I'd go with Clapton (still giving the Cream love), but the last 10 years have been disappointing, and *Me and Mr. Johnson* is a joke (extreme autopilot). You absorb it and you channel it. I would also give credit to the remarkable difference Eric Clapton made to my band’s sound, "You know, the three guys you just mentioned, when they first joined my bands it was a major talking point, but by the time American blues players like Harvey Mandel came along, it was pretty well established that the lead guitar was an important part of the scene. British blues-rock singer and guitarist Peter Green founded the band, Fleetwood Mac, with Mick Fleetwood in 1967. Not so sure about the Cream years, though - perhaps the extended format needs something a bit beyond the blues. Robbie Robertson can indeed set the world on fire, but he's such a loathsome cunt, that it's difficult to give him any credit whatsoever. Guitar World is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. I just pick up my guitar and plug it in, and I’ve never used any special tunings over the years, just standard open tuning.". I'm gonna go blast "Lazy Poker Blues" now to remind me further of how overrated Clapton is. Basically my musicians and I would set a tempo and a key. It was my father who turned me on to Django, who managed to play faultlessly despite the loss of two fingers. I'm gonna put on Then Play On right now; I've gotta hear "Showbiz Blues". He actually sounded better than the others, so I hired him, but then Eric came back a week later, and that put Peter out of a job, which, of course, didn’t please him. Even his stuff w/ John Mayall beats Clapton's("Double Trouble," "Jenny" et al). I am more partial to Green but Clapton has risen to equal heights on many occassions. you'd be much better off with a big stack of johnny winter rekkerds. What do Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, Jack Bruce and Peter Green have in common? "I always stay clear of naming individual guitar players because they all added something unique to my work. And do you take the N/R/W subway line? And wow! So there aren’t any tricks with them at all. This is the true story of the greatest handover in blues history… It is May 1966, and the Decca Studios are quaking. I'm sure your guitar playing virtuosity is without question. Do you have any secrets to still do such high-energy performances? I had promised Eric his job back if things didn’t work out in Europe.". i have never been a fan of british blooze-rock, but this is something else altogether. God, Peter Green in a heartbeat. However, a competent guitarist whose opinion I respect simply raves about him, so maybe he is in fact generally underrated. "Well, I think it’s the overall quality of the playing and the fact that Eric was totally unique at that particular time. You will receive a verification email shortly. Shorty, Robertson's short solo on "Slippin' & Slidin'" in the Festival Express movie is one of the most viscious and simple solos that I've ever heard. However there is one solo in rockdom that transcends them all, in my opinion, and from a guy whose own output grew sadly trashier. ― shorty (shorty), Monday, 1 May 2006 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link, ― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 1 May 2006 20:52 (fourteen years ago) link. I would have to say that Eric is the most skilled musically and technically( I'm referring to his early career), but Peter adds something extra to his songs that make them a notch above Clapton's. These easy strummers are for you. There is a whole other kind of depth there. Would you say that gave you an advantage in terms of being viewed as a more authentic interpreter of the blues? "Eric and all of us were all just waiting for him to present something we could actually play, so it turned out to be a big waste of time for everybody involved.". Thank you for signing up to Guitar World. Yeah Mike Bloomfield was fan-fucking-tastic. Can you put your guitar on it and make up a vocal?' Prejudice in England wasn’t as widespread as it was in America, so when these great blues musicians came over to England and found these adoring audiences, it was something they’d never experienced before. i mainline that shit. At one point or another they've joined forces with the legendary bluesman. Eric has nothing. "I’m proud of everything I’ve done. It’s the music and the audiences that energize you. So far the worried Jewish blues is triumphing over the straight English blues. Maybe by the time of Green's stint with Mayall the whole thing seemed kind of old to people? It was also the first time he had come to England to do a real tour, and he was surprised to find out how much he was appreciated. Peter Allen Greenbaum was born in Bethnal Green, London, on 29 October 1946, into a Jewish family, the youngest of Joe and Ann Greenbaum's four children. there are 5 or 6 savoy brown records i would listen to before i would even think to listen to clapton. Clapton's lead playing was almost ALWAYS calculated, precise, and composed, leaving very little room for true heart and soul. so tasteful and safe for the most part. I’m glad people still enjoy listening to my music. ", How do you respond when people ask, “Can white people sing the blues with the same authenticity as a black singer?”. "Hardly, no. "Clapton's lead playing was almost ALWAYS calculated, precise, and composed, leaving very little room for true heart and soul.". Okay, Green is great (love his long lost "*In the Skies*) and Clapton is HUGELY overrated. I love his playing on "The Biggest Thing Since Colossus", and those responsible for the non-appearance of a proper re-release of "Then Play On" should be drawn and quartered ... Has anyone mentioned Mike Bloomfield? Flamin' Groovies weren't blistering hard rock for very long, particularly after Roy Loney left. king upthread. I'm not one to state my opinion as fact, but i think I'm on pretty safe ground when I state: Eric Clapton is, at the very least, a very talented guitar player. And you're right, he was so good at that slow material; those live takes of "Jumpin' at Shadows" and "Need Your Love So Bad" are strong and gripping. And, I mean, in spite of making mainly boring MOR rock the past 25-30 years. It’s the emotion that counts, the understanding of the history of the music, and finding that as a vehicle to express yourself through it. I do think Cream produced a core of influential work, but none of it, to these ears, sounds as fresh as Green's. The book - published by Omnibus Press - chronicles Mayall’s wild journey from his WWII-era childhood to his 2016 induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. First, Jeremy Spencer's burlesque and Elvis shtick ("lick, lick, lick-on-my-dick" -- condoms hung on mike stands and tuning keys), emergent twin guitar hard rock (Green and Kirwan) and really long jams (check Boston Tea Party). Many here have put it perfectly in that you really can’t rate one over the other as they are in two different worlds in terms of their styles of playing. “The recording of Witchdoctor was a real struggle for Eric,” Mayall says. The first 10 years or so and the hit-or-miss middle era are still incredible. and i have! ― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 23 April 2004 20:10 (sixteen years ago) link, ― fizzcaraldo (Justin M), Saturday, 24 April 2004 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link. I had to dig him out because he was so disenchanted with the whole scene right after he left the Yardbirds. When I interviewed Fleetwood again in 2016 I noted that, in his 2014 biography Play On , he’d called Green the greatest guitarist he ever played with. We tried our best to support him, but it was sometimes difficult because John Lee didn’t have any sense of where the chord changes would be, so we constantly had to be on our toes. N/R/W subway line and "Man of the World," natch. ― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 23 April 2004 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link, ― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 23 April 2004 17:09 (sixteen years ago) link, ― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 23 April 2004 17:11 (sixteen years ago) link. OK, but I do think people are a little quick to associate controlled players with "no soul." "The Animals caused quite a stir in the London clubs when they began appearing regularly in the south of England. The vibrato is a little too much, and there's a maudlin quality, one Green would never resort to get his point across. clapton is an extremely talented bore. King’s. It was a great guitar; unfortunately, I lost it in the 1979 fire that destroyed every possession I had.”. I've already stated that while I like both Clapton and Green, I probably prefer Green. Is it yoga? Composed? I'm a huge fan. just picked up the vinyl reissue of Green-era Mac live in Boston in 1970. unbelievable. On Twitter, KISS frontman Paul Stanley reacted to the news of Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green’s death and implied that he was among the best Blues musicians of all time following Eric Clapton. At the same time, how could one ever improve on the guitar solo from Black Magic Woman? If somebody leaves, it means they’ve outlived what they want to do, and they’re not giving their best to you anyway. “I’ve always aimed for quality in the music and picked musicians I like to play with and enjoy listening to,” he says. "Well, Albert didn’t read or write music, so you couldn’t show him what we were going to play. I don’t believe in doing like a lot of performers who just get by on their name. "Seven Stars" is my new favorite Peter Green song. There were all these elements of the blues in black American music, which didn’t mix up with white American music. An outstanding player, too. For me, I wouldn't compare Green and Clapton as just guitar players but as total artists and Green's music seems to possess more soul searching depth than Clapton's. You've just inspired me to crank some of his stuff. It’s amazing how young these British musicians were when they came to your band. ― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:36 (sixteen years ago) link. Folks, just because you may have a preference for one over the other doesn't mean that either of them suck. Dunno Green well at all but what do y'all think of Clapton-era Yardbirds? i was thinking about people i prefer as guitarists to clapton, but the list is endless. Now that doesn't make his word gospel, but this guy is an extremely talented lead guitar player, and I give a lot of weight to his opinion on this matter. i was thinking about people i prefer as guitarists to clapton, but the list is endless. Interesting comments about Dave Mason. someone mentioned b.b. So it was all a very natural progression. A vegetarian diet? Thank-you! king upthread. "Because of the low volume he played at, we learned a lot more about the subtleties of the blues than the way we had been playing by ourselves; mainly that we didn’t have to do it at full-throttle volume in order to communicate the excitement of the music. If I had to pick three though, one I’d go for would be Buddy Whittington who I think was the longest member of any of my band lineups. There was an awareness that what they were trying to do wasn’t the scene in America at the time, but it was in parts of Europe. I like him in Cream best. someone mentioned b.b. Clapton achieved forms of exuberance in his lead playing, namely "Badge" and "Crossroads" but he rarely tapped into the stuff Green so easily tapped into. Because he was the more original player by far... On the live version of "Jumping at Shadows" (Boston Tea Party Sessions), Green does these quick clusters of notes in between verses that sound like backwards eletronic processed cat cries.