Eric Clapton names “the best rock guitar playing I ever heard”
As the 1960s gave way to the summer of love, the archetype of the guitar hero was first starting to show its face. Although The Beatles may have kicked down the door for what a collective band could do in the spotlight, there was special attention being played to those who could play a mile a minute, usually inhabiting the same sense of wild abandon of the bluesmen from decades before. While many followed the blues tradition, no one could come close to what Eric Clapton was doing in England.
Becoming enamoured with the blues while still in his teens, Clapton eventually found his calling when performing with The Yardbirds. Mining the same type of bluesy material that Clapton had loved as a child, the band turned the volume up to unheard-of proportions, making for a caustic sound whenever they performed live.
While the volume got everyone’s attention, the rest of the world concentrated on what Clapton was doing behind the fretboard. Compared to the other guitar heroes on the scene, like George Harrison, Clapton was a madman whenever he strapped on his guitar, delivering leads that were equally beautiful as they were chaotic. Though his skills would eventually give Clapton the title of a rock and roll deity, he didn’t want to stay in blues for the rest of his life.
Forming the foundation for Cream, Clapton was free to experiment with the construction of what a rock song could be. Creating indelible riffs on tracks like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, the power trio would go on to blend any type of genre that would suit them, whether it was the free expression of jazz or the healthy approach to noise coming from the psychedelic movement.
After just a few years, though, it became clear that Clapton didn’t want to spend his time with the power trio forever. Once the decade was over, ‘Slowhand’ had already moved on to new outfits, eventually forming the supergroup Blind Faith with Steve Winwood and former Cream drummer Ginger Baker.
Although Clapton could hold down the guitar on almost any song he played, he had the idea for a new group when hearing what Duane Allman could do. Coming from the jam band scene in the American South, Allman was known for being the master of slide guitar, infusing pieces of soul music into his delivery whenever he played in The Allman Brothers Band.
When talking about hearing Allman for the first time, Clapton confessed that he hadn’t heard guitar playing that proficient since, recalling, “I remember hearing ‘Hey Jude’ by Wilson Pickett and asking, ‘Who’s that guitar player?’. It was a guy called Duane Allman. To this day, I’ve never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It’s the best”.
As Clapton was slowly becoming disillusioned with his relationship with George Harrison’s wife, Patti Boyd, he would call on Allman’s talents to create one of the most heartbreaking ballads that he could muster, ‘Layla’. Although Allman may not have been around to see his legacy come to fruition later, hearing him and Clapton play off each other is a perfect example of a legend in the making.
