Appreciate your patience, Darrell, and continued encouragement and sharing of tips, regardless of I pick things up and progress.
from a man who has had way too much to drink and is slurring his words and talking a lot of nonsense
That’s the plan. And don’t worry, it won’t be timed as if it was a Neil Young solo when jamming with Crazy Horse, or the Greatful Dead in full cry 
TBH David, I think Justin has done a nice short solo that you’re getting very close to have a go at; remember this:
@DarrellW Thanks Darrell, that’s one to put on the list. I am a great lover of early Fleetwood Mac and Peter Green.
If you’ve never listened Gary Moore’s Blues For Greenie is a great tribute album, much like Clapton’s Me and Mr Johnson
Yes maybe but you’ve been shown where that box is now so no excuse. 
Next step tag that box on to the current paragraphs.
Another suggestion for BTs. Drop them into Reaper and set up short loop 20-30 bars max. Keep working the same section and experiment, figure out what works and go over repeating them. Then loop another 20-30 bars. Wash rinse repeat.
I think lack of ability and need to take it slow, staying focused on exploiting this Layla opportunity to develop ability shall be my excuse
That’s a good idea but not always practical for me. I share the PC with my son, an avid gamer, so not always able to spend time in Reaper whenever I want. My electric and the amp are in another room, which is working well. What I can do is set up BTs, render out of Reaper and play through the amp aux.
That will probably be the solution when working on solos over longer, more varied chord progressions. At least until such time as I can play the backing over drums and record in the looper.
Understand the shared resources but yes, cut n shut some smaller chunks to jam over.
As to the first comment, sorry it don’t stack pal ! If you don’t try you won’t fly.
Pete in “that” box, even just the intro is within your grasp and will give you a taster, honest.
I’d like to think nobody would accuse me of not trying. Right now more likely to study the Layla intro solo lesson and see how I can do on that. But maybe it’ll prove too big a stretch, in which case add in this study to supplement the bending (and yes, before I do more of that practice I will be tuning down a half-step)
Thanks for reminding me of that other room I had almost completely forgotten about
I really enjoy watching your progress, partly as it reminds me how achievable a lot of these guitar skills are. You really got into this one, eh?
One day I shall make my guitar sing, but there are too many words that have to come out of my mouth first
Nice David. Above my play grade so not much for me to offer. The vibrato is very good.
@brianlarsen you are so right, with enough time, effort and appropriate sequence of learning steps we can all achieve more than we may imagine. I think the signs interpreted as me getting into it are more signs of stress and concentration to try to do an OK job of this complex business of notes, timing, phrases/licks, and techniques.
@frito glad you enjoyed it. Good to hear some of the technique, like vibrato, sounds like it is coming along well.
Better late than never as they say. 
It’s brilliant to see how far along you have come just since I’ve been here.
That was really superb stuff David.
Thanks Stefan, slow and steady, keep on moving. Appreciate the encouragement, though ‘superb’ is fine hyperbole But it is getting better and hopefully Take 2 (when I get to it) will be better still
My goodness David,
Clapton? Ye have come a long ways my friend! I think this got better as you went as to my ears the bends hit their targets and sounded good. You must have put some serious work in on this one and it shows. You have some great left hand work going on in this one!
Keep rock’n and lets hear more Clapton from you!
LB
Thanks for such an encouraging post, LBro. Yeah, I’ve been putting in some time on the blues lead techniques … bending, vibrato, and some of the basic licks in position 1 that Justin teaches. Not the hours a day, 8 days a week that really lift one to a greater levels, but toddling along making slow progress.
The closest this really gets to Clapton is playing in D minor pentatonic over the Layla chorus chord progression. but I am pleased with the progress and hopefully will sound more Layla-like next time round.
If you missed it then check out @sairfingers similar exercise (Hey Layla, wanna fool around acoustically?). I think he is getting closer to the Clapton melody and licks. And we are both getting lots of pointers from @TheMadman_tobyjenner and @stitch, which is helping.
I’m working on Take 2 which will be shorter, more like a real solo and less just noodling around.
Sounding good to me, David. I also liked that you’re adding some slides, they sound good. One thing I was thinking from using Smoke on the Water to practice bending myself is that it’s necessary to practice those bends way up the neck too. I think you were practicing with some variation in fret position, but this one seems to be up higher. I started practicing bends way up at the 18th fret today because that’s where PW goes. Bending accurately is very different at fret 7 vs fret 18. Anyway you’re doing well my friend, keep at it.
Best riff for learning string bends is Wonderful Tonight.
Has semi and full tone bends. It’s short and easy to learn
Riff lesson starts around the 15 minute mark
Thanks Rick. I’ve been thinking I should transcribe that one anyway, so I’ll give it a go and then use that song for practicing bends.
Getting down to business with this one, David. Sounding better all the time, I have to admit I didn’t listen to the full 5:40 the first time but did this time. I admire your tenacious stick to it-ness and attitude. And I hope you post your next live OM. You did really well on the last VOM.
@Mari63 thanks, Mari, it is coming along, gradually able to add a little more to my ‘lead’ play than just playing notes cleanly from the scale, accenting chord tones. Well spotted on the area of the neck. All my practice and noodles to date have been in A mostly position 1 root at the fifth fret. This Layla riff ear-worm inspired exercise had the benefit of getting up to the 10th fret. Really appreciate all your support and encouragement.
What do you find the difference to be when bending at the higher frets? I can imagine smaller gaps between frets may change things.
@stitch I have not forgotten your suggestion to transcribe the WT intro, Rick. I will get to that in due course and will try the transcribing before getting to a lesson.
@oldhead49 Good to see you back, Dave, hope you’re feeling better (I gather your back was playing up a bit). Two listens, and the full thing … that’s dedication to support. I enjoy the learning and the satisfaction that comes from progress; however slow and irrespective of how ‘good’. So staying the course is the easiest part of the whole process for me. I just think back to year one and appreciate where I am now in year six, with playing and singing and now with lead play. Keep at it and who knows what may be in year ten. Thanks for the ever present encouragement and support.
@DavidP it’s not really the size of the frets, it’s the angle of my hand. If you try the SOTW riff starting on fret 15 of the 2nd string you’ll probably see what I mean (PW has a tone bend on fret 18, so then you’ll be bending at that fret). I could be using poor technique, but I think it’s more just practicing and learning.