Clapton...

poopot

p90fool said:

poopot said:

To be fair, take big Eric out of the equation and we still would have had Zep, Queen, Jimi etc etc...

Really?

I think so... no?

soma1975

poopot said:

of that we get the Rick Mayall album, which to be fair is not a great blues album

steven70

Aware, this is gonna go on forever...it's all subjective...

But for me, there is nothing that comes close to Clapton in full flow...the live Fillmore Derek and Dominoes album is joyful. To my ears.  

No, it's not technically groundbreaking, neither are the songs that good. But it's honest and from the heart, not the head, and affects me in a way that nothing else comes close to. Subjective indeed.

Matt_McG

I'm definitely on team "he's overrated."

In fact, I actively dislike most of his stuff. But, there's no doubt that he was an innovative and interesting player in his early prime. The fact that I don't really like him doesn't take away from his Mayall and Cream stuff, even if I don't particularly like either (much).

I think, of his peers, Beck is a _much_ more interesting and constantly evolving player, and I liked 60s Peter Green more than I liked 60s Clapton. But there's no denying Clapton's influence, in the early years.

Barnezy

Clapton making Mayer look like a boy.

https://youtu.be/_N0gnDE6OxY

Matt_McG

What makes you think that Clapton is making Mayer look bad there? To my ears, Clapton isn't in time, and his phrasing is a mess, like he isn't even hearing the people playing behind him.

soma1975

Your ears are fucked then. 

Bridgehouse

soma1975 said:

Your ears are fucked then. 

Pardon?

octatonic

I'm not particularly interested in Clapton after Beano, but I can't say that he is overrated- he is clearly an amazing player.

I try not to conflate 'do I like it' with 'are they any good'.
All of the musicians mentioned here are great players.

There are loads of great musicians who I don't listen to- there are probably more that I don't listen to than the ones I do listen to, and I listen to a lot of music.
Pat Metheny is a good example- his genius is undeniable but very little of what he does is for me.
In this instances I operate from a position of 'it's not them, its me' and file it away to go back to at a later date.

Case in point- I never used to get Steely Dan.
Now they are one of my favourite bands.
Maybe Metheny is in my future?

Lewy

Barnezy said:

Clapton making Mayer look like a boy.

https://youtu.be/_N0gnDE6OxY

I think both their solos sound pretty pedestrian there to be honest.

poopot

Barnezy said:

Clapton making Mayer look like a boy.

https://youtu.be/_N0gnDE6OxY

Mayer? There’s another talentless nomark!...

Barnezy

Matt_McG said:

What makes you think that Clapton is making Mayer look bad there? To my ears, Clapton isn't in time, and his phrasing is a mess, like he isn't even hearing the people playing behind him.

I’m a big Mayer fan, but even he knows he just got schooled there. You can see it in his face, halfway through Clapton’s lead. Mayer might be playing more notes, using more complicated techniques and in better time, but Clapton definitely plays with more feel and that’s generally what listeners connect with. 

randerson

Gassage said:

Gass's Official List of Guitarists You Can Recognise From One Note

• DG
• Eric
• May
• SRV
• Santana
• Kossoff
• EVH
• Neil Young
• Green
• Hank
  

Daylight

The Rest.

David Grissom in top spot? Nice!

I can think of a few more though:

Jeff Beck
John Scofield
Django Reinhardt
Wes Montgomery

I think a point to make is, the electric guitar as an instrument has evolved so fast in such a short space of time, and the time an place of the guitarist in question is extremely relevant.

Listen to a solo on a 'barely' electric guitar in 1946 (the year Clapton was born) and one in 1986. Hardly sounds like the same instrument. Yet each learned from what came before. Case in point: Eddie Van Halen's main inspiration? Eric Clapton.

'Is' (and I use present tense despite the fact that really we should be judging them in their past) Charlie Christian shit, because Pat Metheny outplays him 'today?'. Blows in from God knows where, into Benny Goodman's band playing like no-one has heard before. Inspires Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and the rest of what fuels the Bebop evolution. Then dies 3 years later.
Not sure if Metheny has done the same for American music.

Anyway the interesting question is, using the same strict criteria that we are judging Clapton under, who would survive the cut?

Strat54

poopot said:

He used to be known as slowhand right? Should have been known as secondhand... his biggest hits were just loud guitar based covers of really quite beautiful songs, Cocaine, I shot the sherif, knocking on heavens door... Even Back in the day, if it was down to him cream would have been playing hour long versions of the Robert Johnson classic!... And he covered them without really improving the originals!.

He even borrowed Hendricks hair in ‘67 forcryinoutloud!...

When he did write his own stuff it was all love sick tripe about a woman he got secondhand from his mate!...

And on the subject of Layla, Duane Allman played all the good bits

Everything you need to know about internet critics right there. Hendricks? Not even sure Christina was born in '67. 

ICBM

randerson said:

Eddie Van Halen's main inspiration? Eric Clapton.

He did say that - but given his history of deliberate misinformation, and how he actually plays, I'd say it's Blackmore.

poopot

Strat54 said:

poopot said:

He used to be known as slowhand right? Should have been known as secondhand... his biggest hits were just loud guitar based covers of really quite beautiful songs, Cocaine, I shot the sherif, knocking on heavens door... Even Back in the day, if it was down to him cream would have been playing hour long versions of the Robert Johnson classic!... And he covered them without really improving the originals!.

He even borrowed Hendricks hair in ‘67 forcryinoutloud!...

When he did write his own stuff it was all love sick tripe about a woman he got secondhand from his mate!...

And on the subject of Layla, Duane Allman played all the good bits

Everything you need to know about internet critics right there. Hendricks? Not even sure Christina was born in '67. 

Damn you autocorrect... my bad... still doesn’t take away from the fact Clapton is a bit ship...

Bridgehouse

randerson said:

I think a point to make is, the electric guitar as an instrument has evolved so fast in such a short space of time, and the time an place of the guitarist in question is extremely relevant.

Listen to a solo on a 'barely' electric guitar in 1946 (the year Clapton was born) and one in 1986. Hardly sounds like the same instrument. Yet each learned from what came before. Case in point: Eddie Van Halen's main inspiration? Eric Clapton.

I think that guitarists revere guitarists too much. 

OK, so the instrument developed quickly, but you could argue that the synth developed at a much more rapid pace and invited a much higher degree of innovation without the same revered-labelling being applied to synth players. 

I actually think the “influence” thing has, if anything, held back development of how the guitar could be used in music, and maybe, just maybe, it would be more influential today without the constant stream of historical navel gazing at bygone blooze greats....

randerson

Lewy said:

Barnezy said:

Clapton making Mayer look like a boy.

https://youtu.be/_N0gnDE6OxY

I think both their solos sound pretty pedestrian there to be honest.

Yeah, not the best.

randerson

ICBM said:

randerson said:

Eddie Van Halen's main inspiration? Eric Clapton.

He did say that - but given his history of deliberate misinformation, and how he actually plays, I'd say it's Blackmore.

I hear you. But it was an interesting reference due to their vastly differing styles non the less, and one that he makes on more than one occasion.

P.S. What I love best about this thread is that it reminds of the arguments I used to have with guitarist friends when we were 14/15. I met one of my now closest friends over an argument of Les Claypool v Jaco Pastorious.

Tenebrous

Barnezy said:

Clapton making Mayer look like a boy.

https://youtu.be/_N0gnDE6OxY

I wouldn't want to see either of them I genuinely can't think of two other guitarists of that stature who I just can't really enjoy in the slightest.I respect what they've achieved/are currently achieving, but boy, I don't get it.