[Slowhand] A Civil Debate, Part 4

[DeltaNick]

>> I agree that his vibrato has changed significantly, and there is something about that Mayall-era vibrato that's really great. However, while I will grant that most of it is in the fingers, I wonder how much of this might have to do with equipment. I find the significant difference in the quality of my vibrato when I switch from my Les Paul to my Strat. The sound changes, but I stay the same. Mind you, I'm not comparing myself to EC, I'm just raising a question. <<

 

Hmmm, the Gibson vs. Fender argument again. Sounds like you agree with me on this one. I think it's part of the answer, but a small part. If you can't play guitar, then no Gibson and no Fender will help. Today, Clapton simply doesn't play his "stretch vibrato" any more, which I'll define as bending a string, and applying vibrato WHILE BENT. He bends strings all the time today. He plays vibrato, but only on unbent strings. There may be exceptions, but they're SO few and far between. This was, however, a regular occurrence during the 1960s.

 


>> Not sure, I agree with this. To my ears there have been some trade-offs. While he does definitely use the three and four note riffs more often, I believe that maybe a function of two differences between the 60's and now. 1. Where studio records are concerned, songs today are typically longer and have room for longer solos. 2. Clapton has stated that he feels a need to play more notes when on a Fender because of the reduced sustain. Further, while I really don't hear anything (other than the vibrato change) missing from his playing today that wasn't there in the 60's, I do hear several new things. He now occasionally uses chord patterns in solos, which he did not do then (in my experience, I have found this rather difficult.) Also, to my ears, he has a much better harmonic sense now than he did then, in that he now occasionally takes solos places I do not necessarily expect, whereas I find many of the Cream and Mayall solos spectacular, but more logical (for lack of a better word). Finally, he has incorporated slide and finger picked leads into his playing much more than he was capable of in the 60's. <<


 

Ahem, remember Cream, and their LONG instrumental passages? I think this disproves your point #1. As far as #2 goes, yes, perhaps he plays more notes with the Strat. But it's funny to hear this from the Master of the Electric Guitar: he could come up with a better one than this. You'll have to let me know where some of those "chord patterns" are. I'm not challenging you here, I'm just not sure I understand what you mean: which tracks. It doesn't really seem to be a big deal, though. And yes, he does play slide guitar in public today. However, per his own admission, he always played slide guitar, only very few slide parts were ever included on any of his recordings. I think that his very first recorded slide part was probably "Anyone For Tennis," which he played with Cream. He later played slide guitar with Derek And The Dominoes, and it appeared on some bootleg recordings from 1970, so it really isn't new at all. And he finger picked, maybe less often, back then too. What about "I'm So Glad," which has a finger-picked introduction?

 
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