[Slowhand] A Civil Debate, Part 1

[DeltaNick]

Jason,
 

In general, I disagree with your post (RE: Slowhand Digest, Vol 7, Issue 264), but let me state up front that you make some great points. I agree with several of them and can appreciate some of the others. I would have responded sooner, but I was out of town for the 4th of July weekend. What's significant here, however, is that you have responded intelligently and in a spirit of civility. I think this should happen more frequently on the Slowhand Digest.

 


>> Are you forgetting that the first period lasted only from 1966 to, at best, 1971. That's only six years, and it's probably really closer to five. <<


 

First of all, I would list Eric Clapton's initial "great guitar" period as 1963-1970, possibly until 1971, when EC went into self-imposed hibernation and heroin-induced stupor. I count nine years, if you include 1971, or eight through 1970. This period includes Clapton's membership in the Roosters, Casey Jones & The Engineers, the Yardbirds, John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton And The Powerhouse, Cream, Blind Faith, Delaney & Bonnie And Friends With Eric Clapton, Derek And The Dominoes, and even his first solo album. In any case, this 8- or 9-year period is twice as long with what I consider to be his second "great guitar" period of approximately 4 years: late 1992 through early 1996.

 

Why 1963? "When he was 15 his parents bought him an acoustic guitar, after he had been impressed by an album of songs by Big Bill Broonzy. But he gave up attempting to play anything for two years" (Chris Welch, "Eric Clapton: King Of The Blues Guitar," "Melody Maker," 13 October 1973). "The story of Clapton the musician begins quite late in his life. Whereas many will claim they began their careers by beating time with toothbrushes at eighteen months, Eric did not start to play guitar seriously until he was 17" (Chris Welch, "Eric Clapton: King Of The Blues Guitar," "Melody Maker," 13 October 1973).

 

The above two quotes show that EC tried playing guitar around 1960. But after a while, he gave it up because he felt that he was getting nowhere. It seems that he picked it up again in 1962, perhaps after having discovered Robert Johnson. This time, it seemed to come naturally, very naturally, and his talent grew immeasurably. By January 1963, he was in a band called the Roosters, playing songs such as "Hideaway." Both Tom McGuinness, who later went on to Manfred Mann and the Blues Band, and Ben Palmer, who played in Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse and became Cream's road manager, realized that he was already a damn good player at this time. "McGuinness first set eyes on Clapton on 2 January 1963. The former, a proficient musician himself, was quickly aware that 'technically, Eric was superior' -- a view Clapton endorsed -- though 'nothing yet like the later legend'" (Sandford, Clapton: Edge Of Darkness, p. 28).

 

[R]ecalls Ben Palmer. "He joined the band there and then. He was so good, obviously a natural, we didn't even have to discuss it." . Most important, though, were the nights on which he could hone his guitar playing with critical colleagues in the band and audiences who were talking about Clapton's exceptional verve . "It was immediately obvious that he was something that none of the rest of us were," says Ben Palmer. "And he had a fluency and a command that seemed endless. The telling factor was that he didn't mind taking solos, which people of our standard often did because we weren't up to it, I noticed immediately with Eric ... give him a solo and he didn't care how long you let him play. He'd go on and on ... until sometimes you'd have to stop him, to bring the singer back in. I knew from the very first that he was quite different from the rest of us in the Roosters. Coherent, lucid, fresh, powerful -- and always building. He had a sense of dynamics quite remarkable for someone of his age." He was also intensely serious about his playing, negotiating the repertoire with Palmer and McGuinness, the nominal leaders (Ray Coleman, Clapton! pp. 18, 20).


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