Eric Clapton is one of the best guitarists to have hit the music scene. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org
I thought it was about time I wrote about the big man himself, Eric Clapton. There are a lot of ways that I could have written this post, but I decided to travel in a time machine and find videos of a few of Clapton's music projects throughout his music career. I won't be able to hit everyone's favorites, so feel free to leave comments with your favorite videos too. This is a great chance to dive into Clapton's playing and inspire guitarists visiting this blog that aren't as familiar with Eric Clapton. I hope you enjoy the videos because I definitely had a great time collecting them all for you.
You can't represent Eric Clapton's career in just a few videos, so you're in for a treat in this post. I collected nine videos from a variety of groups, and if you can believe it I had to cut a lot out to get that final number. Clapton saw his first success as a member of the Yardbirds. This song, "For Your Love," was a big hit for the Yardbirds but was also the point when Clapton left the band because it was too much pop. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPrk-WU7cKQ.
Clapton turned to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for a short time next and recorded the song, "All Your Love." Find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUUEtCBhn_Q.
Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker then started a new group called Blind Faith. I found a cool video performance of Blind Faith playing the song, "Can't Find My Way Home," at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUW1SGF7bR8.
Clapton's song, "Layla," has been one of the best rock anthems since its release in 1970. Here's a performance with the hit group, Derek and the Dominos, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th3ycKQV_4k.
Another big hit for Clapton is the song, "White Room." Originally played with Cream, check out this later performance with Clapton and Friends. Notice Phil Collins on the drums too. Find the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvnWuOjJDh4.
Now onto some of Clapton's later performances in his career. Here's a classic performance of his song, "My Father's Eyes." I'm sure buddy Q (keys in the Griff Hamlin Band) will be happy to see Billy Preston on keys and Chris (drums in the Griff Hamlin Band) should be happy to see Steve Gadd on drums. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxKxOglHg_4.
I thought this performance of Clapton playing the song, "Same Old Blues," wrapped up this post nicely. Through all the years Clapton has under his belt playing in so many different groups, his heart still feels at home in the Blues. Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-0BbHeRS8&feature=related.
So I know this wasn't a short post, but I can't cut corners with Eric Clapton. There's definitely a lot more out there so let me know some of your favorites. I hope you enjoyed this little trip back in time with Eric Clapton.
There is only 1 man who owns the guitar & voice to go with it,he is still the best ever as far as talent goes. when i watch Eric Clapton play it sends chills all over me. the man is a genius . then id say Cory stevens is not too far behind him,sort of sounds like clapton too. guess that's why i like his songs as well
Howard Carden
Hey Griff
XLNT piece.. only I don't C what I refer 2 as the ,"lost time." The time Eric seemed 2 wander thru different styles of music as if he were lost. The album Money and Cigaretts is a fantastic compolation of this period in his life. He played around with country hop to Chuck Berryesk 50's rock and even delved into Bob Marleyesk Jamacian pop as evidenced by the great song I Shot the Sherriff. I believe This period is 2 underated. Some of his best emotional and just plain fun music comes from this period.
Check it out. some of it can be foun on U tube. Crazy little country hop is one.. and it's a really fun song. Also check out the song Forever man. big jump in creativity twix these 2 songs ...both on the same album, Money and cigaretts.
Thank you VERRY VERRY much 4 everything you do..Lessons, U tube vids This web site which is too good 4 words. How U find the time and energy 4 all this I'll never know... add family, band, and life in general and WOW...........
Thanx again and God Bless
Howard
julian smallwood
Hey Griff
I see Clapton is sitting down a lot more these days, it comes to us all!
Cheers
Julian
Helmiwolff
It took me right back to my young days, I am so wanting to learn blues and rock at 76 years now
but I need a better guitar , this is just an old 6 string which I entertained my kids with.
So here goes.
Eric Clapton is the eppitamy of the blues,He is the master,Would love to have seen him and stevie ray together playing on stage (WOW!! Blues players Dream ...right ?) lot of good blues players out there But those 2 men ARE THE GREATEST(in stevie's case ..was)(miss you stevie)
Mike
Hey great stuff Griff, I just want to thank you for that great little Pride and Joy rhythm on the iPerform lessons - I'd been playing it wrong for a lot of years - I caught the summer sale, what a great deal. A few weeks ago I plugged an EC greatest hits CD in the other day and was Listening to "Let it rain" - I was captivated by the great bass lines and then locked in when EC stole it with the lead. One thing I'd like to see in one of your shorts is the basic "Lay Down Sally" rhythm.
Thanks again... Mike
Mike L
Wow, Haven't done any in 45 years. I remember they warned me about flash-backs. Just had one. Loved it. Thanks Griff
jose e martinez
I'm speechless, I've heard him throughout the late 60's, along with other great guitarists: Jimmy Page of course Jimmy Hendrix, Alvin Lee, Jeff Beck and many others, but it's always such great pleasure see them perform even on t.v.40 plus years later. Thank you, I truly enjoyed it.
Michael
Hey Griff,
Great Clapton presentation! I would give anything to see and even have a good clear video of Eric doing "Before You Accuse Me". One in particular is, "Live at Knebworth" in 1990. Another one is from the Unplugged video.
All of the Live versions I've found are very poor quality and the Unplugged versions I've found are incomplete.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. And again, thank you for what you do!
Michael Green
Steve
Thank you for this posting. I've made many trips to the Albert Hall over my life to see him play, as he calls in, "in his living room". I remember back in the 60's, wanting to get a guitar and see if I could play what EC was playing. Well, that never happened, but I do enjoy playing what I can to this day.
Pat
Griff,
That was a great trip through the years.
Say, where and when does your band play. Would be great to come check you out.
Andy Holmes
Check out this version of 'Ain't nobody's business'
Voice, guts and screaming blues .... lots of versions of this.
Saw him last year at the Royal Albert Hall in London .... my darling wife bought me tickets for Christmas...coincidentally, the concert was on her birthday....hmmmm .... just whose present was that ?
Griff,
For some great insight into Eric Clapton and his years with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and theDerek and the Dominoes years, and the making of "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" and George Harrison's "All things Must Pass" album, I recommend a new book, "Bobby Whitlock: A Rock and Roll Autobiography. The forward is written by Eric Clapton. Of course, BW was the organist/pianist/vocalist in Derek and the Dominoes, and went on to a solo career afterwards.
Today Bobby Whitlock, and his wife Coco Carmel perform every Sunday at 5:30 at the Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas. They perform most all of the Dominoes hits. Do a search on YouTube for their performances.
Thanks for the lessons!
mwurm
the stroll was as good for us as it was for you Griff, i'm sure of it.
what I appreciate about Eric is his stick tuittedness, I mean, he is not to be worshipped, as that belongs ONLY to our Creator Jehovah. but when a person makes a decision to play guitar, sticks with it through the years, You get awsome players like Eric. now the actual time the man may have studied music theory and all the other facets of the guitar attribute to his ability. So where I am going with this, is that there are many Eric like people out there, who with the right discipline and stick toitedness, will go a long way to produce some beautiful melodic music. Now if they have the voice to go with it, all the more so. "Wonderful tonight" was the first whole, real song I learned to play. play on, and have fun folks.
Duncan
Old slowhand best of the best what can I say keep em coming
Duncan
CLapton and winwood
VOodoo child at Madison square was a great one
Chuck
Real nice Blog post Griff! I enjoyed the read and videos!
jddiver
WQW!!! STILL HAVE MOST OF THIS ON VINYL INCLUDING THE MAYALL MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD.
cowboy
Just got done reading a biography about EC.....when one looks at all of his work over the years, it's pretty impressive....hard to believe that he didn't get clean until his 40's....great player to say the least...later.
Leave A Reply (19 comments So Far)
klaus radtke
There is only 1 man who owns the guitar & voice to go with it,he is still the best ever as far as talent goes. when i watch Eric Clapton play it sends chills all over me. the man is a genius . then id say Cory stevens is not too far behind him,sort of sounds like clapton too. guess that's why i like his songs as well
Howard Carden
Hey Griff
XLNT piece.. only I don't C what I refer 2 as the ,"lost time." The time Eric seemed 2 wander thru different styles of music as if he were lost. The album Money and Cigaretts is a fantastic compolation of this period in his life. He played around with country hop to Chuck Berryesk 50's rock and even delved into Bob Marleyesk Jamacian pop as evidenced by the great song I Shot the Sherriff. I believe This period is 2 underated. Some of his best emotional and just plain fun music comes from this period.
Check it out. some of it can be foun on U tube. Crazy little country hop is one.. and it's a really fun song. Also check out the song Forever man. big jump in creativity twix these 2 songs ...both on the same album, Money and cigaretts.
Thank you VERRY VERRY much 4 everything you do..Lessons, U tube vids This web site which is too good 4 words. How U find the time and energy 4 all this I'll never know... add family, band, and life in general and WOW...........
Thanx again and God Bless
Howard
julian smallwood
Hey Griff
I see Clapton is sitting down a lot more these days, it comes to us all!
Cheers
Julian
Helmiwolff
It took me right back to my young days, I am so wanting to learn blues and rock at 76 years now
but I need a better guitar , this is just an old 6 string which I entertained my kids with.
So here goes.
Fred Kelley
Eric Clapton is the eppitamy of the blues,He is the master,Would love to have seen him and stevie ray together playing on stage (WOW!! Blues players Dream ...right ?) lot of good blues players out there But those 2 men ARE THE GREATEST(in stevie's case ..was)(miss you stevie)
Mike
Hey great stuff Griff, I just want to thank you for that great little Pride and Joy rhythm on the iPerform lessons - I'd been playing it wrong for a lot of years - I caught the summer sale, what a great deal. A few weeks ago I plugged an EC greatest hits CD in the other day and was Listening to "Let it rain" - I was captivated by the great bass lines and then locked in when EC stole it with the lead. One thing I'd like to see in one of your shorts is the basic "Lay Down Sally" rhythm.
Thanks again... Mike
Mike L
Wow, Haven't done any in 45 years. I remember they warned me about flash-backs. Just had one. Loved it. Thanks Griff
jose e martinez
I'm speechless, I've heard him throughout the late 60's, along with other great guitarists: Jimmy Page of course Jimmy Hendrix, Alvin Lee, Jeff Beck and many others, but it's always such great pleasure see them perform even on t.v.40 plus years later. Thank you, I truly enjoyed it.
Michael
Hey Griff,
Great Clapton presentation! I would give anything to see and even have a good clear video of Eric doing "Before You Accuse Me". One in particular is, "Live at Knebworth" in 1990. Another one is from the Unplugged video.
All of the Live versions I've found are very poor quality and the Unplugged versions I've found are incomplete.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. And again, thank you for what you do!
Michael Green
Steve
Thank you for this posting. I've made many trips to the Albert Hall over my life to see him play, as he calls in, "in his living room". I remember back in the 60's, wanting to get a guitar and see if I could play what EC was playing. Well, that never happened, but I do enjoy playing what I can to this day.
Pat
Griff,
That was a great trip through the years.
Say, where and when does your band play. Would be great to come check you out.
Andy Holmes
Check out this version of 'Ain't nobody's business'
Voice, guts and screaming blues .... lots of versions of this.
Saw him last year at the Royal Albert Hall in London .... my darling wife bought me tickets for Christmas...coincidentally, the concert was on her birthday....hmmmm .... just whose present was that ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b6YehagqY2E
Mike Cochran
Griff,
For some great insight into Eric Clapton and his years with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and theDerek and the Dominoes years, and the making of "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" and George Harrison's "All things Must Pass" album, I recommend a new book, "Bobby Whitlock: A Rock and Roll Autobiography. The forward is written by Eric Clapton. Of course, BW was the organist/pianist/vocalist in Derek and the Dominoes, and went on to a solo career afterwards.
Today Bobby Whitlock, and his wife Coco Carmel perform every Sunday at 5:30 at the Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas. They perform most all of the Dominoes hits. Do a search on YouTube for their performances.
Thanks for the lessons!
mwurm
the stroll was as good for us as it was for you Griff, i'm sure of it.
what I appreciate about Eric is his stick tuittedness, I mean, he is not to be worshipped, as that belongs ONLY to our Creator Jehovah. but when a person makes a decision to play guitar, sticks with it through the years, You get awsome players like Eric. now the actual time the man may have studied music theory and all the other facets of the guitar attribute to his ability. So where I am going with this, is that there are many Eric like people out there, who with the right discipline and stick toitedness, will go a long way to produce some beautiful melodic music. Now if they have the voice to go with it, all the more so. "Wonderful tonight" was the first whole, real song I learned to play. play on, and have fun folks.
Duncan
Old slowhand best of the best what can I say keep em coming
Duncan
CLapton and winwood
VOodoo child at Madison square was a great one
Chuck
Real nice Blog post Griff! I enjoyed the read and videos!
jddiver
WQW!!! STILL HAVE MOST OF THIS ON VINYL INCLUDING THE MAYALL MEMORIES OF MY CHILDHOOD.
cowboy
Just got done reading a biography about EC.....when one looks at all of his work over the years, it's pretty impressive....hard to believe that he didn't get clean until his 40's....great player to say the least...later.
cowboy