One of R&R's very best guitarists and soulful vocalists ever...

never cared for him except for a few songs, has a rotten personality if you read his book and take into his prior racist comments he has made

Rjy's got it about right although I also quite like 'Motherless children'.  His downbeat stuff is pretty p*ss poor and 'Layla' is one horrible song, featuring Duane Allman's career lowpoint, the feckin dreary slide guitar and piano instrumental in the second half that drags on for an eternity.  The blues albums are OK enough but then you might as well go and listen to the originals.

lmao! TheFreak "wrote that Derek and the Dominos tried to copy "Layla" and that Clapton's version is better"!! Derek adn the Dominos was the band Clapton created and recorded "Layla" with in the 70's. That being said, Clapton is God. His latest works are questionable but that doesnt matter because his works with the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Yardbirds, and Derek and the Dominos have cemented his position as one of the best guitarists with SRV, Duane Allman, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and Robert Johnson.

5 stars for everything up to and including the 1970 Derek and the Dominoes Layla album: Cream, Yardbirds, Blind Faith, Bluesbreakers... that stuff is all great. After emerging from his heroin cocoon in 1973, he descended into an Inferno- like abyss of, largely, standard blues, AOR junk, and insipid ballads. Clapton is best when he is more experimental and varied in terms of styles, and when he doesn't slavishly adhere to strictly blues or make sappy, instant cheesy hit music. Frankly, he was a hell of a lot better as a part, an important part, but still just one component of a band like his earlier bands than as the boring solo artist he's been for years.

The only song that sound good was "cocaine"! Everything else sucked!

eric clpaapton rules and he can play a guitar like nobodies buisiness!!!! i play lead guitar n mon grade 6 he is like ma idle man he roks!!! tears in heaven and layla r the best!

Sure he's a phenomenal guitarist but I was never moved by his solo work.

This man bleeds soul.

Clapton is O.K.,but over rated to the max.

yes he is over rated but you have ot respect him because he can play guitar 50 times better than you people

5, but what are we really rating here? He's a great musician in his own right, and the bands he's been in are my favourites, but the only song he's done as a solo artist that anyone can remember is the solo version of Tears in Heaven. I used to listen to Unplugged all the time, but a Best Of would feature much more Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, Yardbirds and Bluesbreakers than solo Clapton. But I'm not going to give 4 out of 5 to Eric Clapton.

He is an awesome guitarist and i have learned to play guitar myself through love of his music.

Definitely one of the top five all-time great rock/blues guitarists.

If you're a true guitarist, he's influenced you. a true Blues man, respect due.

One of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Wonderful guitarist and great singer.

How can someone who was once so great have fallen so low? Go back to the drugs, Eric... you were much better back then.

His live show won me over from a skeptic. Close to genius as a guitarist, if not an animated performer.

good musician but terribly overrated as an artist

One of the great ones, who helped make rock music what it is today (and I mean that in a good way). There are better songwriters out there, and better singers, and even a *few* better guitar players, but taken all in all ... not quite God, but certainly great. I generally prefer his earlier work, though I like his back-to-the-roots explorations of the blues as well. Several of his songs are legitimate classics. In the eighties I used to rate bar bands by how well they played his "Cocaine" (since practically all of them covered it).

Gotta love Eric Clapton. Anyone that can make two equally gorgeous versions of a song that are so distinctly different knows what he is doing in the world of music. I prefer his solo stuff, but anything with him is good material.

There is a trend here that people are always commenting about there love for these classic artists old material and not so about the new. What I know being a Musician of some 25 years now is that as we grow and mature our outlook changes and therefore so does our ear and what it percieves and wants to go to. Clapton is like good wine getting more refined and better as time goes on but while he's doing it, the very familiar 'slow hand' sounds are sometimes not there. It does not mean he doest have it anymore, just that he has gone beyond what the fan is used to. It happens to me too. If in all the new stuff, one still moves you than enjoy it and know that soon enough he will write something else you like. I have to agree with someone here who said that "Tears in Heaven" has to be one of the best songs period. I cannot listen to that song without tears. Anyone that can do that in spite of losing his own flesh and blood must be touched. Clapton will always be in my top 10!

Clapton is the best guitar next to Hendrix. The reason is because he outlived his friends/rivals. He has gone soft as of late, but he can do whatever he wants, I tell you! He lived though so much tragedy: His son dying, Duane Allman dying right after cuttin Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album (best classic rock album ever), Jimi Hendrix dying, Stevie Ray Vaughn dying, Bob Marley dying. Give it up for Clapton to stay strong!!

This guy is a bad reptile. A distant, cold-blooded snake. Self-centred and selfish. He leads women on, then holds them at arms length emotionally and psychologically. Probably has something to do with his upbringing. I'm sorry for the tragedies in his life, but doesn't everybody have them? Why do accolades of sympathy get poured on celebrities, but not on the person next door? I think the guy is over-rated and slithers through life in his smug conceitedness. In an interview on 60 Minutes Australia, his reply to stealing George Harrison's wife was "Well, he didn't put up a very good fight." With close friends like Bill Wyman & co. who prey on 12 year old girls, I fail to see how he got the nickname "God". He, along with many of his musician friends, used a spy satelite telescope on a woman in Australia since 1986 for inspiration for many of their songs and kicks.

Great music, great guitar work. When I was a kid, I always thought he had tobacco in his mouth when he sang, but hey everybody has their own vocal styles. Anyway, he's a true legend and will never be ignored.

A real talent, but his music has gotten whimpy in recent years.

hendrix was better,but clapton lived.

The greatest guitar player ever, music would be nowhere today without his playing style.

better guitar player than he is a singer

Clapton... one of the top 5 guitarists of the past 30 years. His blues and soulful rythm can move a mountain. He just keeps getting better... how many muscians can say that... very, very few!

His huge hit song of days gone by "Cocain" is really kind of (darkly) humorus to me for some reason. It's definately dated and to me it's like if you want to do a quick immitation of a drugged out old hippie push your hair in your face and sing a couple of bars of "Cocain" - easy lyrics to remember too LOL. Goofy factor aside, this guy is an undeniably excellent musician with a bluesy soulful sound. I love the more recent, almost sleepy-relaxed version of "Layla".

Slowhand is losing it - no new stuff lately? What he has produced belongs in an elevator.

He is one of the all time best rock guitarists. The original Layla (1970) is one of my favorite recordings of all time.

Excellent compositions and a great singing voice with fine phrasing and good pitch. His guitar playing was a little too much B.B.King influenced.Would have liked to have heard him strech out a bit more, similar to what Jeff Beck had done with his style of soloing. The Blues is a great form in which to play over, but I do like a little more creativity. But I would hire Clapton andy day.

I like "Tears in Heaven", but that's it. I just don't care for him.

Great music! My Father's Eyes is lovely! But "Tears in Heaven" is even better... :o)

the fact that currently ricky martin is rated above this incredibke guitarist is an insult to humanity. best band was the cream. his music makes me say "I feel free"

I Love him so much, I think he is great. I mean he is such a good gutarist & I love his songs. Two of my favorites are "Layla" & especially "Tears in Heaven". Those would have to be my two favorite songs ever. I mean I wasnt always a huge fan, like I am now, but I have always loved those songs. He is in my opinion, one of the best!! :)

yawn

Some depressed music, however, he is an elite guitarist. Tears in Heaven is a nice song.

What I wouldn't give for his career. His life is that of a true bluesman, wrought with trials, tribulations and sorrow. Wrote one of the most heartbreaking songs ever recorded in "Tears In Heaven", and that was thirty plus years into his career. Almost untouched as a guitarist, surpassed only by perhaps the likes of Hendrix, Beck, Vaughn and Van Halen. His feel of the guitar is simply legendary, and could bring you to tears with his emoting of a single note. A master.

What a terrific musician. Not a personal favorite of mine, but OH WELL. "Tears in Heaven". That's what I have to say. I can't believe Derek and the Dominos just tried to copy "Layla". They are a good band, but their version of Layla was just not like Clapton's He plays the guitar better even than Paul Simon! He just doesn't sing quite as good.

God

Simply said, a guitar God.

The man is a legend. He has been the driving force in so many superstar groups over so long a time span that he has definatly passed the test of time. He does it all. He is a great singer, great song writer and one of the best guitar players ever. He has had so much pain and heartache in his life, most of it caused by himself, but he has turned this pain into some of the greatest rock&roll songs of all time.

Not my favorite but Layla is incredible!

He has really lost his edge!

He the man. EC ow! What a body of work. Change the world, for sure. He made it a better place to be. And I hope he continues to deliver for a long time. You go, Eric.

Clapton is over-rated. Yeah his songs were ok but they were nothing compared to LED ZEPPELIN! The song LAYLA just proves what a dumb-ass he was wasn't that song about another mans wife. and way you suck clapton!