Even HIM?!?!?

[duhvoodooman***]

So you still haven't found that PERFECT amp?? Well, you're in good company. While reading THIS article about Eric Clapton's new autobiography (which, BTW, sounds VERY interesting), I came across this interview exchange:

"...I still don't feel like I've got it right. I'm still working on my sound."

What? Eric Clapton is still working on hitting the right notes?

"Yeah," he replies, his laugh filling the room. "Still trying to get the right amp."

So don't feel bad, if you're still looking/listening, too. He's been at it for about 45 years! GAS....it's for a lifetime!!

[Tone2TheBone]

Voo he HAD his sound back in the 60s with John Mayall!!! He needs to revisit those tones.

[duhvoodooman***]

Yeah, I loved that Beano Marshall combo/LP tone, too. I gotta admit, I'm not all that crazy about the heavily mid-boosted Strat tone he uses so much now.

[Big_Rob]

That would be typical of a perfectionist such as Clapton to say.

My wife and my friends say Im a great guitar player but yet I still think I suck.

[250Keith]

My self, a Lp and a tube amp is the sound I love.
Go's together like peas & carrots.

[Tone2TheBone]

I almost wish Eric had Buddy's tone. Or my tone. Or yours. I also don't like that midrangy muddy boost sound he's getting these days. I wish he'd plug into an old Super and leave the treble alone on the amp and just freakin' play it the way a Fender is supposed to sound. Eric I'm taking away your cane rods if you keep this up. No more fishing for you until you bring us back home to Beano at least!

[duhvoodooman***]

My wife and my friends say Im a great guitar player but yet I still think I suck.

That's one of the funny things about being a guitar player. Compared to some people, you are a great guitarist. And compared to some others, you suck. And with very few exceptions, that never changes, even though your relative position on the great-to-suck continuum moves around (hopefully toward great and away from suck, over time). I guess that's pretty much true with any skill-based endeavor....

[marnold***]

I think this tone-chasing is quite typical of great guitarists. For every B.B. King who totes Lucille and a Fender combo to every gig, you'll also have the likes of George Lynch. If you ask what is set up is, you have to ask which album you're talking about and maybe even which tour in support of that album. Sometimes they change because of a new endorsement deal. Most of the time they change because the tone they hear in their head proves to be elusive.

[scorona]

Hey DVM - the new Clapton autobiography is very good. Just finished reading (er, I mean listening to) it while on the road this week. Interesting to learn about the life of my guitar hero from his perspective.

[Jimi75]

Voo he HAD his sound back in the 60s with John Mayall!!! He needs to revisit those tones.

+1

When he was playing wiht JM his sound was perfect.

[Lev]

Yeah, I loved that Beano Marshall combo/LP tone, too. I gotta admit, I'm not all that crazy about the heavily mid-boosted Strat tone he uses so much now.

Yep, his strat doesn't actually sound like a strat - it's a kinda generic tone. I'd love to hear him play a classic strat or an LP again. I love his unplugged album becuase it's just his raw talent with no 'gear' issues. He's still amazing though whatever he plays!

[R_of_G]

Voo he HAD his sound back in the 60s with John Mayall!!! He needs to revisit those tones.

+2 for you Tone. 1 for reminding me how awesome EC's sound is on the Bluesbreakers album, 1 for the Charlie Brown avatar. Halloween 1991 I dressed as Charlie Brown in his ghost costume. I even went so far as to tape a picture of Charlie Brown on top of my license picture. When I got to the bar my friends and I were going to, the bouncer laughed so hard at the ID that he said "dude, I don't care if you're 21 or not, you're in." Awesome avatar!

[sunvalleylaw]

Yep, his strat doesn't actually sound like a strat - it's a kinda generic tone. I'd love to hear him play a classic strat or an LP again. I love his unplugged album becuase it's just his raw talent with no 'gear' issues. He's still amazing though whatever he plays!

Hmm, interesting. The unplugged disc was the first one I really like of E.C.'s. Maybe that is the reason. I have never listened to his stuff before the mid-70's stuff that was on the radio when I started listening more to rock music. I was trying to stay away from drugs as a kid and did not like the "Cocaine" number that was so popular at all, and my cousin is named Sally and hates the other song I was aware of at the time. Layla was ok, but didn't hook me. So I got turned off by him then and never really went back much. I have to go listen to the older stuff and see what I think. Right now, the only other (than the un-plugged) Clapton album I'll reach for is the one with B.B. King. It is interesting he is still looking for his sound. Being a strat player now, I would like to hear a more unadulterated strat tone from him. I love watching his techniques. (I was given an instructional disc based mostly on his Unplugged release).

[Tone2TheBone]

+2 for you Tone. 1 for reminding me how awesome EC's sound is on the Bluesbreakers album, 1 for the Charlie Brown avatar. Halloween 1991 I dressed as Charlie Brown in his ghost costume. I even went so far as to tape a picture of Charlie Brown on top of my license picture. When I got to the bar my friends and I were going to, the bouncer laughed so hard at the ID that he said "dude, I don't care if you're 21 or not, you're in." Awesome avatar!

Thanks RoG. I have a close connection with good ole Charlie Brown and I always loved that costume. Loved your story too!

Jimi - I owe a Fret member here a great thanks for reintroducing me to the Beano album. I wholeheartedly agree along with you and To ME that is Eric's best sounding period...that and with Cream.

[Spudman***]

To ME that is Eric's best sounding period...that and with Cream.

Which reminds me...

Q - What do a cup of coffee and Eric Clapton have in common?

A - They both suck without Cream

[Robert****]

Hey, most of us like our coffee black anyway, don't we?

[snarph]

A rose by any other name is still a rose

[Big_Rob]

That's one of the funny things about being a guitar player. Compared to some people, you are a great guitarist. And compared to some others, you suck. And with very few exceptions, that never changes, even though your relative position on the great-to-suck continuum moves around (hopefully toward great and away from suck, over time). I guess that's pretty much true with any skill-based endeavor....

Thats the way I look at it.


Its like when I go to any music store to waste a few hours playing many different guitars ude:

I love it when there are people in there that are on a level less than mine and I sound like an absolute guitar god, but then its the opposite when theres that one guy in there tearing it up making me sound like a total n00b

[R_of_G]

Which reminds me...

Q - What do a cup of coffee and Eric Clapton have in common?

A - They both suck without Cream

Though I think the joke was hilarious, my personal favorite period for EC is by far Derek & the Dominos. After that it's Bluesbreakers then Cream. I don't like a large portion of his solo catalog.