Clapton...

Jez6345789

For me the Beano Album Cream etc was not of my generation really and I found it much later than my formative teenage years. 

I for a long time was ambivalent to Clapton but for my 40th my daughter got me a front row seat and I sort of fault well he has been there all my life and yes I have dipped in and out of a few albums but there are many more I rate higher but to be honest he won me over that night and when he is on it he was very good in the Blues Rock area. Combine that with a career spanning decades and you have to go yeah he has earnt his place. 

To be honest the day Stevie Ray died I memorably commented for fuck sake God is there no justice guy cleans up his act produces a great album with In Step and is playing his arse off and you give him Claptons seat in the Helicopter. 

So that's how much I was not a fanboy LOL. 

ICBM

Fifty9 said:

For me he’s probably the ‘best’ all-round guitarist of all time. Can’t think of another who has achieved what he has wrt the guitar over such a period.

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. OK he's not such a household name, and pretty much disappeared off the radar after the 90s when he went all medieval...

And Nile Rodgers.

soma1975

ICBM said:

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. 

He wrote 'Always on the Run' by Lenny Kravitz?

Lebarque

Touch, tone, phrasing, fluidity, class, groove, vibe, entertainment and above all else, soul. What's more important? Forget the technique and number of notes. Makes it seem easy to be epic and create atmosphere. Except when you pick the guitar up, you can't do it like Eric can. Forget you're a player and enjoy as a punter. Captivating and all improvised. Winwood helps- what a voice and talent. Skip Eric's (average) first solo and proceed to the double solo at 4.25 if you must, but I highly recommend watching the whole song for context. If that doesn't give you a buzz, I despair... @fastonebaz could learn from this ;0)
Note two of the best players in the world, Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks acting as low key sidemen, watching and learning.

bloomer

Versatile guitarist...Greg Koch?

Alexlotl

Still love his playing with Mayall and Cream. He could rip, but also knew when not to play, and leave space for the rest of the band. Whoever said “controlled aggression” was bang on.

Yes, he had the good fortune to land before Hendrix. But by some accounts, he was a good part of the reason why Hendrix agreed to come to London - he wanted to meet Clapton and Beck.

Post Cream, less of a fan. His debut solo has its moments (particularly in the Delaney mix), and I like the songwriting and warm atmosphere of the Derek & The Dominos album, but they’re both less interesting from a “chops” perspective (and that Little Wing cover is awful).

I confess I’ve never gone near Blind Faith due to that album cover. 

I do find it bizarre that he’s so strongly associated with his Blackie Strat, when it’s adoption marked the exact moment when he ceased to do anything particularly interesting (debut solo + Dominos was the Brownie). 

Octafish

Versatile is not a word I'd ever associate with Clapton. He's got two sounds the Gibson one and the Strat one and two styles of song a blues one and a country tinged blues one. I can see why he had impact Mayall/Cream period, but that was a short period of time long, long ago.

As may be evident, I'm not a fan of Clapton . Part of that is his playing seems stuck in rather repetitive and one dimensional blues noodle arena, part of it is I find his material (other than some Cream stuff) so bland and uninspiring and part of it is because he comes across as being totally devoid of any passion for what he does both in person and in his playing. I accept he must have and still does love what he does, but for me he's always comes across as the musical equivalent of one of those gone to seed middle manager types ticking off the days until his retirement.

thecolourbox

I'm not a fan, I could probably tolerate some of the 60s stuff but just not my thing at all, but then I doubt I'm the target audience as I prefer music with a bit of angst rather than (how I perceive it) his very inoffensive and self consciously beige stuff. Just seems very polite music and even a little cheesy especially in his later efforts where he tried to pretend to be a singer. He was good at what he did though there's no denying it.

But as others say, it's objective and I'm definitely not the kind of person it was aimed at

rossi

Kittyfrisk said:

Funkfingers said:

Can Blue Men Sing The Whites?

They can if they're playing on my pink half of the drainpipe.

A Bonzo Dog Dooda  fan .At last FB comes of age .

To get Clapton you had to be there .it was  electrifying .Many of todays greats have set out to be great and practiced 10 hours a day to get there .Clapton just wanted to play the blues .His heart is on his sleeves  not his bank balance .He has lost loved ones and he is getting old .

Kittyfrisk

ICBM said:

Fifty9 said:

For me he’s probably the ‘best’ all-round guitarist of all time. Can’t think of another who has achieved what he has wrt the guitar over such a period.

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. OK he's not such a household name, and pretty much disappeared off the radar after the 90s when he went all medieval...

And Nile Rodgers.

"Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time.'.
Blackmore did "Mannish Boy" ? Damn, I need to research more back catalogues.

thecolourbox

Kittyfrisk said:

ICBM said:

Fifty9 said:

For me he’s probably the ‘best’ all-round guitarist of all time. Can’t think of another who has achieved what he has wrt the guitar over such a period.

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. OK he's not such a household name, and pretty much disappeared off the radar after the 90s when he went all medieval...

And Nile Rodgers.

"Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time.'.
Blackmore did "Mannish Boy" ? Damn, I need to research more back catalogues.

No but he did write Seven Nation Army apparently

Kittyfrisk

thecolourbox said:

Kittyfrisk said:

ICBM said:

Fifty9 said:

For me he’s probably the ‘best’ all-round guitarist of all time. Can’t think of another who has achieved what he has wrt the guitar over such a period.

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. OK he's not such a household name, and pretty much disappeared off the radar after the 90s when he went all medieval...

And Nile Rodgers.

"Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time.'.
Blackmore did "Mannish Boy" ? Damn, I need to research more back catalogues.

No but he did write Seven Nation Army apparently

Cool. There is clearly no limit to my ignorance. 
I really thought Meg was his sister. Doh!!

EricTheWeary

Did you know that Angels by Robbie Williams was ( composer) Guy Chambers’ take on Hey Jude by The Beatles? If you like Robbie and aren’t that familiar with The Beatles you may well prefer Angels. Which is reasonable and fine but you should realise from that snippet of information without Hey Jude then Angels wouldn’t have come into existence. Even without that snippet of information you could probably guess that other music existed before Angels and that Guy had listened to some of it in order to like and learn about music and eventually write Angels. If you only like 12 tone music then you are never going to like Robbie or The Beatles and you probably don’t have a valid critical point to make about either. 
Thats roughly my take on this type of thread. I hope that helps. 

ICBM said:

Fifty9 said:

For me he’s probably the ‘best’ all-round guitarist of all time. Can’t think of another who has achieved what he has wrt the guitar over such a period.

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. OK he's not such a household name, and pretty much disappeared off the radar after the 90s when he went all medieval...

Blackmore is a case in point in a way. He always says he was influenced by and developed his vibrato listening to Clapton and Blackmore’s first strat had been Eric’s. So, whilst he had a more technically adept and varied style than Clapton it still points to the importance of Eric. 
Plus, y’know, he was called Eric so he was obviously great...

Octafish

rossi said:

Kittyfrisk said:

Funkfingers said:

Can Blue Men Sing The Whites?

They can if they're playing on my pink half of the drainpipe.

A Bonzo Dog Dooda  fan .At last FB comes of age .

 .

You think that's good, you should hear the sound of 'Roger's wah wah rabbits'....

poopot

Don’t get me wrong... I do love blues... but Clapton? Even the beano album? Really?

its cack...Safe, suburban guitar playing by numbers!!!

no soul!!!!

Lebarque

soma1975 said:

ICBM said:

Blackmore. Better technically, more versatile, and wrote the greatest single electric guitar riff of all time. 

He wrote 'Always on the Run' by Lenny Kravitz?

Now that is a f*ckin' tune. And one that I was busting out on a LP in Guitar Village yesterday! #Slash

Kittyfrisk

Octafish said:

rossi said:

Kittyfrisk said:

Funkfingers said:

Can Blue Men Sing The Whites?

They can if they're playing on my pink half of the drainpipe.

A Bonzo Dog Dooda  fan .At last FB comes of age .

 .

You think that's good, you should hear the sound of 'Roger's wah wah rabbits'....

I think we might need a bigger thread.
But... the guitar solo on "Canyons of your Mind' is something of great beauty. Sigh.

Lebarque

Gratuitous thread hijack for the benefit of @soma1975 !

longjaw

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

John 11:35

EricTheWeary

longjaw said:

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

John 11:35

Possibly the first time I’ve had to google something before awarding a LOL.