Thank you, jssmith. My sentiments exactly, particularly regarding the massive disparity between Clapton’s ability and those of Jimi, Chet Atkins, Eddie, Yngwie, Morello, and plenty of others. Say what you want about Yngwie’s “music”😂 but to put Clapton and Yngwie in the same sentence is ridiculous. If you want to play the “there’s more to playing guitar than just technical proficiency/virtuosity” game, I don’t see much in the way of creativity or innovation in Clapton’s playing. No more “soulfulness” than the guy at your local tavern this evening.
Clapton, any way you slice it, is not in Jimi’s galaxy, let alone stratosphere.
Easily the most overrated guitarist in the history of popular music.
I mean, he’s…fine. Many peers were equally adept at dispensing standard-issue minor-pentatonic licks, and thousands of bar bands over the decades, on any given Saturday night in Anytown, USA, have been as well.
I could offer many speculations as to why this above-average co-opter of blues formula attained the hyper-elevated status he’s enjoyed (and maintained for decades via the perpetuation of the media’s mythologizing his status) but the fact remains that, just because we’ve seen the photograph of a spray painted wall a hundred times, we are grossly overrating this “god” of guitar.
