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eric clapton appreciation thread


mbengs1

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My introduction to Clapton was the when The Beatles (White Album) came out.

 

I was listening to the album with headphones on while lying on my bed and the solo in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" sent shivers up my spine. I didn't realize it at the time but it had awakened the Kundalini in me. I had been playing acoustic guitar for a while but at that moment I decided that playing electric lead guitar was was I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be able to do that to people with my guitar.

 

I did not know that it was Clapton playing the guitar solo and I became a huge George Harrison fan (which was not a bad thing) since he was the lead guitarist in the band and wrote the song.

 

I eventually discovered Clapton and Cream and read an interview in Guitar Player Magazine where he admitted to playing the solo and also said "why listen to me when you can listen to B.B., Freddie and Albert?" At that point, my destiny was sealed. I was also impressed by his modesty and how he appeared to be in service to the music.

 

I realized that Clapton was playing the same guitar parts that the Kings and other blues players were but it seemed the notes were carrying something else with them - some kind of energy that was released when the listener heard the parts. I think that energy release was the basis for the "Clapton is God" phenomena in the late 60s.

 

There are those who "get" Clapton and there are others who say he is just regurgitating B.B. King licks. I think it has to to with the feeling people get (or don't get) from his playing.

 

One of the most musically satisfying moments for me was when I was in my late twenties and playing in a bar band. We had ended the set with an extended jam at the end of "Layla" and a really tough looking biker came up to me and said how much he enjoyed the music and described how the lead guitar had sent shivers up his spine.

 

 

Fast forward a couple of decades to where I was watching a Sheryl Crowe concert on TV. She had a couple of young guitarists with her and they were quite good - I was enjoying the show. When she came out for the encore she started playing piano and when the lead guitar came in I got the shivers up my spine. I can usually tell it's Eric playing when I feel that. The camera zoomed in on one of the guitarists who was playing rhythm so they panned over to the other guy who was also plying chords. When the camera went back up to the piano, sure enough, Clapton was standing beside her playing the lead parts.

 

 

Other players, Blackmore, Santana and Knopfler to name a few, have had a similar emotional effect on me sometimes but Clapton was the first and most intense of them and the only one to actually awaken the Kundalini.

 

 

I like this one and play it in the first set with my band...

 

[video=youtube;ZVageb9ZFLQ]

 

btw, I just love Billy's solo on the Hammond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[video=youtube;WVaYwUAOeTY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVaYwUAOeTY

 

In addition to being an absolutely ripping guitarist and singer, Clapton was the first real bona fide guitar hero, and was (along with SRV) probably the greatest populizer of the blues in the past half century. He wore his influences on this sleeve, and wasn't shy about pointing them out to anyone and everyone, helping those originators influence new generations of musicians. As a lover of blues for most of my life, I thank him for that.

 

"He is still the best in the world, for my money," according to contemporary blues virtuoso Joe Bonamassa. "I think a musician's ability to reinvent their playing is the most important quality they could have. Eric’s playing has a depth of life in it now that wasn't there in 1966. Just listen to "Groaning the Blues" from the album From the Cradle (1994) and tell me if it is not one of greatest recorded blues solos of time? Or "River of Tears" from One More Car, One More Rider (2002). He’s just on fire, like he is saying to all kids – beat that! He’s still the man. If he turns up with a new amp or guitar, we all want the same piece of kit."

 

 

 

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My introduction to Clapton was the when The Beatles (White Album) came out.

 

I was listening to the album with headphones on while lying on my bed and the solo in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" sent shivers up my spine. I didn't realize it at the time but it had awakened the Kundalini in me. I had been playing acoustic guitar for a while but at that moment I decided that playing electric lead guitar was was I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be able to do that to people with my guitar.

 

I did not know that it was Clapton playing the guitar solo and I became a huge George Harrison fan (which was not a bad thing) since he was the lead guitarist in the band and wrote the song.

 

I eventually discovered Clapton and Cream and read an interview in Guitar Player Magazine where he admitted to playing the solo and also said "why listen to me when you can listen to B.B., Freddie and Albert?" At that point, my destiny was sealed. I was also impressed by his modesty and how he appeared to be in service to the music.

 

I realized that Clapton was playing the same guitar parts that the Kings and other blues players were but it seemed the notes were carrying something else with them - some kind of energy that was released when the listener heard the parts. I think that energy release was the basis for the "Clapton is God" phenomena in the late 60s.

 

There are those who "get" Clapton and there are others who say he is just regurgitating B.B. King licks. I think it has to to with the feeling people get (or don't get) from his playing.

 

One of the most musically satisfying moments for me was when I was in my late twenties and playing in a bar band. We had ended the set with an extended jam at the end of "Layla" and a really tough looking biker came up to me and said how much he enjoyed the music and described how the lead guitar had sent shivers up his spine.

 

 

Fast forward a couple of decades to where I was watching a Sheryl Crowe concert on TV. She had a couple of young guitarists with her and they were quite good - I was enjoying the show. When she came out for the encore she started playing piano and when the lead guitar came in I got the shivers up my spine. I can usually tell it's Eric playing when I feel that. The camera zoomed in on one of the guitarists who was playing rhythm so they panned over to the other guy who was also plying chords. When the camera went back up to the piano, sure enough, Clapton was standing beside her playing the lead parts.

 

 

Other players, Blackmore, Santana and Knopfler to name a few, have had a similar emotional effect on me sometimes but Clapton was the first and most intense of them and the only one to actually awaken the Kundalini.

 

 

I like this one and play it in the first set with my band...

 

[video=youtube;ZVageb9ZFLQ]

 

btw, I just love Billy's solo on the Hammond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vibrato Eric got on " My Guitar Gently Weeps ", was breath taking. He like may guitarists have an encylopedia of different vibratos. Many have copied it, like my self and many were indirectly influenced By E.C.

His career had so many different twists and turns, Cream ( Metal in embryonic form), the Layla period, the J.J Cale influenced period, the 1980's E.C. ( Journeyman) and so on.

I remember at the 1983 , US Festival, Van Halen did a cover of Creams, "I'm So Glad" , But my favorite Eric Clapton period was with Cream , Tales of Brave Ulysses, Cross Roads, Sunshine of Your Love and White Room .... fore runners of all aggressive music. Then again, I have to include Badge too . smile.png

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Eric Clapton's place in Blues/ Rock guitar history is undisputed. Before Eric, we had George Harrison and Keith Richards, great in their own right but Eric upped the ante. The Bluesbreaker Beano album was a landmark. This wasn't Rockabilly or Chuck Berry riffs. It was a BB King, Albert King, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy gumbo with a Les Paul and a Marshall combo TURNED UP! Upon arriving in England, Hendrix HAD to meet Clapton ASAP. Clapton's work with Cream was also "essential". Eric inspired me and countless other guitarists then and I still refer to those early recordings for inspiration. Happy Birthday Eric!!

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For some of you guys who like to find rare tracks, Dig up Stephen Stills first solo album from 1970. Stills has both Clapton and Hendrix do solo leads on that album. I think Hendrix plays on Good Time Old Times, and Clapton plays a killer Strat part on Come Back Home. I used to listen to that album till it wore out. Very well done for its era.

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Cream and this:

 

[video=youtube;x11NA63gLDM]

 

For some of you guys who like to find rare tracks' date=' Dig up Stephen Stills first solo album from 1970. Stills has both Clapton and Hendrix do solo leads on that album. I think Hendrix plays on Good Time Bad Times, and Clapton plays a killer Strat part on Come Back Home. I used to listen to that album till it wore out. Very well done for its era.[/quote']

 

Googed it. Got this:

 

[video=youtube;QW45_AwKoRk]

 

Never heard the tune. Wonder if it's offensive?? :D

 

 

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I've nothing but respect for EC. While most of the stuff he has done, bores me to tears, what he did with Cream, and Derek and the Dominoes, was worth the decades of "Lay Down Sally". (Still think he lost his balls when he picked up a strat though...)

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I've nothing but respect for EC. While most of the stuff he has done' date=' bores me to tears, what he did with Cream, and Derek and the Dominoes, was worth the decades of "Lay Down Sally". (Still think he lost his balls when he picked up a strat though...)[/quote']

 

 

 

He didn't actually loose his balls, he just got off the horse.

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Big Cream fan here. Actually loved all of the earlier stuff with Mayall, Cream, Derek and the Dominoes and Delaney and Bonnie. Just not a huge fan of his solo work which was mainly a commercial sell-out trip from my perspective. Dug his blues/rock solos and still do, often dissecting them. I don't think he aped anybody in the blues world, his solos always had their own feel IMO. What I marvel at and still haven't gotten a grasp of, is how he was able to meld major and minor so seamlessly. I've got a video of him performing with Otis Rush and Luther Allison and Clapton holds his own and conveys his own signature sound.

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...

What I marvel at and still haven't gotten a grasp of, is how he was able to meld major and minor so seamlessly.

...

 

Clapton turned me on to BB King back in the early 70s and I picked up a few things from listening to BB.

 

If you are playing a blues in A the I7 (A7) chord has a C# in it and the IV7 (D7) has a C natural. BB would start with the note A (2nd string 10th fret) then bend the B (2nd string 12th fret) up a full step to C#. This would be using the A Major pentatonic.

 

When the chord switched fro A7 to D7 he would play the same lick but only bend up a half step to C natural - using the A minor pentatonic. For the V7 chord (E7) he would play the B without bending it then bend up the half step again to C natural for the IV7 chord and up a full step when it went back to the I7.

 

[video=youtube;9vn-xKyVwfQ]

 

 

check out the guy on rhythm guitar in this one

 

[video=youtube;sQQ_vl47CGc]

 

 

and here's another example in the key of C (three frets higher)

 

[video=youtube;UOnzDKvn7YI]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Clapton of Cream had better chops than the authentic bluesers - something I appreciate. Watching him though with that fumbly three fingered grip boggles the mind.

 

I always though he used it as a not so subtle way of telling the world off...

 

18221939.JPG?itok=DxsZp0d4

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