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Eric Clapton’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen
One of the greatest guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton mixed Blues and Rock in his guitar playing, influencing countless generations of musicians since the 1960s through his work with The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and solo career.
He witnessed firsthand one of the biggest revolutions in guitar playing when Jimi Hendrix emerged and about a decade later, another major transformation occurred when Van Halen released their debut album. Over the years, Clapton has shared his opinions on many of his peers, including the guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
What is Eric Clapton's opinion on Eddie Van Halen
Eric Clapton respects Eddie Van Halen and his technique, but it wasn’t the kind of guitar playing he actually enjoyed. He once said he felt it was a bit "over the top" because it was too fast. "If Eddie Van Halen likes the way I play, then assumedly, he must like what I liked. But if he can recognize all of that and still do what he does, then we have to accept that he's on to something that we're not really clear about. Because he couldn't be doing what he does and recognize Robert Johnson without there being something valid going on."
"He is very fast, and to my ears, a lot of the time he kind of goes over the top. But that's because I'm a more simple player. Maybe I would play like that if I had the technique. I've heard that he slowed down records of mine to learn the solos. That's dedication! I don't know quite how to respond to that," Eric Clapton told Guitar Player magazine in 1985.
Clapton didn’t believe, at least back in the 1980s, that Eddie was really capable of playing the blues. The reason was it seemed he didn’t have the necessary musical background to do so. The British guitarist often explained that once he fell in love with that kind of music, he immersed himself in the genre to learn about its most important musicians. Since Eddie always mentioned Clapton as one of his main influences, the guitarist felt that Van Halen needed to listen more to those old players, not just to him.
He continued:
"(...) Eddie Van Halen went over the top (to say I was his main influence). It's crazy for him to have learned that much from me. I mean, he could have just been aware of what I was doing, and then said, 'Oh yeah, well, that's a bit like Buddy Guy,' or 'That's a bit like so-and-so.' Put it all in perspective. To get obsessive about one person...." The interviewer then said he believed that Eddie had no idea who Buddy Guy was, for example. Clapton replied, saying: "Well, he should. He should check him out," Eric Clapton.
Eric Clapton didn’t like the song Brian May and Eddie created as a tribute to him
During the same conversation, the interviewer told Clapton that he had gone to see Van Halen and that they had a “blues jam” in the middle of the show, but it still sounded like Eddie Van Halen. Clapton then recalled that in 1983, on Brian May’s Starfleet Project, there was a song called “Blues Breaker” featuring Eddie, which was meant as a tribute to him. However, he didn’t like it at all and said they had missed the whole point of his style.
"That's funny, isn't it? That is very funny to me, because if he was that tuned into me and missed that point, then he missed the whole point. And funnily enough, he and Brian May had made a record a couple of years ago. One side was a kind of a fusion thing—really very interesting, great to listen to and the other side was a blues jam. It was so horrible. And they dedicated it to me. They sent me a copy, and I put it on, expecting something, and, you know, I was almost insulted that they should send this to me, because they both... they can't play!"
Eric Clapton continued:
"They took turns to play solos, and just went head-at-it, with everything they knew. And there was no dynamics, no build-up, no sensitivity. I was very disappointed. Though, actually, it did me a little good. Because I realized that, although I'd been accepting the fact that all these players knew exactly what it was about on the surface of things, underneath, they didn't. (...) I often think, 'Well. when I get into the studio, I'll have a go at it (Try to play like Eddie someday).'"
"But what's going to make it any different when you get into the studio? The fact that you can use gadgets? And if you rely on gadgets you're getting nowhere. Because it still is down to what you do with your two hands. And that's definitely beyond me, what Eddie does. It's well beyond me," Eric Clapton said. The two met in the early 1980s and became friends, but according to Guitar Player, they grew apart after Clapton criticized the song “Blues Breaker.” That seems to have remained the same, since Eric didn’t post any messages about Eddie when he passed away in 2020 at the age of 65.
Clapton said that he couldn’t play like Van Halen and that he preferred B.B. King’s style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuyX29qUkxQ&list=RDRuyX29qUkxQ&start_radio=1</p>
Although Eddie Van Halen said many times that Eric Clapton was his biggest influence, he didn’t play like the British musician at all, his style was completely differ
ent. In a 1998 interview with Bob Mills, Clapton said he wasn’t capable of playing like Eddie or Slash, for example. He mentioned that when asked if there were still guitar players whose techniques he couldn’t figure out just by listening to their songs.
"Yeah, all of these guys, actually, you know, the ones that play from Van Halen on right through Stash. Not Stash, is it? Slash! Stash is a graffiti, right? When they do that very, very fast lead work, it's the same to me as jazz playing. I don't know how they (do it). No, I can't move my fingers on either hand that fast. I can only go so far then I start to completely blow it. I'm not saying that I would want to do that, but (it's the kind of thing I can't play)."
"My answer to that, my way of dealing with that would be to almost in a way go to the other direction. That's why I would always (put) B.B. King as a huge influence, because B.B. is a simplest simplicist. He works with minimum, he will make one note do the work of 20. (So I) thought: 'If I can't go fast, I'll go slow and make it count," Eric Clapton said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
One thing both musicians had in common was that both of them worked with the producer Ted Templeman. He was the one who produced the first six Van Halen albums and co-produced "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (1991). He co-produced several tracks of Clapton's 1985 album "Behind the Sun".The post Eric Clapton’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.