“I didn’t see Eric play in between then and the Mayall album, because I was working every night,” says Tom. Shortly afterwards, The Roosters disbanded, Clapton joined The Yardbirds and McGuinness went on to play with Manfred Mann. That was serious, proper guitar playing and I haven’t changed my mind ever since.” “I knew that was where I belonged, finally. “It was fine with the white rock ’n’ rollers until I heard Freddie King, then I was over the moon,” Clapton told Guitarist, speaking of his own musical development. McGuinness and Clapton formed a band, The Roosters, and it was during that time that Clapton first heard Freddie King. It was fine with the white rock ’n’ rollers until I heard Freddie King, then I was over the moon Eric Clapton “We sort of chatted and said names to each other like Elmore James and Lowell Fulson… the fact that you could meet someone who knew these people was a real treat.” The Blues Band and The Manfreds guitarist Tom McGuinness first met Clapton at an audition at The Station Hotel in Richmond in 1963 and hit it off immediately via a mutual love of the blues. I told him that once he got over, he’d show Clapton how it was done, which of course he did.” A night to remember Chandler later recalled, “When we first met in New York, Jimi knew all about the guitarists in Britain and asked if he’d get to meet Eric Clapton. “You never told me he was that fucking good,” Clapton is reported as saying. “Hendrix blew into Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor at breakneck speed, just like that - stopped you in your tracks.”Ĭhas Chandler went backstage to find Clapton puffing nervously on a cigarette. The effect on Clapton was undoubtedly cataclysmic, shattering any preconceptions about blues guitar - and his confidence. He played Killing Floor, a Howlin’ Wolf number I’d always wanted to play but which I’d never had the complete technique to do.” He stood in front of the mirror combing his hair and asked if he could jam. “He was very, very flash - even in the dressing room. Although they had a short friendship that ended with Jimi’s tragic death, it was definitely an intense one.Played Killing Floor, a number I always wanted to play but which I never had the complete technique to do Eric ClaptonĬlapton couldn’t have anticipated what was about to unfold. He was truly mesmerized by Hendrix’s exceptional talent. It would be fair to say that Jimi Hendrix changed what guitar playing meant to Eric Clapton shortly after they met. He walked off, and my life was never the same again.” I mean, he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back, but it wasn’t in an upstaging sense at all, and that was it. “He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. Eric Clapton also stated that his life has never been the same again after seeing Hendrix playing on that stage.Įric Clapton’s words on Hendrix’s performance: Later on, in an interview, Eric Clapton described Jimi Hendrix’s performance by saying that although Jimi did just a few of his playing tricks, it was enough for Clapton to be highly impressed. Within a week, he had his hair frizzed and would come by our flat anytime that he had a spare moment, to be with Hendrix.” I said, ‘Are you alright?’ and he replied, ‘Is he that fucking good?’ He had heard ten bars at the most. I thought, ‘Oh God, it’s happening now.’ I went backstage, and he was trying to get a match to a cigarette. “Clapton stood there, and his hands dropped off of the guitar. Here is how Chas Chandler remembers this special moment:
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