@RATDOG: I second that. He hasn't done anything worthwhile since Cream. I respect his influence on the other 60's iconic guitarists but by himself he's VERY overrated IMO. If I made a list of Top Overrated Guitarists he'd be right there with Slash, Buck Dharma, SRV...good players but nothing compared to Page, Hendrix, Beck, Van Halin, Bonamossa, even Jack White. Even Rick Neilson is better than Clapton.
I don't deny Clapton is still popular with some people, but speaking as a musician, he was called 'Slowhand' for a reason and it wasn't a compliment. You can play slow and good, but fast and good where 'good' is not defined by speed alone is what separates Ritchie Blackmore from Eric Clapton. Even Page smokes him and he's only 'average' fast for a pro.
Well, you're in the minority about Clapton. He's not my fav, but his best work was not with Cream. He was a great blues player. You don't need speed when you play great licks. I don't think much of shredders. If Page, Hendrix, Blackmore and others thought it was cool they would have done it.
imho clapton's best works were w/blind faith, derek and the dominos and his 70's solo stuff. as a live player he was all right.
my fave guitarists tend to have speed in their repertoire, but the use of speed has to have a purpose, tasty phrasing, and not purely for the sake of speed. there was a shredder name chris impelliteri who was the fastest guitar player i ever heard in my life. but his solos served no purpose in his crappy songs. they would appear in a part of a song where a solo wasn't suppose to be on.
mikeya - blackmore was quoted as saying that he wanted to be the fastest guitar player in the late 60's. he was already shredding before shredding was even a term.
Maybe he is overrated. Maybe he doesn't have the same technical skills as, say Edward Van Halen. I just know what sounds good to me. And if I fill a box with Clapton records I like and a box with Van Halen records I like, Clapton's box is bigger.
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SJG
my fave guitarists tend to have speed in their repertoire, but the use of speed has to have a purpose, tasty phrasing, and not purely for the sake of speed. there was a shredder name chris impelliteri who was the fastest guitar player i ever heard in my life. but his solos served no purpose in his crappy songs. they would appear in a part of a song where a solo wasn't suppose to be on.
mikeya - blackmore was quoted as saying that he wanted to be the fastest guitar player in the late 60's. he was already shredding before shredding was even a term.
I like his women too, at least his back up singers, not so much Pattie Boyd:
Michelle John
http://www.whereseric.com/the-vault/biog…
Sharon White
http://www.whereseric.com/the-vault/biog…
http://www.whereseric.com/sites/default/…
http://socalmusictoday.com/wp-content/ga…
http://www.whereseric.com/sites/default/…
Clapton's primary influence, Robert Johnson
https://www.tuscl.net/postread.php?PID=3…
SJG
2013 Basel Switzerland
https://youtu.be/rdvH1BRm1MI?t=1h11m19s