Chords for Mastermind Behind "Layla" - Tom Dowd

[E] _ _ Then when I went out to [Am] do Layla, [E] we didn't really have very much material and we started
working and experimenting and I just started recording everything I had in my head, including
old blues standards and anything that I could play.
The phone rang and it was Dwayne [G] calling to find out if indeed Eric and the band were
in the studio and I said yes, he said I'm going to be playing down there tomorrow night
at the convention center and I [Bb] would love to come up to the studio afterwards and I
said oh that'll be fine I'm pretty sure and said just let me [G] check with Eric.
When I heard Wilson Pickett's version of Hey [D] Jude, I knew that Tom would be involved in
the recording of that and I asked him who it was and he said this is this guy called
Sky Dog _ Allman.
I said Eric, Dwayne Allman was on the phone, he and the brothers are playing here tomorrow
and he [Gm] was hoping he could come by and Eric looked at me and said you mean the [Bb] chap who
played on the back end of the Wilson Pickett Hey Jude record and he plays me Dwayne's solo?
And I said yes, he said he's playing here tomorrow?
I said he's doing an outdoor [G] concert, he said we have to go see him.
[D] We went down there and sat in the front, just behind us in [G] what would normally be the security [N] line.
Dwayne opened his eyes during his solo look down and stopped dead in his tracks and from
there on in it was like two big wide-eyed kids [G] looking at each other.
And I was blown away by this band, it was so fantastic and so we invited them [D] all back
to the studio and [F] we jammed and Dwayne became for that period of time like the fifth member
[N] of Derek and the Dominoes.
There were very few words exchanged, [Bb] it was just complete musical dialogue among them.
And they just look and say hey man, how's it going?
And _ it [Db] just, the magic happened.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ Okay, let me [N] take it one more time, I can do it better than that, just give me a second here. _
Okay, slug. _ _ _ _ _
Okay, play.
[Bbm] _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [B] Here [Db] comes the drum [Ebm] turn.
_ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ [Db]
Four [Eb] more bars to the first vocal.
[B] From [Db] here.
_ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ [B] _ Vocal [Db] number [Dm] one.
_ [G] Eric [A] and Dwayne had a great [D] deal of respect for each [Eb] other's [G] taste, skill and musicianship.
[F] And there was never a question [Bb] that Dwayne was a fan of Eric's and Eric was a fan of Dwayne's.
[Ebm] We had both developed an [Ab] early love for [A] blues. _
[Ebm] [Abm] The interesting thing was that he was coming [Ebm] from a slightly different direction.
He had developed [N] a very unique bottleneck slide style while I was bending strings.
So we were coming from the same place but travelling on different paths and could meet.
And yet sound completely different to one another.
Even though we had the same principles going on in our heads.
_ You know it's been so long since I've been able to listen to these parts isolated.
It's almost 30 years.
_ I just want to look at Eric and Dwayne playing duet on the lead and Dwayne playing the harmonic parts _ during the solo [Fm] section.
[Db] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ [Abm] _ That's _ [Db] _ [Eb] Dwayne that we hear on the left.
[N] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ And if I pull Dwayne down a [Db] little bit, [Ab] now you're going to hear the duet.
Dwayne [D] and Eric [Eb] playing the melody on the right.
[Abm] And here they [Bbm] are all [Ebm] together.
_ _ [Abm] _ _ _
[Db] And it's [Fm] just beautiful.
Those are notes that aren't on the [Gb] instrument.
[Ebm] Those are notes that are off the top of the instrument.
[Db] _
_ _ [Eb] _ That's [Ab] what makes _
[Bbm] those people [Gb] such magnificent guitar players.
It's in [Bb] the tips of their fingers.
It's not in a knob.
It's [Ebm] not how loud they play.
[Db]
It's [Eb] touch.
_ [B] _ _ [Db] It's touch. _
And both of [G] them have exquisite [Db] technique and touch.
And here comes the piano part. _ _
And from [Gb] here on in, we have to start a new mix.
Because this [Db] was recorded almost three weeks after the part you just heard went by.
[Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Where is it?
It would be here. _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ There's the bass part.
My [Eb] God, I found it.
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And here comes the Dwayne part of some sort.
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ [Bb] _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _
Oh, ho, [Ab] ho.
_ What is [Db] this? _ _
[C] _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
[Bbm] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ Wow.
[Db] _ _ This is like _ looking at it for the first time all over again.
You have to learn the whole [Gb] song one more time.
_ Good.
Godfrey Daniels.
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Most of my work done with Tom,
[Gb] the quality and the success of those [Ebm] recordings could mainly be laid at [B] his door.
And here's another measure of piano.
Don't ask [Gbm] me where this comes [Db] from.
Oh, there's the forehand.
Yeah. _ _
[Bbm] _ [Ab] His role was making me feel [Ebm] comfortable and [Db] inspiring [Ab] confidence in myself.
And [Db] I've never been very rich in those [Eb] areas.
I've always been [Bb] riddled with self-doubt [Ab] about my [Bb] work,
[Ab] especially as a composer [Db] or writer.
And one of the ways that I think where I could feel I could really [Gb] trust Tom
was that I'd seen how musically proficient he was,
which [Db] is something that perhaps I've overlooked
and other people might not have told you about,
is that [Gbm] he really does know music,
and much more than I had any grasp on.
And so in those days, whenever I thought [Db] I had an idea
or I wanted to record something,
I [E] would always think of Tom [Gb] first,
above doing it on my own, [Db] definitely,
and above anybody else that I'd ever [Abm] met. _ _
[Db] _ _ [Abm] _ [Db] _ [Eb] _ _ [Db] _ _
_ _ _ There are my principles in one form or another. _ _ _ _ _ _ _