The most important rock ‘n’ roll guitarist in history, according to Steve Van Zandt
The thing that continues to make Bruce Springsteen such a sought-after musician isn’t just his ability as an individual but how he connects with his band. He seems well aware that the E Street Band is made up of some of the most talented musicians on the planet and so revels in their presence on stage. Hitting up guitar efforts is Steve Van Zandt, who seems to have a knowledge of shredding that supersedes all others.
Van Zandt is a master of both soloing and melody. Regardless of the song they are playing, he can play the guitar perfectly, whether he needs to provide the rhythm section for Springsteen’s vocals or solo over the rest of the E Street band. He takes from those who inspired him and adds his own original style of playing to create something unique and perfectly executed.
Many would consider Steve Van Zandt one of the most important guitarists in rock music, and rightly so. What he has accomplished with the E Street Band is nothing short of a miracle, as he and Springsteen have been responsible for some of the biggest rock ballads in recent decades. However, if you were to ask him, there is one guitar player that he would consider the most important.
“Eric Clapton is the most important and influential guitar player that has ever lived, is still living or ever will live,” he said, “Do yourself a favour, and don’t debate me on this. Before Clapton, rock guitar was the Chuck Berry method, modernised by Keith Richards, and the rockabilly sound – Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, Cliff Gallup – popularised by George Harrison.”
Van Zandt then described how Clapton managed to take all of these different guitar-playing techniques and spin them into his own unique sound: “Clapton absorbed that, then introduced the essence of black electric blues: the power and vocabulary of Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and the three Kings – B.B., Albert and Freddie – to create an attack that defined the fundamentals of rock and roll lead guitar.”
Steve Van Zandt is a man who knows a great deal about the guitar, and it won’t surprise you to hear that he certainly has a point here. Modern guitar music is incredibly ambiguous as musicians are more than happy to jump from genre to genre without skipping a beat. While there are a number of musicians who helped contribute to this free flowing mindset, Eric Clapton was certainly one of the most influential.
Without his willingness to merge the styles of so many greats and twist them into something unique, guitar music may have stayed a lot more linear. A lot of the solos that you know and love may well have never so much as been hummed had it not been for the musical stylings of Clapton.
Van Zandt isn’t alone in his praise of Clapton. Rick Wakeman of Yes agreed, saying that the entire guitar-playing landscape was changed as soon as Clapton and Cream released the song ‘Strange Brew’. “When Cream’s ‘Strange Brew’ came out, everybody went: ‘What’s that?’” He said when talking about the importance of the guitarist. “Every band were playing like The Shadows, then along comes Eric and changes the whole face of guitar work.”
Whether he was playing in the Yardbirds, Cream as a solo artist, or in Derek and the Dominos, Clapton was always innovative in his guitar playing. It’s safe to say that the way we perceive the modern rock guitarist, in terms of technical ability and flare, would be very, very different without him.
