[Slowhand] My two cents...

[Garret74 at aol.com]

While I agree with many of the points the Delta man makes, I disagree with  
him on one...
 
I think Clapton still does as well planned and executed a solo as he ever  
has, maybe even better. Maybe it doesn't have the intensity that it might have  
had forty years ago, but they are still exquisitely structured and  executed. 
I find his playing much more mature and nuanced...
I think he still bends the tremelo at times...at least it sounds to my ears  
that he does...
 
I was listening to the Blues album that was released a few years ago, and  
it's no doubt that his playing was not as sharp during the mid 70's thru the  
early 80's...it sounds like the whole band is pretty out of it on some  
cuts...But his playing, as I think everyone agrees, has rebounded and is now on  par 
with his best years in the past.
 
I submit for argument on this point any of the bootlegs of his playing on I  
shot the Sheriff...That is a clinic on building up a solo...yet it has a 
mature  grasp of what it is doing, and a master craftsman's technique...Clapton 
knows  how to get what he wants to get out of the guitar. His technique is much 
more  reliant on jazzier chords...9ths, 13ths, playing off Diminished and 
Augmented  modes...variations of chord colors...more multi-note attacks...(he 
didn't use as  many multi-notes riffs with Mayall as he does now...).
 
So, I agree with much of what has been said here. I certainly respect what  
Clapton accomplished with Mayall. (I wore out several albums stealing those  
precious licks!) But I don't think Clapton is in a 'down' period now. I think,  
in concert, you will see how damn well he plays. I find a couple of good 
solo's  even on Back Home..but, as I have stated again and again, his emphasis is 
on  something else now. 
He has avoided being the guitar hero, almost pushed it  violently away, since 
Layla.
 
Whether or not that is the direction he should have taken, I don't know. I  
do like most of his work though...despite some problems with it sometimes. And 
I  would put Eric Clapton's 45 year catalog of music against anyone else out  
there.
 
Garret
 
PS...And I'd take just about all of his Yardbirds works out of the  equation. 
While it was good, it in no way stood out from anyone else really at  that 
time.
Something happened to him in the time he left the Yardbirds to his  recording 
Beano. It sounds like a new man...who had re invented himself.
 
 
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