[Slowhand] Clapton Rocks?

[Garret74 at aol.com]

...to me the point about EC is 
that his acclaim as a guitarist was not as a BLUES guitarist - his work in 
those 
early brilliant years was informed by the blues - but the man was a ROCK 
guitarist - his genius was in using blues techniques in a rock medium - 
Crossroads 
as done by Cream,,,

I disagree wholeheartedly. Clapton's acclaim as a guitarist was as a blues 
player, in the Freddie King vein, during the John Mayall tenure. That's where 
Eric gained his reputation. He never went so far as some, such as Hendrix, in 
using blues techniques in a rock medium, it was really rock and roll with a 
blues tinged guitar over top. I don't think Clapton is really that superb a rock 
player- certainly Hendrix was much more innovative. But as a pure player of the 
blues, with a blues technique and sensibility, Eric was miles ahead of Jimi 
in terms of reinventing the blues.
It's always seemed to me that most guitar players wanting to make a lot of 
money take what they had, i.e., the blues training and transform that into rock 
and roll. But the real talent is to use the blues and turn the rock and roll 
to that.

But when I listen to my own point here, I say to myself..

"Hey man, it's apples and oranges."

Or as Muddy said...the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll...

Garret
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