~ Z ~

A couple of years ago I was watching a video of him play Bad Love and the solo, it just made time stop it was enthralling…I wanted to learn to play because of him and now I can.

Today he may not be as prolific in his song writing but his playing is still stellar. He’s not the center of the pop universe but that’s probably a good thing. Anyone with more than a passing interest in rock should be familiar with his body of work.

I had been trying to learn to play guitar for about a year with only minor advancement, only getting the cowboy chords down and learning a few strummy Eagles songs. I didn’t really have my own musical tastes, the stuff I listened to was what my parents and older sister listened to; the aforementioned Eagles, Def Leopard and other embarrassing child of the 80′s bands that I won’t go into here (or anywhere else for that matter.) And while I was a massive Beatles fan, it never occurred to me to try and learn any Beatles tunes.

I decided that I would learn Tears In Heaven. It took months of work, and I would never be confused with the original, but I could perform a recognizable rendition. When Unplugged came out, I watched it with my grandfather and discovered that he had, completely unknown to me, a love of country blues. Then I received the Crossroads box set for Christmas and that was it, I was a ravenous fan. While not every track connected, it was a musical education. I realized over time that what mattered to me was tone and technique, not note for note perfection but feeling and passion and improvisation. Is Clapton relevant? In the subject of new players finding a direction, absolutely.

That being said, are his recent studio albums relevant? I would have to say no. While I have purchased every one of them, they don’t bring the same thing as the Beano album, Disraeli Gears, Layla, Slowhand or Journeyman bring to the table. While there are good and great tracks, they don’t teach you anything new about the guitar. His live recordings are a different story but I have taken up a lot of space so I will end with: If you are learning to play, listen to Clapton. Don’t try to learn his solos note for note cause he’ll never play it exactly that way again. Instead, get real familiar with his tone and his vibrato and double-stops then go listen to the three Kings, (B.B., Albert and Freddie), Otis Rush, and Robert Johnson. You will see where it comes from. Then go listen to Stevie Ray and Dwayne Allman and see what others did. Mash ‘em all together and squeeze out something that is yours. Its what he did and that lesson makes him forever relevant.

Which is fine. I admit that the last new recording by Clapton I was even remotely excited about was “Forever Man” in the mid 1980s, and if we’re honest, his reputation is built upon music recorded before 1972. Since then, we’ve had the punk reaction to 1972′s music, the new wave reaction to that music, the hip hop reaction to that music, the metal reaction to that music, the grunge reaction to that music, etc. etc. etc. And while time has moved forward, Eric has been looking backward, back to Robert Johnson.

I will continue to listen to him, but he’s almost a more elegant musician for a more civilized time.