Nail the ToneDerek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton)

Layla

Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) · Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs · 1970

The signature riff is Clapton and Duane Allman playing it together an octave apart — Clapton's 1956 Strat 'Brownie' and Duane's 1957 Les Paul goldtop, both into tiny cranked Fender combos in Criteria's Studio B. Dowd's own recollection of the tone is volume and treble wide open with the bass rolled off, which is why the part is all bite and midrange and almost no low end. Pickup selection isn't documented, so bridge position is a judgment call; the middle pickup on a Strat also lands in the right neighborhood.

Where these numbers come from: the player said these settings themselves

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Intro riff is standard tuning in D minor at concert pitch; only the piano coda sits sharp (between C and C#) because that section's tape was sped up, so the coda won't line up with a tuned guitar.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Fender Stratocaster 'Brownie' (1956) · single-coil · bridge pickup
  • Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (1957) · PAF humbucker · bridge pickup

Amp

Fender Vibro-Champ (blackface)

GAIN
10.0
BASS
0.0
TREBLE
10.0

Tom Dowd told Joe Bonamassa that Clapton ran a blackface Vibro-Champ into a blackface Princeton Reverb with volume and treble maxed and bass at zero; engineers Ron and Howard Albert instead remember tweed Fender Champs sitting on the studio piano, and Dowd elsewhere said Clapton brought a Champ and a Princeton while Duane used a Deluxe.

Amp

Fender Princeton Reverb (blackface)

GAIN
10.0
BASS
0.0
TREBLE
10.0
REVERB
2.0

Second amp in Dowd's account, fed from the Vibro-Champ; reverb is judgment, since Whitlock described the album's guitar sound as purist with no slapback or fuzz. A single cranked 5-watt tweed Champ gets close if you only own one small amp.

Pedals

  • Fender Vibratone · rotary speaker cabinet · Slow to medium speed; used on the piano coda, not on the intro riff, per engineers Ron and Howard Albert.

Tone character

bright mid-forward crunch · scooped bass · small-amp compression · singing sustain · octave doubling thickens riff

medium

The seven-note figure needs clean hammer-ons and pull-offs plus a controlled bend and vibrato on the top note, and it's doubled an octave apart on the record so the high version sits up at the 12th fret and above.

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Sources