The guitarist Eric Clapton was constantly in awe of: “I’m quite narrow”
There’s a good story about Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix playing together when Hendrix first came to London.
The story goes that Clapton was performing one night, and Hendrix was in the crowd. This was before the American guitarist had remotely made a name for himself in the Big Smoke. In fact, there are some who suggest that this was Hendrix’s first gig after arriving in London. The timeline is muggy, but the facts, less so.
Apparently, after watching Clapton perform, Hendrix went up and asked if he would be willing to jam together. Clapton agreed, as these were during the days at music venues when anybody could play with anybody, so long as they were talented enough. Clapton didn’t necessarily know how good or bad Jimi Hendrix was, but in his mind, there was only one way to find out, and that meant becoming subject to one of the greatest guitar players of all time.
“It was funny, in those days, anybody could get up with anybody if you were convincing enough that you could play. He got up and blew everyone’s mind. I just thought, ‘Ahh, someone that plays the stuff I love in the flesh, on stage with me’. I was actually privileged to be [on stage with him],” said Clapton.
“It’s something that no one is ever going to beat; that incident, that night, it’s historic in my mind but only a few people are alive that would remember it.”
Accounts after their jam session together vary, but there are some who suggest that Clapton packed up his guitar and left. When people asked where he was going, he allegedly responded with a simple, “home, to practice”. You can make up your mind on whether or not you believe that’s true, but it makes for a good story, and is somewhat representative of a lot of Clapton’s career.
He’s one of the greatest guitarists to ever take to the stage; there’s no denying that; however, he doesn’t often work with other guitarists. Maybe he is scarred from the brutal first jam session that he had with Jimi Hendrix? Maybe. Or perhaps it’s simply because he doesn’t feel as though you can be as free as a guitar player when you’re trying to cater for other musicians. Despite working with some of the very best, Clapton has made no secret out of the fact that he much prefers running as a soloist.
“In many ways, you sacrifice a lot when you bring another great guitar player in,” said Clapton, “It’s kind of a novelty at first; it’s something you have to get over.”
One guitarist Clapton has previously worked with was Mark Knopfler, and while there was no denying there was huge admiration there, to the extent that Clapton was in awe most of the time they were working together, he also confesses that he had to switch up his playing style in order to make room for what Knopfler was doing.
“With Mark I went through a great deal of being in awe, and again with Phil [Palmer],” said Clapton, “The first week or two of playing together, I was listening to him too much, being too self-conscious about the situation. But when you get over that, you get used to him being there. I don’t ignore him, but I just go ahead as if there was no other guitar player. And I’m quite narrow and selfish, both about my boundaries and where my limits are. I don’t let anyone try and knock me off.”
It’s for this reason that Clapton also didn’t allow himself to become too influenced by other guitarists. He was a big fan of Knopfler and it was a pleasure to play with him, but when he was asked if the two learnt anything from one another, it was a firm no.
“Not at all, no,” he said, “They have their thing, I have mine.”
