overrated guitar player......and boring.I,d rather be at a Jeff Beck concert.

I've always been quite mystified by EC being a guitar god? When it comes to the blues its completely polished but incredibly straight laced, it sometimes feels like that he's learnt from a book. All his solos seems restraint. But that doesnt mean its good... In Miles Davies, a 100x a better soloist than Clapton, who was renowned for playing efficiently (making use of time), just makes clapton sound simple and certainly not a in less is more way, just simple, even basic. Even the great tradional blues tracks were great innovaters, clapton doesnt do risk, he plays from memory...

Yes, he's remarkably smooth, polished, and fluid, but that's not what blues based guitar is about - try biting, visceral, and most of all, focused on pushing the rhythm. Claptons playing has no rhythmic impetus whatsoever. So swing, no stomp, no rock. He was able to recontextualize a few riffs to create a handful of decent pop tunes. As a guitar player, he's nothing.

Lots of errors in what I read so far (ill get back to some of these later). First, don't comment on guitar unless you play (mainly talking to the guy who said he had more technical skill before even picking up a guitar than Clatpon does now). Clapton was never about fast, and whining guitars - his name is "slowhand". From this style we should judge him - and in this style he is king. Though clapton may be frugile with his notes, he still has the ability to make one note sound better than five jumbled together. Sometimes less is best, and in Clapton's case it has worked out. Second, consider all the types of music Clapton plays: rock, blues, pop, country, reggae etc.. He's a blueman, but also a journeyman. He has struggled with hard-ship, addiction, loss - to say he is "a white man stealing the blues," is iggnorant - the man has lived through tough times -> you try being addicted to heroine, then performing onstage thru withdrawl. Before I get to the errors, I would like to say that Clapton is "god" or, at least his playing is worthy of God himself.

Errors: Many more people played w/ the Beatles than just Clapton and Preston -> on revolver alone there are many musicians -> also an entire orchestra on All You Need Is Love.
Clapton did not rip of Harrison for the song Layla (its not Lola). Layla was a name of a girl in a poem he read. He used it to keep Patty Boyd's name free from speculation.

Great, but Harrison was his equal and he knew it.  Look at how his guitar playing became more subtle on many songs due to Harrison influence.

I hate what happened to Clapton in the 80's and especially in the 90's, (cheese city) but the stuff he did with Cream along with his incredible blues playing still makes him one of the top 5.

love the sound he brings specially on the song layla, 1 of the few classic rock hard rock songs that a lot count as a love ballad. i dont think anyone but clapton could bring the sound of layla alive like only he can

When it comes to technicality and sense of melody Clapton dominates any big name you put up there. He is the most well rounded guitar player out of the bunch. Hendrix is more experimental and covers his mistakes with distortion, Duane Allman was great with slide but I believe Dicky Betts out showed him with sense of melody and songwriting, Jeff Beck relies on a whammy bar, and Van Halen is just another lame shredder -- Clapton involes more structure and a sense of knowing where he is going. There is a reason Clapton plays with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and all the blues greats -- he is one of them. Anybody who is niave enough to say he steals riffs or mixes other artist's solos is a hypocrit. Every artist tries to go for a certain sound another one makes. He has produced more than a handful of songs that will be on the radio for the next 20+ years. Anybody who thinks otherwise can tell it to his three Rock n Roll hall of fame placemarkers, anybody else have three -- I dont think so. Did I mention Clapton is God?

"Slow Hands" ranks as one of the all-time greats. His riffs are original, unique and talented. His songwriting ability still dwarfs many in the business today. I'm sure his songs will be played for many years to come and he will be an inspiration to many an up-coming young guitarist.

The most overrated whiteboy to steal the blues ever. "Leyla" is a fine album but after that it's just downhill. I hated this guy even before I heard about his racist remarks about Hendrix, in which he tried to explain Hendrix's popular appeal in England with the words, "You know English people have a very big thing towards a spade. They really love that magic thing. They all fall for that kind of thing. Everybody and his brother in England still think that spades have big dicks" (quoted in C.S. Murray, Crosstown Traffic, p. 68). I'm not the biggest Hendrix fan to begin with, but for Clapton to claim that Hendrix exploited his blackness is like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. If anything, Clapton was stealing from black musicians, exploiting his whiteness. What a tool this guy is.

You only have to listen to "From the Cradle" to realise that he is No. 1 !!

perfection

Not only Clapton was he a great musician but he is also very interesting to watch. When it comes to blues-rock he's a beast.

2nd most overrated guitarist of all time.

You can go to any club in Texas and hear a guy that plays as well as him any night of the week.

His "blues licks" are as predictible as it gets. You almost know what note he'll play before he plays it.

I remember reading an interview with Angus Young in some guitar magazine about 15-20 years ago where he basically said that he didn't really understand what all of the hooplah about Clapton was about in the first place and that other than a few good songs he had done with Cream the rest of his stuff was pretty mediocre. He said that all Clapton has really ever done was to take solos that he has copped from people like BB King or Otis Rush and put them back together in some mishmashed fashion. I couldn't agree more and I think that Mr. Young from AC/DC has pretty much hit the nail squarely on the head. I think Clapton kind of sucks to be honest. His solo stuff is so laid back and dull that I find it unlistenable. It would fit much more into the category of "Modern Adult Contemporary" (elevator) music than it would rock and roll by far. Not a fan.

The best guitarist for those of us who appreciate great music, not just loud, fast licks!

2 nd best guitarist i have ever heard. Great solo's, great songs. He really is the guitarist guitarist. Even when he breaks a string in a solo he can still play on like nothing happened.

This guy was a thieve, he stole Lola from George Harrison.

please ,please help me vote for Hendrix, Page, and Clapton,....... we are 'so much behind' Eddie Van Halen. Vote for Clapton , Hendrix, and Page please. Thank you.

I love his music and especially his guitar playing.

I found it hard to rate clapton a 3.so I gave a four only because he does sound good.He does not impress me with his playing.Probably because he sounds like he has a "slowhand".Doesn't play good chord progressions and very limited on his picking style.But his guitar does sound as if it was made for him and he for it

Ok here go's: ERIC CLAPTON to be belongs in the top oh 5 guitarists ever. My favorite period for him is CREAM for sure, THIS is where he played LES PAULS and 335 Gibsons, those plexi MARSHALLS produced his most awesome tones. CROSSROADS, SUNSHINE, WHITE ROOM need I say more? Ok Ok DERRICK AND THE DOMINOES is one heck of a record also, of course aided by DUANE and WHITLOCK, this record ranks as one of the all time greats. Love you Eric but PLEASE grab another 335 again sometime won't ya? Your strat sounds nice but give us some GIBSON tone again, while your at it dust off those old MARSHALLS too! Long live Eric.

Best work on Blind Faith LP

Face it Clapton is so over rated. People just like his songs more than anyone else. I was at Jeff Becks concert in Chicago 2 months back, and this guy after the concert says clapton this and clapton that. Clapton and Jeff Beck are two of the best guitarist he says. You can't put Clapton in the same category as Jeff Beck, nut ball. clapton just can't get it done. The thing about Derek and the dominoes was Duane Allman. He held that band up and gave the band the true grit that it needed. Let the truth about Clapton be known from this day forward: He is a second tier guitarist of average playing ability.

Has the timing down perfect

Eric is God? Boy that's a world devoid of direction ... Dude you screwed you best friends wife, then wrote a song about it and that was your first and last great work before you were stoned on smack for how long? I guess by industry standards you're a hero now because of that. What an industry of role models huh?

He is a good Guitarist but not a Great one in my opinion. He is a great song writer.

No dout the best

Boring....the "Clapton is God" belief is soooooo misguided. I learned the crossroads solos when i was 13. Furthermore, in recent years he's been playing guitar less and less.

His weakness is acoustic. Otherwise 5 stars.

One of the great gods of guitar. He has pioneered rock in all forms throughout his career. Playing in many bands with many musicians, there are few musicians as prolific as Eric Clapton.

Greatest Song- Crossroads (played while in Cream)

EC is GOD!

Who's Eric Clapton?

Tasteful and has superb phrasing. This is why he pisses all over Page

CLAPTON IS GOD

Peerless.

Brilliant in the 1960's then lost his skills

Yawn.

I HEARD HIM LIVE MANY TIMES IN THE LATE 60'S AND EARLY 70'S. THERE WAS NO ON ELSE EVEN CLOSE EXCEPT DUANE ALLMAN AND AFTER HE DIED THERE WAS NO ONE.

At his peak in 1969.

Very, very good. Wouldn't call him great.

Loved his stuff with Cream, when he rocked. Then he went all limp, and he lost me.

Played for The Yardbirds, Cream, Derek and The Dominos and has had a monumental solo career to rank him in the top ten.

Definetly one of the top 10 guitarists and next to Dylan the best song writer ever!

Eric Clapton is one of those guys who re-invented the electric guitar back in the 1960s. It was not until Clapton, Hendrix, Page and Beck started playing that the guitar-man was the frontman in a band. He can put across every emotion and feeling. It feels like his instrument IS alive and is talking by itself. When he really lets loose on his Strat ( Gibson, however, was better IMHO), like he did with the reunited CREAM the other day, he proves, he is still a hell of a guitar player (his wah-wah playing is awesome).

Pffft! Another increidbly overrated guitarist. His best was with Derek and the Dominoes. After that, it was crap city all the way

Clapton, for sure - in my opinion - is the greatest guitarist of my time.

He has produced so much material and dabbled in so many genres that it is easy to think of him as a lesser guitarist, except you can't deny him or his material in its entirety. An absolutely amazing guitarist.

The best of all time. Has proven it not only by skill but longeveity and range. Hendrix was great for a short period, but there's no proof he could have kept it up for 40 years as Clapton has and neither Hendrix nor Page have the range and versatility of Clapton.

Never liked Clapton or his boring style. WAY OVERRATED!!!