Eric Clapton: 2nd best guitarist in Dublin OH

goldtopchas said:
Being the smartass that I am, I can't hold my tongue...(takes deep breath)

Okay, Here's the thing.. All of the nutsacks like you that say "what's so great about so and so, I could do that) Yeah, maybe you can play his licks or because you spend countless hours practicing your speed picking or hammer-ons or whatever it is you deem as "good playing" can do some stuff that sounds impressive. Doesn't make you or anyone else a great player. When it all comes down to it, none of it means shit unless people are walking down the street humming YOUR tune or have YOUR guitar solo still playing in their head even though it's been hours or maybe days since they heard it last.

What makes a great player is conveying emotion, and ideas that touch people so deeply that it is remembered for the rest of their lives. People like Clapton, Hendix, Page, Beck etc.. did it on a grand scale. At a time when music was shaking the world. Not saying that there aren't good players in todays scene....just don't knock the guys that did it first.
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i like this post :) though, i'm sure you'll agree, it is right to respect someone with good technique and ability as well... but yeah, it's how you then apply these things i suppose.

Andy.
 
Absolutely, It's a matter of being able to write an interesting song with your talent, or just recording 3 1/2 minutes of "finger execises". The latter doesn't impress me in the least.
 
Come on. That delta/acoustic blues thing is quaint, but it's hardly a "technical display".

I can see you're a clapton fan and that's cool. I just think he was in the right place at the right time which got him where he is and that his other contemporaries continue to be more impressive than him. I heard a Jeff Beck recording that was pretty new and it is still impressive from a technical standpoint. I saw a jihnny winter you tube vid where he's sitting down and looks like death and he still makes calpton look like a girl.

I have a beef with clapton becuase I think he talks shitty about hendrix in the biography movie. He just doesn't seem like the guys that I always considered my guitar heroes.

I don't hear life in clapton's playing flat out. It's flat and girlie. I think that you can hear years of manual labor and adventure in my playing. I hear english royalty and a sheltered life in clapton's playing. He has no fire. I'm sorry he had that thing with his kid, but even when he talked about that in interviews, I was shocked at his lack of emotion.

I'm no shredder. I am a guitar slinging bar monkey from America, where rock and roll and blues was born. Fuck the limeys. Even the fat, bald, golf-shirt, suburban, white guy blues bands can do clapton tunes and sound just like him. Invoke Albert Collins? No one can flip a switch or turn a knob and sound like him.

I don't believe in the olympics of music where someone could be crowned empirically a better guitarist than another. I am just saying that he doesn't deserve to walk on the ground you worship.
 
Let's see:

Eric Clapton is god;

god made mankind.



I can see why you don't think EC is all that great. :)
 
cephus said:
Danny and Travis:

Do you guys really suck so bad as to think that clapton's playing is in any way remarkable now? I'm just trying to think of what kind of player would hear/see clapton play and say "Wow!"
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I don't think there's one song I've heard Clapton play that I couldn't. But could I write tunes like that? Probably not. I think that's what matters most.

A lot of guitar players seem to focus so much on being able to play the guitar...technique, playing fast, whatever, and half the time don't even write music or any music that is good.

The guitar is an instrument meant to make music. I personally don't care how good someone's 'technique' is or how sloppy they play. If their music is good that's all that matters.
 
ok.....as bad as i hate to i gotta throw in my two cents........i spent many years thinking clapton was ok but not great, i still would not be called a clapton fan....what cought my eye from him a few years back was i seen him on a pbs special called clapton plays the blues....he sounded damn good. but here is the thing about clapton, hendrix, page.....they did what they did WHEN they did it that impresses me.....to me hendrix shines on songs like little wing not on songs like purple haze.....he was amazing for doing what he did when he did.....but if i wanna listen to white boy blues i will pass on clapton and go to srv...........but now in my older age (am olny 40 but have been playing for 31 years) i can find something to tespect from most players....what turns me off to a player faster than anything is his attitude not his chops.
 
cephus said:
Come on. That delta/acoustic blues thing is quaint, but it's hardly a "technical display".
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it's not a flashy technical display but it is certainly technical. have you tried to play any robert johnson? eric clapton explained it well in that second video.

i don't think you can compare clapton with someone like hendrix, srv, or albert. he doesn't have that flashy style. if i'm in the mood to listen to some gut wrenching blues guitar, clapton isn't what i throw into the cd player. if i want to hear some damn good songs, clapton is there. he is who he is. his guitar style fits the song and is never over the top. it doesn't have to be though does it? i would have liked to heard clapton do some over the top stuff, just to see, but that's not him i don't think. i don't know where the 'clapton is god' mentality came from but i wouldn't put that kind of title on any guitar player. i wasn't around when he emerged so i don't know what frame of mind listeners were in back then. maybe he did sound like god at the time.......until hendrix came around. :p
 
TravisinFlorida said:
it's not a flashy technical display but it is certainly technical. have you tried to play any robert johnson? eric clapton explained it well in that second video.
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:) agreed

I'm going to avoid defending clapton cause frankly he doesn't need my defense. his music is what it is, I'm sure I don't like everything you do so I wouldn't expect you to like all of my music.

But I will defend calling delta blues technically easy. That sounds like just a lack of understanding of the skill involved in that type of music.
 
FWIW, some of Clapton's best playing, TO ME, was on his 2 disc live set One More Car, One More Rider. If you haven't heard it, you need to give it a listen. My impression was that he has deepened his repetoire with some jazz influence that has added nice color to his typical blues soloing. Not to mention that the playing of Billy Preston and David Sancious (sp) on that album is 2nd to none.
 
darrvid said:
But I will defend calling delta blues technically easy. That sounds like just a lack of understanding of the skill involved in that type of music.
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I think that's bullshit. I understand it fine. Delta blues is a boring parlour trick when you compare it to actually playing in a band. I have never liked it and don't think it's any bonus points to be awarded when assessing the technical greatness of slow hand.

But, I never said it was easy. I said it was quaint. Like a gas lamp, it's obsolete since electric lights.

I like the idea of clapton. I just have never seen or heard anything that made me think he was more deserving of the high esteem he's held compared to alot of other guitar hero dudes.
 
cephus said:
I think that's bullshit. I understand it fine. Delta blues is a boring parlour trick when you compare it to actually playing in a band. I have never liked it and don't think it's any bonus points to be awarded when assessing the technical greatness of slow hand.

But, I never said it was easy. I said it was quaint. Like a gas lamp, it's obsolete since electric lights.

I like the idea of clapton. I just have never seen or heard anything that made me think he was more deserving of the high esteem he's held compared to alot of other guitar hero dudes.
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An obsolete parlor trick huh? You might want to listen a little closer and find out where your heros got their licks from.
 
Clapton may not be God, but he is a reasonably hot guitar player. I went to his concert about ten years ago - Pilgrim Concert I think. He was smooth and bluesy and not overly flashy until he started wailing during a little known blues tune from his album - I think it was Going Down Slow. That solo solidified my respect for him as a player. Up to then I had only heard him on albums. My favorite album is EC Was Here, which surprisingly enough is also a live album which contains some excellent licks...
 
I'm going to have to side with Cephus on this one, which I try to never do.

I'm not a "guitar god", so I can't judge the difficulty level of playing it, but overall, I think the blues are fucking boring. How many times can you listen to a different person moaning over the same 12 bars, in one of three different keys?

None more. That's the answer. None. More.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
You might want to listen a little closer and find out where your heros got their licks from.
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I'm sick of this argument, too.

I don't give two shits that the Stones and Beatles were influenced heavily by older blues players.

I dare you to find one single blues song with even a fraction of the intricate arrangements that Lennon/McCartney wrote from Revolver on.
 
I go through Dublin all the time. Ive never seen slow-hand. He is so over-rated anyway. But he is still better than me :)
 
BushmasterM4 said:
I go through Dublin all the time. Ive never seen slow-hand. He is so over-rated anyway. But he is still better than me :)
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All you guys ragging on Clapton - how many albums have you got out? How many arena shows have you played? How many musical superstars have you collaborated with? How many big name musicans pay homage to you and say that you were an inspiration to them when they were getting started?

It's real easy to sit back and take potshots at the guy, but what he's managed to accomplish in his life is a hell of a lot more than any of you, I'll wager. He's not God, but then who is? Personally, I have a lot of respect for him, and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me if he's Not Better Than Eddie Van Halen (or whoever). He's made his mark on the world. You?
 
People are still talking about the time i peed off the deck onto some chick's car at a party when I was 20.

But I am not one to rest on my laurels.

I am staging a comeback this summer even though I haven't peed in front of people in years. I have been woodshedding by peeing with the door open at work (but I admit that I have to sit down for now).
 
Clapton is good (like I said better than me). He would make a great country music guitarist. :) Just kiddin dude, everyone has opinions. Im getting ready to head over to Sam Ash in a few minutes and I pass right through Dublin. So if I see him I will give him a shout out for ya.
 
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