The heroes Eric Clapton wishes he never played with: “All hell broke loose”
It’s hard to think of someone like Eric Clapton suffering from an inferiority complex.
He has been called ‘God’ far too many times for people to count, and yet he knew that he didn’t hold a candle to a lot of the greatest blues guitarists that he had seen before him. But even if they were among the best musicians in his record collection, ‘Slowhand’ was in for a big surprise when looking at a few of his musical idols.
Then again, Clapton has had a habit of finding the best guitarists he could find to play with all on his own. There might have been a fantasy for him to play alongside the true legends like Robert Johnson, but if he couldn’t go back that far, perhaps he could make up for it by jamming with his other musical brothers, whether that was Duane Allman in Derek and the Dominos, the Vaughan brothers in the 1980s, or even working in the modern age with John Mayer every now and again to jam.
But if you’re looking for the true root of Clapton’s playing, it goes back to a time when rock and roll barely existed. Chuck Berry and Little Richard did have a history of making the best rock and roll anyone had ever heard, but that was all descended from the blues, where people like Muddy Waters were treated with the same kind of reverence you would see from some of the greatest jazz players.
As much as Clapton could appreciate jazz when working with Cream, it’s another thing to actually hold his own next to them. Most guitar players were always going off of feel rather than what a chart said, and while many of the greatest improvisers didn’t need to worry about making anything too orchestrated, getting together with Buddy Miles and Buddy Guy for a jam session was bound to go haywire as soon as he walked into their jam session.
This could have been ‘Slowhand’s golden opportunity to learn something new, but when jazz legend Roland Kirk started throwing his two cents into everything, Clapton saw how hostile things could get, saying, “I just threw out, ‘Let’s play a blues.’ Roland Kirk says, ‘OK,’ and [counts down very fast]. It was horrendous. I had nothing to do. It was taken far beyond my capabilities. There was this square-off going on. Roland was happy playing the groove, but something started up between the two Buddys, and all hell broke loose, kind of seriously hostile. And I’m thinking, I wished I’d never come.”
While Clapton clearly underestimated the moment, it’s clear that he at least learned the importance of band dynamics a little bit. The idea of pitting two blues greats against each other was not going to go well, and since he would later say that he had little time for guitar-focused movies like Crossroads, there’s a good chance that came directly from watching his heroes squaring off with each other.
Then again, Clapton may have noticed that the session may have hit a little too close to home. Cream were no strangers to infamous blowups, and since he was watching two legends square off with each other, you’d have to wonder if he thought that was the way that all blues greats had to conduct themselves.
Not everything had to be a competition, but there is a certain beauty in seeing two guitarists trying to outdo each other whenever they step up onstage as well. No one really knows who’s going to be the clear victor, but if any proper guitar player is going right, the real winner is the audience for getting to hear the best licks that their favourite players could possibly muster when they start playing.
