Clapton Quotes & Sayings

Punk was sort of an angry stance against things that had happened just before, against the pop of glam rock, against progressive rock. Music had become very staid and it was about the playing and people obsessed. Eric Clapton was God and we needed an enema within the art form, and punk did do that. — Gary Kemp

I never set myself too high a goal. It was always tone and feeling, for me. — Eric Clapton

I first met Jimmy Page in London in 1961, and he was listening to James Burton, Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup with Gene Vincent, as was I ... these were the rock and roll guys who really sparked our interest in the guitar, and later we delved into other things and went different directions ... during my time with Eric Clapton, we talked about what we'd listened to early on, and he was a huge fan of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis — Albert Lee

I couldn't believe how good Jimi Hendrix was It was a really difficult thing for me to deal with, but I just had to surrender and say, 'This is fantastic.' — Eric Clapton

When I was in Nashville, Tennessee in 1970 with Derek and the Dominoes, I went into this shop and they had a rack of Strats and Teles - all going for $100.00 each. I bought a handfull and made Blackie out of the body from one, the neck from another, and so on — Eric Clapton

I love Sutton House in Clapton, a beautiful example of Tudor architecture. — Sharon Horgan

I thought, 'My God, this is like Buddy Guy on acid.' — Eric Clapton

Watching him, I understood for the first time how you could really live music, how you could listen to it completely and make it come alive, so that it was part of your life. — Eric Clapton

I think everybody has their own way of looking at their lives as some kind of pilgrimage. Some people will see their role as a pilgrim in terms of setting up a fine family, or establishing a business inheritance. Everyone's got their own definition. Mine, I suppose, is to know myself. — Eric Clapton

My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it. — Eric Clapton

It's very dependent on your state of mind. And your emotional state as well. And a lot of it comes pouring out, you don't really have that much control with it. — Eric Clapton

I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men. — Eric Clapton

I got a problem, can you relate? I got a woman calling love hate. — Eric Clapton

There are many excellent guitar players but I have to say Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton are still at the top! There are many imitators but very few genuine articles. There is so much more to playing than a fast blur of notes, like feeling and emotion from the soul. It's like punctuating a sentence and knowing when to lay back and not fill up all the space. Those are the things I tried to teach my son Tim when he began playing. — Merrell Fankhauser

And if I don't be there by morning, she'll know that I must've spent the night in jail. — Eric Clapton

The music scene as I look at it today is a little different from when I was growing up. The percentages are roughly the same - 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure. — Eric Clapton

The great British blues guitarists of the Sixties - people like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Peter Green - could play like virtuosos, but they also understood the importance of energy and intensity — Joe Perry

I've always wanted the sound of Muddy Waters' early records - only louder — Eric Clapton

I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton ... oh, there's many more! I wouldn't want to be like them, you understand, but I'd like to be equal, if you will. — B.B. King

For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall. — Eric Clapton

Duane Allman inspired the group to explore the extended jam format that was already a staple of the Allman Brothers act. Moreover, his ferocious slide playing motivated Clapton to turn in some of the finest guitar performances of his career — Bob Whitlock

When I met Eric Clapton, I was a very young girl. I was 20 years old. And we were linked for a very short time, and then we became friends. And then we lost touch, which I'm really sorry about. — Carla Bruni

Eric Clapton always wanted to come out onstage with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder. — Neil Innes

I can't play long solos anymore without boring myself. — Eric Clapton

I went to London and performed in Eric Clapton's concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I'll work with him any time he asks me. — Carole King

I think Clapton is brilliant. He's the only one who moved me. The only one who made me want to play the guitar. — Eddie Van Halen

I think guitar-wise, Eric Clapton was a big influence on me. I got to spend time around him. He's kind of strange, mysterious, serious and he always has played such hot guitar. — Dhani Harrison

Very much like that, and very much a loner, do you know and I didn't fit really into sport or all kind of group activities as a kid, I couldn't find a niche. And music was not really part of the kind of village curriculum it would, you know. — Eric Clapton

I used to play quite a good lead guitar, R&B style. Clapton and BB King are heroes. — Philip Kerr

He was older and loved to play Eric Clapton's single "Change the World" on repeat while we snorted cocaine off the side of his pool table with lucky $2 bills. — Christina McDowell

They looked great, you know the drawings of the guys playing looked great and bits of string around their necks. So it didn't seem to be that difficult a thing to do, or that inaccessible. — Eric Clapton

Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom let it flow.
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, let it grow. — Eric Clapton

If you hand me a guitar, I'll play the blues. That's the place I automatically go. — Eric Clapton

I used to do crazy things that people would bail me out of, and I'm just grateful that I survived. But the music got very lost; I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't really care. I was more into just having a good time, and I think it showed. — Eric Clapton

For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music. — Eric Clapton

My selective memory of what drinking was like told me that standing at the bar in a pub, on a summer's evening with a long, tall glass of lager and lime was heaven, and I chose not to remember the nights on which I had sat with a bottle of vodka, a gram of coke and a shotgun, contemplating suicide. — Eric Clapton

I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy. — Eric Clapton

Having lovers and friends is all good and fine But I don't like yours and you don't like mine. — Eric Clapton

My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice. — Eric Clapton

My early influences were the Shadows, who were an English instrumental band. They basically got me into playing and later on I got into blues and jazz players. I liked Clapton when he was with John Mayall. I really liked that period. — Tony Iommi

It was a mystery to me, how the tuning was, or the style seemed to come out of nowhere, it obviously had roots in America going way back, there was nothing like it for me I'd ever seen before. — Eric Clapton

Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I'd rather lie around. No contest. — Eric Clapton

I listened to King Oliver and I listened to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp ... I listened to everything I could that came from that place that they call the blues but, in formality, isn't necessarily the blues. — Eric Clapton

To sing in a lower key is harder work. You have to use your diaphragm more. — Eric Clapton

There are people these days who can do things on the guitar which are beyond my reach. There's one guy who plays with Queen who can do things I would dream of doing. I sincerely mean that. — Eric Clapton

It was stumbling on to really the bible of the blues, you know, and a very powerful drug to be introduced to us and I absorbed it totally, and it changed my complete outlook on music. — Eric Clapton

The Yardbirds came in to the Crawdaddy Club a week after the Stones finished their Sunday night residency. They had done it for almost a year, I think, and then we did it for a year. It was better when they were playing there because when they went they took half the crowd with them and it took us quite a while to build up our own following. — Eric Clapton

My guitar heroes are Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and people like that - so I've tried to make an album of Robert Johnson covers that, well, while not totally faithful for blues purists, is faithful for people like me that grew up with the '60s and the electric blues-rock versions of Johnson's songs. — Todd Rundgren

I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn't want to meet Johnny Rotten. — Eric Clapton

I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn't seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it. — Eric Clapton

My driving philosophy about making music is that you can reduce it all down to one note if that note is played with the right kind of sincerity. — Eric Clapton

All I am certain of right now is that I don't want to go anywhere, and that's not bad for someone who always used to run. — Eric Clapton

I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together. — Eric Clapton

I just like the company of beautiful women. I have a weakness in that department. — Eric Clapton

Don't you think women would be happier if Layla had a whole chorus about Eric Clapton watching Patti Boyd trying to climb over a park fence, pissed, in order to retrieve a shoe she threw in there, for a bet? — Caitlin Moran

I can never make up my mind if I'm happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton. — Ian Anderson

I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him. — Eric Clapton

I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. — Eric Clapton

Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullshit attached. — Eric Clapton

Yeah, and I went straight into a fantasy world. Just stepped straight into the abyss. You know, I was gone and kids used to walk past my front room, cause I lived on the green. — Eric Clapton

I know there will be no more tears in heaven. — Eric Clapton

I think people who basically do one thing like Eric Clapton is great. But I've always enjoyed playing different kinds of music and playing with different kinds of musicians because I find that really interesting, like learning and working with Kip Hanrahan. There's a great conga player called Milton Cardona and he taught me a lot of the nuances, he's a Santeria Priest and so he knows his onions as it were. — Jack Bruce

All along this path I tread, my heart betrays my weary head, with nothing but my love to save, from the cradle to the grave ... — Eric Clapton

I did play a lot of fingerstyle when I first started playing. I could never really find the right combination of flatpick or fingerpick, so playing fingerstyle is really the easiest way - though it's quite strenuous on the fingertips. — Eric Clapton

At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few listenings I realized that, on some level, I had found the master, and that following this man's example would be my life's work. — Eric Clapton

My dedication to my music has driven everyone away. I've had girlfriends, but I always end up on my own. I don't particularly like it, but I don't see a way 'round it. — Eric Clapton

I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life. — Eric Clapton

No one's better than me. I'm not better than anyone. Whether it's Eric Clapton or BB King we look straight at each other. And that keeps it real. — Carlos Santana

For my 23rd birthday, I received a nylon string guitar. I told myself that if I could play Eric Clapton's 'Tears In Heaven,' then I could play the guitar. I practised every chance I got, driving my housemates insane, until several weeks later I had a shaky version of the song down. I wrote my first song on the guitar a few weeks after that. — Neil Jackson

So there I was in Hollywood, thinking I was doing good. — Eric Clapton

If I could do something with Paul McCartney it would be just amazing. Or Eric Clapton. — Jake Shimabukuro

I grew up playing in clubs - that's my spiritual stomping ground. — Eric Clapton

I had never been allowed to go on tour with my husband George Harrison, so had no idea what to expect when I left him to join Eric Clapton on his 1974 U.S. tour. — Pattie Boyd

I decided early on that I wanted to be Michael Bloomfield, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton - not George Harrison. — Todd Rundgren

Plant your love and let it grow. — Eric Clapton

I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there. — Eric Clapton

Up until I became a father, it was all about self-obsession. But then I learned exactly what it's all about: the delight of being a servant. — Eric Clapton

First concert I ever went to was a group called The Yardbirds. Eric Clapton is the lead guitarist. — Ron Barber

I think I deliberately sold out a couple of times. I picked the songs that I thought would do well in the marketplace, even though I didn't really love the song. — Eric Clapton

Like a fool, I fell in love with you, Turned my whole world upside down — Eric Clapton

What I can play is blues. She was never that into blues. I can salve with Lightning and Cotton, BB and Clapton and Stevie Ray. I can blast Son Seals singing Dear Son until the coyotes in the creek raise up a sympathetic sky ripping interpretation of the harmonica solo. Piercing howls and yelps. Sounds like it's killing them and also like they love it. Which when you get right down to it is the blues. — Peter Heller

Early in my childhood, when I was about six or seven, I began to get the feeling that there was something different about me. — Eric Clapton

And I don't like having my picture taken. I'm almost like an old African in that sense. I think it steals a bit of the soul. — Eric Clapton

I've heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice. — Neil Peart

[ Unplugged ] was also the cheapest to produce and required the least amount of preparation and work. But if you want to know what it actually cost me, go to Ripley and visit the grave of my son. — Eric Clapton

I have always been resistant to doctrine, and any spirituality I had experienced thus far in my life had been much more abstract and not aligned with any recognized religion. For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music. It cannot be manipulated, or politicized, and when it is, that becomes immediately obvious. — Eric Clapton

One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma. — Eric Clapton

The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life. — Eric Clapton

I don't know if I believe in luck. I think I'm very fortunate. — Eric Clapton

Give me a guitar and I'll play; give me a stage and I'll perform; give me an auditorium and I'll fill it. — Eric Clapton

I was very influenced by Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom I had the pleasure of playing with and becoming friends with. — Mick Taylor

In those days, I didn't know how guys like Clapton and Beck were getting that searing blues lead sound, so I developed my style to be rhythmic and chord-based, with simple lead lines that you could almost hum. — John Fogerty

This moment in time, on this tour, you know, I'm discovering a lot of new things. And to be 45 and doing that, it's a mixture of pleasure and pain, I can assure you. — Eric Clapton

The Beatles had some juice when it came to distortion, but Clapton was finally able to break through those early studio engineers' fear of overloading. He defined the sound that guitarists spend the rest of their lives trying to get. — Joe Perry

The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn't really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it. — Eric Clapton

In the genre of "making you feel like you're not having an awesome American high school experience," the worst offender is actually a song: John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane." It's one of those songs - like Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" - that everyone knows all the words to without ever having chosen to learn them. — Mindy Kaling

Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it's the last time. — Eric Clapton

The one thing I do have is good ears. I don't mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records. — Eddie Van Halen

One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut. — Eric Clapton

In terms of scale or stature, I believe that if Robert Johnson was reincarnated, he is probably BB King. Maybe it would be worth investigating the appropriate dates to see if this is even a remote possibility. — Eric Clapton