notes so hard and fast and yet clean and melodically with no mistakes?
Downward pickslanting is how he does it
@@Henry-fv3bcYes but how does he do it
@@Blisk. He's Eric F'ing Johnson, that's how
Innate ability plus tens of thousands of hours of practice.
Without innate ability, the hours of practice will only get you close.
Without the practice, you won’t even get close.
You need to have both to achieve his level of skill.
@@zenlandzipline What appears like "innate ability" is actually just some people who stumble on hard-to-discover techniques with enough practice.
His speed and consistency comes from his picking motion, which is very efficient and has a wide margin for error. You obviously still have to practice it, but if you practice a bad motion, you'll never achieve good results. If you practice a good motion, speeds like that are definitely achievable by the average guitarist with practice.
This is my first time listening to this and it is 2023! Crazy to think this was made decades ago! Pure art!
Took you a long time to become cultured
Im glad you enjoy his music, he recently reunited with the original G3🎉 (jan and feb 2024)
At this time, Eric used nothing but two 1954 Fender Strats. Both have had the fingerboards planed, with jumbo frets installed. I got to play this guitar in 1987. He was so gracious in letting me play it. We've been friends for over 20 years. He still plays this guitar, but not as exclusively.
Sure
If he keeps practicing, he will almost be as good as me someday.
I seached your name and saw a picture of you playing a blue guitar, if that you?
don rutter whom might you be?
Nonsense... no one will ever be as good as Don Rutter any time soon
Don rutted can’t be as good as bob duato though
I really hope this is sarcasm.
This is what complete mastery of the fretboard looks / sounds like. Never plays the intro the same way; complete improvisation
They spend about 8 years of their life playing nonstop for over a dozen hours a day. They live guitar, nothing else matters to them. And they're perfectionists. If they mess up once, they go back to the start of the exercise and do the whole thing over and over until they can't do it wrong. They know as much theory as a composer, but also understand playing from the soul like blues. It's truly inspiring to see such dedication.
This is better than the actual Cliffs of Dover.
Those white rocks got nothing on E.J. here.✊😆
As long as EJ played it
I like the intro more then the song itself :P But liked the song very much when GH3 came out.
As an American , seeing the White
Cliffs from the boat on the English
Channel, it was and is a thrilling
sublime experience...on all it's
.....silence.
That little hop he does at 4:50 gets me every time!
and at 8:25
when he plays this live, it's like he's in a hurry to get it over with. so fast
This is my favorite version of Cliffs of Dover!
When I listen to the intro, I can imagine a peaceful landscape of the coast and an eagle flying dramatically in-between the cliffs!!
I love this version! do you this version as well? ua-cam.com/video/5Nd7EZ3k39s/v-deo.html
More likely to see a one toothed crackhead in Dover than an eagle 😂
There are still times when I think Eric Johnson is the most melodically gifted musician in the world. He's the only guitar player who can make those introes like that on the fly.
Drums and bass really tight as well.
Id love to hear that bass isolated. He is ripping it!
I love the voicings he does in the intro!!! Very sweet. Glad to see he hasn't forgotten everything I taught him. LOL (and then I woke up)
I Think It' s a Ab Maj 7 with augmented 4th (considering also the looped G-D)..Anyway sounds magic ;)
Alessandro Pesci Nice try paganini. It's in G major. Nothing more or less, and augmented 4th would make absolutely no sense in this context. That would sound horrible!
Sorry, I was no clear, the aug 4th is referred to the Ab maj chord, not the tonality ( in G maj of course It would be C# and will sound horrible). Tell me if i'm wrong but the "strange" chord is "Ab, C, D" under G, D looped notes?
@@JgHaverty I know this was written 9 years ago, but "Nice try Paganini" is such a hilarious yet effective burn. 😂
When I realized how good Eric Johnson is, but that practically nobody in the world knows who he is, was when I also realized that I would never be famous for guitar playing..
If you really want to… you can :) I believe that from the bottom of my heart!
its better that way
"practically nobody"? that's fucking nonsense
he has a grammy
Well if you start play guitar cuz you want all that suffocating tabloid and mainstream media spotlight on you and every person treating you like a non-person then you were never meant to be a musician. Cuz you don’t wanna be famous. Your ego wants the feeling you get when you watch a famous person getting paraded around and celebrated but that feeling is an illusion. Cuz the reality of someone’s life is always less appealing than the perception of someone’s life isn’t it?
I saw him in 1990. I couldn't believe how clean his paying was. This is the product of working on guitar tone for many years. I saw him at the Hendrix tribute a few years ago. He was using every amp on stage..lol
to everyone pointing out the mistake: hes 23 years better now then when this was recorded. just think about that for a second.
Unfortunately he had lost alot of his “powers”
He god tier era was late 80s - late 90s
The intro is just SO beautiful. If I could choose a theme tune for my heart, i'd pick this.
Eric Johnson's music gives me faith in humanity :')
It's pure beauty of it's genre :D
Watching him play this (and how stupidly effortless he makes it look) is a sublime & ethereal experience to me. This song (and seeing him play like he's not shredding more smoothly & quickly than should be possible) both inspire me to play more, and discourages to the point of feeling like I should give up playing because, what's the point? I have stupid fingers. It's just... perfect and he shreds through it like a hot [cheese]grater through butter. This makes my ears gasm with earth-shattering awe for 10 straight minutes, every time I watch it. Alright, alright, I'll stop gushing. At least where others can see it.
One 's pleasure to play and musicality are immune to comparison, just don't stop.
you dont need to shred like a maniac in order to play (or even write) great music
@@psteeg3551 true word
Keep going!!! You can now slow down youtube videos and examine what he’s doing
I know. I love guitar. And, like you said, I have stupid fingers. Never understand how anyone can achieve this level of technical precision. No matter how much I practice, I just can’t even approach this. Reminds me that life is not fair :( but at least I can enjoy listening to gods like this. That is, when envy doesn’t get the better of me :)
I love how he can make notes fall gently like rain..
the song is only 10:17 minutes, not 21:12
I also like it when he plays the sounds that build high like a mountain.
It's got to be the shoulder pads...
+Seth Parker Play guitar like that, dress however you want.
scifyry Agreed!
+scifyry Dress like that, play however you want
Jon Hay Agreed! ;)
+Seth Parker Or the hair
When he plays his best parts the light seems shine on his guitar neck or guitar body like at the pedal tone it just glissens at the edge like a star, its beautiful and only appropriate for EJ
I remember hearing this back in like 96 thinking this was from the 60's, nope this was from the 90's. What an amazing talent this guy is.
Eric Johnson is the best drummer alive! Omg he was pounding so hard back there!!
hah?
youre so fucking dumb he is one of the most talented bass players around
Dylan Permuy You're wrong buddy... I never heard such a talented vocalist....
Rudolf Grabowski He actually does sing.
Rudolf Grabowski Please for all his vocal abilities his talent on the triangle will never be matched.
Eric Johnson absolutely killer ,the way he plays his Stratocaster is incredible and the guitar solos are a work of art.
I've watched Eric play for decades, and occasionally I'll revisit this and still be amazed. He is a remarkable, unique player, who has definitely left his mark on thousands of guitarists worldwide from all genres.
That intro was godly.
This version of this song will forever and always be my all-time favorite. Good lord this is so good.....
Just returning to this masterpiece after over 5 years. It crossed my mind. Absolutely beautiful.
To the people complaining about him not being in time with his backing band: He"s in his own zone right now. the music is moving his fingers and his soul.
Glad someone said it!
It's because the people saying it can't count quintuplets. The 5s pattern just makes it sound like he is out of time to the untrained ear.
I love the innovation this man does on this song, it seems every single one is different, from 28 seconds in the studio recording to easily 2 minutes (all live versions considered) it makes me glad ive looked into the rock genre to find this master of the guitar. Certainly one of the cleanest if the THE cleanest guitar player ive ever seen
By far my favourite best version he has done of this. The intro section is so well improvised, beautiful melody. Sometimes he goes off on melodic tangents but this particular version just melds so well.
I love this version! do you this version as well? ua-cam.com/video/5Nd7EZ3k39s/v-deo.html
5 minutes of Eric Johnson purely styling on everyone followed by 5 minutes of him styling on everyone but in song format.
His tone is extra fantastic in this one. I think EJ makes the most effective use of the Pentatonic scale out of any player
He is rushing the drummer something fierce! That's the fastest I have ever seen him play cliffs. Taylor is struggling to keep up, but Brock is cool as ice. I hope this was where Eric learned the dangers of caffeine. He is truly amazing... Even at unreasonably high speeds. You can hear those valve amps giving it all they've got!
That poor drummer is thinking ERIC! Slow the eff down .
Saw him play this in Cali last night with about a 10 minute lead-in and an encore of Hendrix and Dylan songs. It was amazing, to say the absolute least.
That's what fell in love with in high school. I had the cassette tape Ah Via Musicam
6:40 man that was sick
When you think everything has been done with this specific chord progression, he just comes up with an amazing phrasing that kicks ass and makes you rethink the whole song
It's a blues version of that part.. Damn Amazing..
Some people still think it's a cockup.. I dont know myself but it sounds amazing lol.
My favorite lick of this version lmao
@@aaronsoh it's a mistake turned into improvisation probably.
He's that good tho so it sounds very well thought of
I'm such a shit guitarist
Yes... Yes you are * with Eric's inspirational music in the background*
+James McKay You're a McKay dude, you are not a shit guitarist
listening to this makes me feel the same way
I feel your pain... I've been playing almost a decade; then I watch him play this so damn effortlessly and it's like I've never even seen a guitar in person, let alone held/played one.. . I have stupid fingers, I will never come within one tiny iota of this level of awe-striking, sublime, and again in his hands easy looking mastery. Watching him play this is such an ethereal experience.
This is the best guitar performance ive ever seen I think. Masterpiece really
Manager: "Eric, we need to write a new song that people love."
Eric: "Alright, i've got a solo we can use."
Manager: "Ok, what about the chorus?"
Eric: "What's a chorus?"
I can play this.... on my stereo.
This is one of the best renditions of Cliffs done by Eric...the pastoral intro and the violin-like overdrive into...the main song is done perfectly.
Absolutely covered in goosebumps after listening to this version
Come to find out, the intro was just him tuning his guitar.
Best live version made by Eric! Everything is perfect, the intro, the settings on his gear! 10/10
I love this version! do you this version as well? ua-cam.com/video/5Nd7EZ3k39s/v-deo.html
this is possibly my favorite live performance
Guitar virtuoso. Very possibly the best clean clear crisp lighting fast guitar solo ever played, by a really humble nice guy too👍🙏🏻🎼
All o can say is that this scary good, it has abosulte soul.... If anyone hasn't been "changed" by this, they are "not living"
I admire such a mastery a lot. His music is like paintings...
This song is the reason I started playing guitar again almost seven years ago.
I have never looked back and when I here Cliffs of Dover I still get goose bumps.
I believe the thought of Eric when the Drummer started was: Shit,..... I'll have to work now,......
Wayyy to fast^^
Best guitarist everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
This particular performance is God-tier Eric Johnson. Tasteful shredding at it's finest.
3:00 The nobility of his "Jules Verne" trademark sound is so magnificent and grand. His playing is the most beautiful loud (and he is LOUD as the best of them) has a pure quality of its own. I've seen him live more than a dozen times and nobody else compares.
I'd love to see what could've happened if Eric and Jaco Pastorius could've gotten together. Very similar fusion types and talents, would've literally been too much for humanity to handle
Oh my God, I've only ever played this on Guitar Hero, the only song I ever wanted to play but I've never heard the actual song and I am crying at how beautiful this is! I'm not much of a rock follower or play guitar for that matter but I would love to hear more of this, anyone know any other similar stuff??
That's a very general statement, nobody plays like EJ, so just check out some of his other works. If you enjoy guitar virtuoso instrumental music, you might want to check out guys like Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai, John Petrucci and Alan Holdsworth... Too many to mention.
+Adryanna Mataele Definitely check out Guthrie Govan. He's doing us a Masterclass next month, for our Guitar School. Awesome guitarist.
There are loads of Eric Johnson albums to pick from, lots of music for you to enjoy. I drive my family mad playing his stuff.
Adryanna Mataele Eric Johnson is very much a sound and style all of his own.
Rush- limelight, Steve Morse solo
Raffie Jackson loads? Eric is notoriously slow at releasing albums. To my knowledge he has only released about four in as many decades...
I've studied guitar for 35 years ... studied guitarist for 30.
Trust me when I say this guy simply is the best for the style of music...
Only him and Steve Vai and SRV or Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healy music that melts into your skin at the back of your neck. Don't get me wrong there are other guitarist that are amazing too. But they just got something that is special and stands out and can go on and take over. Give this guy some room.....lol. G'day all
even in comparison to a lot of concepts related with technical guitar, virtuosity and cleanliness today, this version is still insane...
I still remember seeing this Live in San Francisco at the Warfield in support of his excellent Ah Via Musicom album. It literally gave me goosebumps, it was so good. Wow!
"This is a poor performance from him" ya ok, you're one of THOSE people
I bet you couldn't play it dumbass!
Hey mark, did u notice how I used quotation marks? Figure out what those mean, then well talk
David Jones Yes I am hahaha I think he plays the actually song way too fast and his playing and improve suffers. 98% of the song is good though. I just think the song doesn't thrive at that tempo. I guess I'm just used to the studio version.
Adam Gerlach adrenaline
@@markhenson1427 Ironic how you called him a dumbass
Sharing this link - great video, thanks for posting it! Eric Johnson shows a level of musical and personal character in this performance that is inspiring. Beautiful music and it gives insight into the man playing. Thanks!
This is one of my all-time favorite songs! Never get sick of hearing it, and this is the longest version I've seen/heard so far, so it's also the best so far! Thank you for sharing this!
This song is incredible and Eric Johnson's performance is amazing! It's impossible not to smile during this performance!
sounds like a car door is open the entire intro
Lol, you ruined this for me. I laughed when I got in my car earlier thinking of this. Pretty darn hilarious.
Ok that's funny...
:-)
Hope lifeson
Devin DeGaetano I dont get it. Can someone explain?
Kron D the loop he made sounds like the dinging you hear when a car door is left open
How the drums and the bass never gets lost blows my mind. EJ knows where he’s going, but oddly enough I think he’s following them!😮🤯
my favorite part about listening to Eric Johnson live especially cliffs of dover is the way he just TEASES that opening riff with that bend a couple times before he finally dives. No one but him knows when that is gonna happen but as soon as it does, chills every time.
I saw him live in support of the Ah Via Musicom album at the Warfield in San Francisco. To this day, just thinking about his performance gives me chills. Just, absolutely amazing...
Just the intro is worth the price of admission. I could have listened to that all night.
Ridiculously, incredible, addicting, unmatchable, undeniable, unrepeatable, unplayable, AND OH SO SATISFYING! EJ DELIVERS!
Eric Johnson Cliffs of Dover Totally Rocks and Rolls
That solo... what a modest genius. Beautiful improv.
Smokin' hot! The man know's his guitar.
+Dennis Larson Absolutely. One of the best ever. The first minute or so is just him tuning his guitar it seems like. Even that sounds beautiful. This is the only song, that I know of, without lyrics to get popular radio play.
I was at grade kg in 1990 when he was palying this song... For the 1st time i heard this song 1998... Till now its my Favorite... Now im 35... Great going 🍻🍺👌
Eric is almost 65 years old and still has not gotten the recognition his brilliance deserves.Saw him in Austin a couple of years ago. Breathtaking the skill. Brilliant musician.
2:00 the trademark Johnson Reacharound
What is he actually doing there? I've always wondered.
Always wondered that too. @Omahamaho, could you explain?
The intro is epic and maybe a bit long for the average listener but he's in the zone and playing some variations on his piece.
Epic stuff.
Amazing playing IMHO.
Luv and Peace.
Remember listening to this when I was just 15. I'm 28 now. It did bring a tear to my eye earlier, that's nostalgia for you...
Love this version though, such a brilliant player! SRV, Allan Holdsworth, Hendrix, The three Kings, all these amazing players, yet Eric isn't mentioned often but I think people should listen to him more, he's a savant
I feel as if I just acquired a new friend, I'll be listening to this guitarist until I've heard all his music.
I love how effectively Eric uses 6th opened string while playing at high positions. Sounds very unique. Also, as people say, he is very clear, accurate. Also he uses his left hand 5th finger rarely. He prefers use just 3 fingers. His guitar sound is also quite unique. From just a few notes we can surely say that this is Eric playing.
one of the first cd i owned - won it off a radio contest. … someday i'll explain all that to you kids.
This song is beautiful!!!
The guitar tones of his intros for most of his cliffs of dover performances are so beautiful.
Simplesmente o melhor...
EPIC JOHNSON!!!
Cliffs of Dover is more than a song, it’s an experience.
Eric Johnson is a master of his craft , guitar player extradanare who demonstrates his ability on Cliff's of Dover.
I've met him twice, and he's also a very nice man. Cliffs of Dover is my favorite morning wakeup to compliment my caffeine addiction and begin a pleasant weekend.