Jul 20, 2004 10:43 PM
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(Updated Jul 21, 2004 07:48 AM)
Eric Clapton is a guitar virtuoso who has managed to leave an indelible mark in the chronicles of rock and roll and blues. He was amongst the first league of rock and roll musicians who were instrumental in spreading its popularity. Having said that, he has also dabbled in different genres like Blues, Rock, Pop, R&B etc. But he will be most revered and remembered for his amazing proficiency with the Blues scale. I think he is one of the greatest blues exponents along with some other blues legends like Jimmy Hendrix, B.B. King or Muddy Waters.
In fact, Eric's style seems to be an amalgamation of the styles of all the 3 greats. He is capable of belting out 1000 notes per second as well as giving a mellow, melancholy touch to the guitar to great effect.
Jimmy Hendrix was amazing with his speed on the guitar (Check out his Voodoo Child or Little Wing) But I feel he lacked those little tonal nuances and finesse of EC. No Wonder EC is called as the 'God of the guitar'.
Looking at his career, he has been around for over 30 years, but has released only a few records; some were chart-busters others were damp squib. Some of his hits include Layla, Cocaine, I shot the Sherrif, Wonderful tonight, Tears in Heaven, Change the World to name a few. Layla had some amazing guitar riffs. But I prefer his slower acoustic rendition of Layla in one of his live albums, 'Eric Clapton - unplugged'. I think he was at his best while performing live. Some of his live solos are just awe-inspiring.
Just listen to his 'Edge of Darkness', 'Blues Power', 'Double Trouble', 'Same old blues' or 'Why my guitar gently weeps' etc. and you will know what I mean. His live blues jamming session with B.B. King for the album, 'Riding with the King' and the album, 'From the Cradle' are soaked in the the purest form of Blues. It's vintage blues at its best.
He is as good with the acoustic guitars as with his electric one. I really became a fan of EC the day I listened to his Unplugged album. He was simply brilliant and smooth with his steel, classical, 12-String or slide guitars. His guitar skills just drowns his singing abilities which makes him an under-rated singer.
Given his extraordinary talent, this man had all the prerequisites for being touted as the World's greatest guitarist ever. But unfortunately his life was marred with controversy and he had to face a mid-life crisis with his drug and alcohol addiction which made him undergo rehabilitation. He even lost his son in an accident.
That really mellowed him down and he released some rather sober numbers like 'Tears in Heaven', 'Broken Hearted' and 'Circus left the Town'. There is something amiss or a void in his musical journey which really does not give him the tag of the 'Greatest guitarist of all times'. Maybe it was his reluctance to stick solely to the blues genre which saw him experiment with different styles to broaden his musical horizons instead of stagnating in the same style and genre. But he is definitely up there with the other guitar stalwarts considering his versatility and contribution to blues.
EC comes across as a musician who lived by the rules of his heart giving some great masterpieces and some passable ones, but even those never fell below a certain degree of quality expected of a maestro.
