Clapton Quotations

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.

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.

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

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.

I tended to lean towards the guys who both sang and played, such as Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner... And at the other end of the spectrum, I had Eric Clapton in a rock and blues sense, jazz guys such as Tal Farlow and Les Paul... Then Chet Atkins-type stuff.

We were influenced by classic country acts like Merle Haggard and George Jones and Hank Williams but also by Clapton and the Stones and all the rock acts like that. I mean, what guitar player didn't start out with 'Satisfaction'?

I had Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard on my show long before the general public caught up to them, ... I also had Eric Clapton and Cream on the program. They were real loud.

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

Eric Clapton asked me to join his band, Derek and the Dominos. That was the day before Carlos asked me to join him, and I went with Carlos.

I started doing some acoustic things. When my character was out at sea on a tanker, running his fleet, he'd just noodle around on his guitar. So I did an Eric Clapton song, and then I wrote a song to be used as a theme for a story line. That's how it started.

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

Do you know a magazine called the National Enquirer? In the current issue, somebody drew it to my attention, there's a picture of me, like a very young picture of me, and there's a picture of Eric Clapton now and a picture of me then, and it says this is how Eric Clapton has aged.

In fact like most other kids in the late 60's I was listening to Hendrix, Allman Bros., Beatles, Eric Clapton and Led Zepplin among other stuff.

Clapton is 60 and happily married and he feels very good about his life, and feels ready to look back in an honest way, warts and all,

The guitar was hanging. It was an Eric Clapton signature model, the Martin guitar designed for Eric Clapton. It was black with lots of inlay on it.