Change The World Guitar Lesson (Eric Clapton)

If you want to become great at playing popular music on guitar from the past 120 years, you’ve got to be familiar with the blues.

Now oftentimes players don’t realize a song they love is based on the blues.

They may even know how to play it but still do not realize they are playing the blues.  

Today is a great example of this.

In this “Change the World” guitar lesson you’ll see how the blues can be brought straight into popular music.

So grab your guitar, tune-up, and let’s get started!

Who wrote Change the World?

"Change the World" is a song co-written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick. It was recorded by Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film "Phenomenon." 

The song was produced by Babyface and the recording took place at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California. It features Clapton on vocals and guitar, along with a notable lineup of musicians, including Nathan East on bass, Steve Gadd on drums, and Dean Parks on acoustic guitar.

The song achieved significant success and received several awards:

Grammy Awards (1997): "Change the World" won three Grammy Awards in 1997—Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. This recognition solidified its place as one of Clapton's most commercially successful songs.

Chart Performance: The song performed exceptionally well on music charts. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States and also charted successfully in various other countries.

Popularity: "Change the World" became one of Eric Clapton's signature songs and is often associated with his later career. Its blend of pop, rock, and R&B elements contributed to its broad appeal.

The song's romantic lyrics and Clapton's soulful delivery, combined with the well-crafted blues riffs, played a significant role in its widespread acclaim and lasting popularity.

Change the World guitar chords

The first half of this song is where you’ll really see the bluesy part. “Change the World” is in the key of E major. 

Now, if we thought about a blues in the key of E we would have essentially 3 chords E7, A7, and B7.

These three chords would be our I, IV, and V chords in the key of E. 

But instead of playing those chords, this song uses a classic blues riff that has been around for decades.

It plays a figure built off the I chord like this:

You could analyze this as basically playing an E to E6 to an E7. Then it walks back down. E7, to E7, to E like this:

This figure becomes a theme throughout the intros and verses. 

When it’s played in the verse I think of all of this as just the I chord, or E.

Then the figure repeats over the IV chord. The IV chord in the key of E is the A chord. Here’s an example of how this classic blues rhythm could be played over the A chord.

You could analyze this as basically playing an A to A6 to an A7. Then it walks back down. A7, to A6, to A like this:

Ok, so far this entire verse section is just blues rhythm patterns built on the I and IV chords.

This is why learning the blues is so important. When you can identify the higher-level structures that are going on in the music. You don’t have to spend time memorizing progressions. You just identify the pattern, and instantly know it. Because it’s used in millions of songs, it’s the blues.

The next part of the song is the B section. Now here the chord progression takes quite a bit of a turn. It brings in many jazzier-sounding chords and some more complex harmony. Before we break it down, let’s first look at the chord shapes we’ll need. There are 10 new chords, and they are G#7, F#m7, C#m7, D#m7b5, Cm7, Bm7, A, E/G#, Gdim, and F#m11.

G#7 is played as a bar chord at the 4th fret using all 6 strings like this:

F#m7 drops down to the 2nd position and removes the middle finger from the previous chord:

C#m7, Cm7, and Bm7 are all the same fingering from the 5th string down. It’s just each chord has a different root note like this: 

D#m7b5 is a beautiful sounding chord also played from the 5th string down like this:

For the A chord, I use one finger, my index finger like this:

E/G# can be a bit tricky. This chord is a triad played on the lower strings like this:

Then the E/G# compresses down into the Gdim shape like this:

And then finally we get to this beautiful F#m11 chord that has a very open sound to it. Here we’ll play all 6 strings but I mute the 5th string with my middle finger arching over like this:

Now that was a lot of chords. Take your time with those shapes if they are new. This is one of the amazing things about this song. The first half of it is essentially a blues based on the I and IV chords in the key of E.

But the second half, soars into these beautiful almost jazz-like chord changes. And the blending of these two elements creates a genius tune.

Change the World Guitar Solo and Scales

While Clapton did not play the main acoustic guitar part in this song. He did play the solo. In the solo, we hear Clapton dipping straight into his blues roots. His solo is very similar to his solo on “Before You Accuse Me” from the Unplugged record.

Clapton’s solo takes place over the A section of the song. Of course, it’s the bluesy section! The main scale he uses to solo with is the E minor blues scale. Check out this post for a longer lesson on how to play the blues scale on guitar. 

The E minor blues scale is a six-note scale. The notes in the E minor blues scale are:

• E (Root): The tonic or root note.
• G (Minor Third): The third degree of the E minor scale, lowered by a semitone to give it a bluesy feel.
• A (Perfect Fourth): The fourth degree of the scale.
• Bb (Diminished Fifth/Blue Note): This is the note that gives the blues scale its characteristic sound. It's a lowered fifth.
• B (Perfect Fifth): The regular fifth degree of the scale.
• D (Minor Seventh): The seventh degree of the scale, which is also lowered for the blues scale. 

Here is a great way to play this scale on guitar:

This scale is a great place to start when improvising over the I and IV chords of this song.

Conclusion:

"Change the World" is a great example of a song that is deeply rooted in the blues. However, it’s also one that most people don’t think of as blues music. 

From the classic I-IV blues structure to the sophisticated jazz-inspired chords, the song fuses genres and transcends musical boundaries.  

Eric Clapton's masterful solo and a world-class rhythm section of studio musicians have made "Change the World" a winner. 

So, I hope that this post has helped you pick out the parts that are straight from the blues. And also helped you play this classic tune. Keep practicing and for more Eric Clapton-style guitar lessons check out this “Crossroads Guitar Lesson” or this “I Shot the Sheriff Guitar Lesson” next!