God doesn't need to know what time it is.

@secretguy:  You and I agree on many things but sadly you are way off on Clapton.  Most of the great respected guitarists of all time (Albert Lee, Yngwee Malmsteen, Joe Bonamassa etc) all say Clapton is a fabulous improvisational talent and blues player--Yngwe saying Clapton's guitar on John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album defines blues playing.  Is he the best of all time--no---is he a great guitar player--yes.  Would love to know what successful trained musician  thinks he's a "hack" ?  Oh and don't mention Ritchie Blackmore--his jealousy of Clapton is well known.  For the record Clapton thinks Albert Lee is the best.

Not sure what to say about this. No one you mentioned qualifies and an excellent musician. But that's one of the pitfalls of civilians talking about music.,

Anyone who is a guitar player  or plays an instrument should be laughing at some of these post.

It's funny   how "cultural appropriation" is a popular thing to squeeze into threads. 

It's just a thread about the "value" of  EC Rolex.  

 "But that's one of the pitfalls of civilians talking about music."

secretguy- I think some people compare musicians like sports figures?

@mijostyn 

"The problem with EC's playing from my perspective is I always seem to know which note comes next which for me makes him boring"

Fair enough-- each to his/her own.  

"We are sitting on the brink of a nuclear war, getting as close as the Cuban missile crisis"

I can't speak for anyone else but I find myself caught between two apparently conflicting coping strategies-- 1) painstakingly following the blow-by-blow commentary and 2) shutting off the computer and deliberately focusing on other things (audio included). I've heard from friends and family members that they are experiencing the same conflict. 

I became aware of the name Eric Clapton when in 1966 I saw and heard the new Elektra Records sampler album entitled What’s Shakin’ (billed as Eric Clapton And The Powerhouse), which also contained the guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield (as a member of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band). Eric and Mike therefore became the first two white Blues guitarists I heard. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had already heard the playing of both: Eric on the debut Yardbirds album (uncredited. Only Jeff Beck’s name appears on the album’s cover), Mike on a coupla Bob Dylan’s.

Then came the debut by Cream, an album which changed everything. I can’t over-emphasize how influential that album was to Rock ’n’ Roll musicians. Passe’ was the concept of the 3-minute Pop song, replaced by improvisation and extended soloing and jamming. That album led me to discover the first John Mayall album (did Eric join Mayall’s band before or after his appearance on What’s Shakin’?), then onward back to Albert, Freddie, and B.B. King.

@whart is exactly correct in characterizing Clapton as having "psychedelicizing" Blues guitar playing, for better or worse (Atlantic Record’s President Ahmet Ertugan dismissed the Disraeli Gears album as "psychedelic horsesh*t" ;-) . But that phase of Eric’s musical path came to a screeching halt (as I have noted more than a few times here. Sorry ;-) when Eric heard Music from Big Pink. Out with long, extended musical ramblings, in with a more humble, subtle approach to music.

After making a pilgrimage to West Saugerties (the location of the Big Pink house, home to three of The Band’s five members, and in which they and Dylan recorded The Basement Tapes) and waiting he has said for The Band to ask him to join (the waiting proved to be in vain ;-) , he followed the musical path which eventually led him to J.J. Cale, who became his new role model and template for music making.

Eric has lived quite a life, and made an enormous contribution to Pop, Blues, and even Country music. Thank you Eric.

As for Albert (NOT Alvin ;-) Lee: members of the Albert Lee fan club include Emmylou Harris (Albert was in her Hot Band for a number of years), The Everly Brothers (Albert was the lead guitarist in their road band for decades), Dave Edmunds (you do know about Edmunds, rght? Keith Richards wishes he could play guitar like Dave), Vince Gill (though known primarily as as singer, Vince is an excellent guitarist), Brad Paisley, obviously, Richard Thompson, and every Telecaster player in the world. And myself. In my life I’ve seen and heard a LOT of guitarists live (including Clapton, Hendrix, Albert King, Mike Bloomfield, Ry Cooder, Dave Edmunds, Al Anderson (NRBQ), Robbie Robertson, many others), and Albert remains one of my very favorites.

be influenced by -- borrow -- appropriate -- plagiarize -- steal

Somebody tell me exactly where each one of these ends and the next one begins.

Cultural appropriation is this year's soupe du jour.  It will cycle off the menu in due course.