Clapton Quotes

I’m going to try and make you take the Beatles and Eric Clapton as seriously as the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle.

I’m the youngest of three boys, and my oldest brother was super into Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and played guitar. I wanted to be like him, so I asked for a guitar of my own for Christmas in ’93.

The one thing I do have is good ears. I don’t mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records.

I can never make up my mind if I’m happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton.

I’m going to try and make you take the Beatles and Eric Clapton as seriously as the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle.

My early influences were the Shadows, who were an English instrumental band. They basically got me into playing and later on I got into blues and jazz players. I liked Clapton when he was with John Mayall. I really liked that period.

When Eric Clapton cut ‘After Midnight,’ he sold so many records and it was so big at the time, I decided that I would pursue the songwriting thing. I was 34 years old at that time. I’d been down the pike and back before I had any success at all.

I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton… oh, there’s many more! I wouldn’t want to be like them, you understand, but I’d like to be equal, if you will.

I heard Robert Johnson way before I heard about Eric Clapton.

As far as actual playing, Clapton – by far – is my biggest influence, and you can tuck Jeff Beck underneath that.

Going through ‘The Partridge Family,’ I looked up to people like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and all those guys. But as an actor playing a part, I had to sing what was right for the character and the show.

I love Sutton House in Clapton, a beautiful example of Tudor architecture.

No one’s better than me. I’m not better than anyone. Whether it’s Eric Clapton or BB King we look straight at each other. And that keeps it real.

I remember a festival we did in Denmark with the Clapton band where you suddenly realize it’s an actual band – and you’re on an equal stage playing music together.

You stop anybody on any street, around the world, and they know who Eric Clapton is. They don’t know who I am!

I used to play quite a good lead guitar, R&B style. Clapton and BB King are heroes.

It was pretty surreal because The Allman Brothers’ ‘Eat A Peach’ and ‘Live At The Fillmore East’, and the Eric Clapton ‘Layla’ record was the music I grew up hearing all the time.

I’m a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker’s ‘You Are So Beautiful’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’ – songs that go straight to the point.

Eric Clapton always wanted to come out onstage with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.

I was very influenced by Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom I had the pleasure of playing with and becoming friends with.

I love Sutton House in Clapton, a beautiful example of Tudor architecture.

I used to play quite a good lead guitar, R&B style. Clapton and BB King are heroes.

My dad used to listen to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and my mom liked Michael Bolton and Roy Orbison. She was pretty big into country music, too. So there was a wealth of music being played in the house, and I kind of took it all in.

I went to London and performed in Eric Clapton’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ll work with him any time he asks me.

I love Eric Clapton.

Everyone wanted to play like Eric Clapton in the early to mid-’60s.

I heard Robert Johnson way before I heard about Eric Clapton.

I can never make up my mind if I’m happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton.

Going through ‘The Partridge Family,’ I looked up to people like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and all those guys. But as an actor playing a part, I had to sing what was right for the character and the show.

I used to sit for hours and copy every lick on those early AC/DC and Kiss records. From there, I went on to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. After a while, you kind of develop your own style.

John Mayer will be around forever, like the Eagles and Eric Clapton.

I think guitar-wise, Eric Clapton was a big influence on me. I got to spend time around him. He’s kind of strange, mysterious, serious and he always has played such hot guitar.

John Mayer will be around forever, like the Eagles and Eric Clapton.

Eric Clapton has earned all of our respect. He is the greatest. He opened the doors for us. Without Cream, there is no Allman Brothers.

I really wanted to write a song like Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight.’ It’s just such a sweet sentiment. It’s so simple but so genuine.

I know he played on the last record but I don’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking of Eric Clapton.

When I grew up, I had influences as diverse as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix.

Whenever I hear my playing, I can’t detach from my influences: there’s my Jeff Beck, there’s the Clapton bit, the Eric Johnson bit, the Birelli Lagrene bit, the Billy Gibbons.

I decided early on that I wanted to be Michael Bloomfield, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton – not George Harrison.

Eric Clapton always wanted to come out onstage with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.

When I got out of high school, I was in a blues band. It was the kind of music I was interested in, and listening to, mostly because it was becoming a vehicle for a generation of guitarists – like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Mike Bloomfield. And that’s what I wanted to be, principally: a guitar player.

The one thing I do have is good ears. I don’t mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records.

Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck made me an Anglophile. I listened to English and Irish artists as a kid, and they were way louder, heavier, and faster than the traditional blues that I was listening to.

Punk was sort of an angry stance against things that had happened just before, against the pop of glam rock, against progressive rock. Music had become very staid and it was about the playing and people obsessed. Eric Clapton was God and we needed an enema within the art form, and punk did do that.

Everyone wanted to play like Eric Clapton in the early to mid-’60s.

I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton… oh, there’s many more! I wouldn’t want to be like them, you understand, but I’d like to be equal, if you will.

Eric Clapton’s scales – when he comes off a high note and it’s time for a refrain or a little bit of a rest, he peals off scales going downwards that are so good it’s unbelievable.

As far as actual playing, Clapton – by far – is my biggest influence, and you can tuck Jeff Beck underneath that.

Eric Clapton was such a great player. He sounds like he’s Freddie King or someone like that. He plays the roots of blues and Delta blues. He really affected me with the way that he plays, because he never really plays that many notes.

I tended to lean towards the guys who both sang and played, such as Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner… And at the other end of the spectrum, I had Eric Clapton in a rock and blues sense, jazz guys such as Tal Farlow and Les Paul… Then Chet Atkins-type stuff.

Eric Clapton’s scales – when he comes off a high note and it’s time for a refrain or a little bit of a rest, he peals off scales going downwards that are so good it’s unbelievable.

I’ve heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.

When I grew up, I had influences as diverse as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix.

When I was a little bitty kid, I was listening to the stuff my parents were listening to. My mom was a huge Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige fan. My dad had a cover band that I sang with, and he loved Parliament, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton, the blues, James Brown.

The Beatles had some juice when it came to distortion, but Clapton was finally able to break through those early studio engineers’ fear of overloading. He defined the sound that guitarists spend the rest of their lives trying to get.

Whenever I hear my playing, I can’t detach from my influences: there’s my Jeff Beck, there’s the Clapton bit, the Eric Johnson bit, the Birelli Lagrene bit, the Billy Gibbons.

When I got out of high school, I was in a blues band. It was the kind of music I was interested in, and listening to, mostly because it was becoming a vehicle for a generation of guitarists – like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Mike Bloomfield. And that’s what I wanted to be, principally: a guitar player.

Im a product of my influences, and those are the 60s. All analog. I loved the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Stones – and then later on, of course, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.

I think guitar-wise, Eric Clapton was a big influence on me. I got to spend time around him. He’s kind of strange, mysterious, serious and he always has played such hot guitar.

I grew up on a lot of early Beatles, DC5, Cream, Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix.

You stop anybody on any street, around the world, and they know who Eric Clapton is. They don’t know who I am!

Im a product of my influences, and those are the 60s. All analog. I loved the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Stones – and then later on, of course, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.

When I met Eric Clapton, I was a very young girl. I was 20 years old. And we were linked for a very short time, and then we became friends. And then we lost touch, which I’m really sorry about.

I was very influenced by Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom I had the pleasure of playing with and becoming friends with.

I can’t deny that Eric Clapton’s and Eddie Van Halen’s lead stuff has influenced a stack of people, but for me, it’s the rhythm thing that’s way more impressive and important to a band.

Clapton asked my brother to play on his record. I thought that was the most wonderful thing in the world.

I went to London and performed in Eric Clapton’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ll work with him any time he asks me.

Eric Clapton has earned all of our respect. He is the greatest. He opened the doors for us. Without Cream, there is no Allman Brothers.

You don’t have to play the blues to play rock ‘n’ roll, but that’s where, somewhere along the line, your influences came from. I mean, I don’t care where you got it from. If you got it from Eric Clapton, he got it from the blues.

I was a kid that grew up listening to The Beatles and The Stones and Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, and I wanted all of that in there. But at the same time, a large part of my playing is Tony Iommi and Billy Gibbons. I’m just a sum total of all of the guitar players that I think were really cool.

I’ve heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.

No one’s better than me. I’m not better than anyone. Whether it’s Eric Clapton or BB King we look straight at each other. And that keeps it real.

Clapton was just picking up ideas. He picked up some of mine like I picked up some from the people before me.

Eric Clapton was such a great player. He sounds like he’s Freddie King or someone like that. He plays the roots of blues and Delta blues. He really affected me with the way that he plays, because he never really plays that many notes.

I’m the youngest of three boys, and my oldest brother was super into Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and played guitar. I wanted to be like him, so I asked for a guitar of my own for Christmas in ’93.

Whenever I sing blues from the ’50s or the kind of blues that you might have heard Eric Clapton or Duane Allman emulate, I often feel the similarity of some of the ragtime stuff I sang early on. A lot of the phrasing and the harmonization is the same.