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Location: Michigan | OK you old Hippies of the 60's
Which one was the best lead guitar player
in your opinion.
??? Jimmy Hendrix or Eric Clapton ??? |
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Location: Whitecourt, Ab | Tough call, GWB. I personally think Hendrix was more experimental/creative, but Clapton was more tight, and played effortlessly |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Some one cruelly posted earlier that Jimi's death did more for his fame than his guitar ability.
But lately I have been listening to some Hendrix, and y'know what?...
There are alot of better guitarists out there.
I voted for Clapton.
(Not to be a total jurk... But even I can play the National Anthem...
Maybe not as well...) |
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Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Different styles and different backgrounds: Clapton is probably (at least in my opinion, the greatest white blues player ever: Hendrix was a great improvisor and took the electric guitar in places that it had never been before...both great in their own ways...I have always liked both but I have always been a Clapton fan...I have everything he has done in some form or other... |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Some one cruelly posted earlier that Jimi's death did more for his fame than his guitar ability. That was me. No disrespect to Hendrix but IMO if he had not died he would have had a few more LPs and then disappeared and be mostly forgotten about. Same for Croce, Morrsion, Moon, Joplin and Cobain and others. They were good in their time, but the main reason the flame burns so many years later is because they are dead. It's human nature. Hell, the most famous thing Kennedy did was get himself shot. Clapton vs. Hendrix is a no contest.
Dave |
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Location: CA | IMHO, best lead guitar player of the '60s, and maybe ever, was David Gilmour.
Jimi had the fire, Clapton had the hands. But Gilmour is the master of space and time. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I didn't even know who Nirvana was until Cobain took a walk on the sewer-side.
(Still ain't impressed)
But as to your point, yeah there are alot of musician that just disappeared. Most of the Jefferson Airplane, Spooky Tooth, Uriah Heep and a few others come to mind.
That great retirement home in Humbolt County... |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Neither Hendrix nor Clapton are on my radar. I don't recall any particular groups or guitarists from then as I was more into the tunes themselves. Liked this tune, didn't like that one, had no idea who sang or played any of them back then.
I agree that in a list of Clapton, Hendrix and Gilmour, Gilmour is in a class way beyond the other two. |
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Location: Tennessee | George Harrison. Never a single note out of place. |
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Location: SoCal | Jim Hall. Just perfect..... |
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Location: Chehalis, Washington | Originally posted by stonebobbo:
George Harrison. Never a single note out of place. :D :D :D |
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | Peter Green. Jeff Beck. |
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Location: Scotland | Clarence White |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Originally posted by Oddball:
IMHO, best lead guitar player of the '60s, and maybe ever, was David Gilmour.
Jimi had the fire, Clapton had the hands. But Gilmour is the master of space and time. Well said. I'm with Oddball. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Originally posted by Tupperware:
Hell, the most famous thing Kennedy did was get himself shot.
That, and Marylin ;) |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Mike Bloomfield |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Rather limited choices GWB. There may be a few more guitar players that fit the bill. But between the two I have to go with clapton as I believe he was better in a band context. In terms of musical genius, hendrix was more genius. Did I spell genius right? |
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Location: Texas | Clapton - hands down - but Stevie Ray Vaughn is right up there with my all time favorites....Oh and Jonny Lang - I had better stop - this could go on forever :D |
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Location: ms | I`ve always thought of Clapton as a blues wanna be. I saw him live back in the day and what some may call effortless playing i call boring. |
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Location: Minden, Nebraska | Since there is no standard measurement, it is a matter of taste and preference. There were a lot of fine players then, and even more now. But as a young guitar player in the mid 60's, none influenced me more than Clapton and Hendrix at the time. |
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Location: Wooster, Ohio | I had heard that in an interview Jimi Hendricks was asked if there was anyone that played guitar better that he did. He said Phil Keaggy. I think he was right but Phil went in a different direction, and also didn't die. To me it is not just playing but making songs that are memorable and timeless. For that I would agree with George Harrison.
Steve |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | No Fair! no fair!
George Harrison nor David Gilmore were among the choices.
Nor Frank Zappa nor Stevie Ray Vaugh...
[When your initials are recognizable, does that mean you've made it?]
--Weird though--
Isn't that the deal you make with the Devil on old Twilight Zone episodes?
You can be insanely famous, But you Gotta Die Young? |
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Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by 45flint:
I had heard that in an interview Jimi Hendricks was asked if there was anyone that played guitar better that he did. He said Phil Keaggy. Just for the record, Phil has stated he doesn't know where that legend came from, but to his knowledge Hendrix never said it. |
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Location: Flushing, MI | Both!
It depends on when you catch me. |
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Location: Michigan | Im not saying that these two were the best guitarists, only that they were without a doubt the best known for that 60s era.
Which one did you like better?
I personally think that Hendrix played live with whatever came to him at the time
( On Acid so who knows )
Where I think Clapton live seemed to me to play more from something that he had already wrote before and would just play it as close to the albulm version as he could
( he was on heroin in the 60s )so drug wise they were both messed up while playing but Jimmy seemed to play from the seat of his pants and although both of them sounded pretty crappy live back then I tend to favor Hendrix.MHO only.GWB |
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Location: Tennessee | Someone once told me that what made Jimi so unique was that he could play lead and sing lead at the same time. First guy who ever pulled that off; still a mighty hard thing to do. |
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Location: ms | The Hendricks interview was on the BBC. Hendricks was ask how it felt to be the best guitarist in the world and Hendricks said he didn`t know you`d have to ask Phil Keaggy. |
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Location: Ky | 2 entirely different styles & concepts. Jimi & Eric were both great. Timing was more critical than skill or talent. Both were innovators. No one knows what Jimi would have done. Eric pretty much copped out, and never equaled his work with Cream, Mayall & Blind Faith. I have to give a lot of credence to the guys who bring up Gilmour. Gilmour is in a class by himself when it comes to being able to make the guitar his own. He could pick up a toy Barbie doll guitar and still sound like Gilmour. He has the most gifted and unique hands of anyone. There are jazz players who can play more notes and may have better technique, and shredders who can play faster and smoother, but no one is more eloquent or expressive than David Gilmour. One note and you know it's him. You can't say that about anyone else with the possible exception of Carlos Santana. But Carlos seemed to have reached his potential decades ago, while David continues to break new ground. A lot of guys can pick up the guitar and play like Hendrix or Clapton, but have you ever heard anyone really sound like David Gilmour?
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Location: Japan | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Some one cruelly posted earlier that Jimi's death did more for his fame than his guitar ability.
(Not to be a total jurk... But even I can play the National Anthem...
Maybe not as well...) Only someone who has any idea of where Hendrix was headed at the time of his death could possibly understand what a fallacy that idea is.
Like Clapton, who is still alive and considered an absolute icon, Hendrix would be more highly revered and would have made people think of more than just Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and the Star Spangled Banner.
Listen to Cry of Love and it's obvious he was only still just getting started when he died.
By the way, anyone can play the Star Spangled Banner if they try, but the "Maybe not as well" part is the whole point.
Not that I'd expect posters in an acoustic forum to have much of an idea how difficult it would be for anyone, even with todays equipment, to play it with the absolute control he did.
Love Clapton, but mostly as a result of his more recent playing in live performances.
My vote goes against the grain and with Hendrix. |
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Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | I have to give a lot of credence to the guys who bring up Gilmour. Gilmour is in a class by himself when it comes to being able to make the guitar his own. He could pick up a toy Barbie doll guitar and still sound like Gilmour. He has the most gifted and unique hands of anyone. Absolutely; Pink Floyd rules...pure Strat majic...but I was posting to the question asked at the time...Jimi was a wizard on guitar...Eric is lead guitar history in the making...yes, there are many, many other great guitarists...and Gilmour has a rare touch and tone...I feel blessed to have been able to live through that period; heard most of them live; and lived to tell the tale!
Blessings... |
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Location: Las Vegas | David Cassidy... and he PLAYED ovation...
(Well, not really, in real life he played a Strat [ducking!!!])
Les
;) |
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Location: Chehalis, Washington | Keaggy & Santana both have a very unique, identifiable sound, though they're completely different from Hendrix & Clapton.
I also would think for consideration Eddie Van Halen, but I guess that would be 70's/80's and a whole different generation...guess I'm not as old as I thought I was. :D |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Yeah! You Are! :p
And Akami, I meant no disrespect.
I also play Wish You Were Here pretty well...
That doesn't make Gilmore a slouch either. |
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Location: Riverside, CA | "For my taste, these solos (of some 50s blues guitarists) are
exemplary because what is being played seems honest and, in a
musical way, a direct extension of the personality of the men
who played them." - Frank Zappa
I agree with Frank (but also including 60's blues/rock lead guitarists). Clapton may have been technically superior or more learned, but Hendrix' guitar was hard-wired to his soul. |
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| Duane Allman (just ask Clapton) |
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Location: ms | When i saw Clapton Santana was the opening act. It was kinda like Blackfoot opening up for Kiss. Kiss was just a Vegas act after watching Blackfoot. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | They're all good. |
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Location: big island | IMO, tommy emmanuel plays a better lead guitar in this video than i ever heard clapton or hendrix play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYBTRDjYSUQ
here's another one. only tommy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae70lkdAzJs&NR=1 |
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Location: big island | but to answer the poll, i chose clapton. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Between Clapton and Hendrix. Hendrix played the guitar and performed differently than anybody else at the time. He did some great stuff but was very inconsistent, probably due to the drugs. Clapton took the blues thing and brought it into the rock world better than anybody else at the time.
There are so many guitarists who did great work at the time - Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, David Gilmore, Randy California, Leslie West, Joe Walsh, Peter Banks, Johnny Winter. Lots of different styles. Lots of great rock and roll! |
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Location: ms | Well said Denignzilla. |
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Location: Japan | Originally posted by Designzilla:
Between Clapton and Hendrix. Hendrix played the guitar and performed differently than anybody else at the time. He did some great stuff but was very inconsistent, probably due to the drugs. Hendrix inconsistency was evident whether he was high or not because he wasn't afraid of taking risks and playing like the recording wasn't even a concern to him. |
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Location: North Carolina | Of those two, Clapton, without a doubt. I never did get what the big deal was with Hendrix. |
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Location: Japan | Originally posted by First Alternate:
Of those two, Clapton, without a doubt. I never did get what the big deal was with Hendrix. That's okay; Clapton did. |
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Location: NJ | Clapton.
(at least he was able to handle his drugs . . .) |
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Location: Winnipeg, CANADA | I apologize in advance because he is not an Ovation player, but Les Paul gets my vote....PBS aired a documentary on him and his life a few weeks ago, and he was so comfortable playing, he could have been sleeping....but he wasn't! !
He had magic fingers, and watching him play was kind of like watching the best ballroom dancing.....That man loves his guitar...and his guitar loves him....
Any New Yorkers out there can do something I may not get a chance to....see him on a Monday night...he's 93 or so, but he is still so amazing....
Clapton and Hendrix would have to admit that Les Paul played an important part in their lives.....since he kind of invented multi-track recording....an amazing story, and an amazing guitarist...
and on that note....I digress....
breathe, man, breathe....
:o |
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Location: Japan | Originally posted by cliff:
Clapton.
(at least he was able to handle his drugs . . .) Hendrix died of negligence in the back of an ambulance due to the attendants keeping his head tilted back while he was vomiting.
What it has to do with music I've no idea, but you felt it relevant.
Les Paul was a huge Hendrix fan, even trying to give him a break before he became famous.
Having seen him playing in a local bar he came back later to meet him and found him already gone.
A few years later when he was trying to catch up with changes in music he found a copy of Are You Experienced and recognized Hendrix.
After meeting later on he said how deserving he felt Hendrix was of his fame.
Most of the guitarists mentioned in this forum held Hendrix in high regard, but his detractors seem to feel that although they admire these other musicians, they have no respect for their opinions. |
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Location: Ky | It's really not fair to ask, which one was better, between those two. You can't help but think of Clapton in the light of everything he's done over the past 40+ years. Hendrix was just barely getting started. Maybe he would have learned to control the drugs, and go on to become the greatest ever. He certainly had the potential -or he might have peaked in the 60's & fizzled out. Not many artists can continue to be innovative and creative throughout their lives. But it's hard to judge their true greatness, when their life ends at 27.
Suffice it to say, there has never been another Jimi. He brought the electric guitar to new heights. His premature death was one of music's greatest tragedies. |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | This is like asking people what the best flavor of ice cream is. |
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Location: Vermont USA | Chocolate
Pauly |
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Location: Japan | Chocolate is good, but I have to go to Baskin & Robbins for Praline & Cream! |
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Location: big island | b&r fudge brownie/mint chocolate chip for me, please. |
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Location: Indiana | Between the two, I had to pick Clapton. Although I was a big fan of both of their music. However, like some others here, to pick the best of the 60's, it has to be George. If you wanna go back a decade or two, then it would definitly be Lester.
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Location: Chehalis, Washington | It's kind of like comparing Keith Richards & Chet Atkins...two great guitarists, yet virtually nothing alike. Chocolate and Vanilla...
Of course, Baskin Robbins would definitely be Cherries Jubilee...wow, it's been a long time since I've been there. |
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Location: Japan | To mention another great, and mostly unnoticed great from the 60's, Terry Kath. |
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Location: North Wales | I don't expect this to be a popular post, but I didn't think much of either of them. Saw Hendrix several times in the mid to late sixties - mainly on various UK tours with superior bands. He was innovative and his style was new and original, but I saw it reproduced effortlessly by many, many guitarists of the time.
Cream I enjoyed as a band, and saw then often right up to their last performance at the Albert Hall. I thought Cream were the tighter band, but a clash of egos spoilt their live performances - often resulting in noise battles. Probably Clapton was technically a better guitarist, but not the best in the UK at the time by a long way.
Probably one of the best guitarists in the sixties in the UK was Jimmy Page. |
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Location: Riverside, CA | Originally posted by Bru:
Probably one of the best guitarists in the sixties in the UK was Jimmy Page. Amen, brother. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Eddie Van Halen was like Hendrix - he took the guitar in some different directions and broke some new ground. They both influenced and inspired a bunch of players who ended up being much better than them. But you can't deny the influence their sound had on their respective eras. Stevie Ray Vaughn was influenced by a lot of people, but if Jimi hadn't come first, SRV would probably have been a different guitarist. Or at least he wouldn't have covered Voodoo Chile. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | EVERYONE is diminished by comparison. Better they should be, as the two names that started this thread, the best of themselves than live by comparison to someone else.
Likewise, those doing the comparison and using the comparison as reasonable judgment cut themselves off from the best (and worst) that we can learn from each example. |
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Location: virginia | how about MR. Ted Nugent ?
young Ted never seems to get any credit.
Ted was doing amazing stuff back in the early days.
what about Ritchie Blackmore, and Tony Iommi...i know they were late 60's...but thats still the 60's. |
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Location: Round Rock, TX | I did then, and do now, enjoy both of those guys' music. But as long as we're talking 60's guitarists...
My personal faves are Steve Howe and Robert Fripp. Some others that haven't been mentioned: Robin Trower, Pete Townsend, Sam Andrew, and Robbie Robertson. Keith Richard's solo on "Sympathy for the Devil" ranks (to me) as the most appropriate solo ever. It is absolutely diabolical.
And that's just the white guys. |
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Location: Michigan | There you have it Eric Clapton won this poll hands down.
46 votes in and Clapton has 67% of them with
31 votes to Eric Clapton
15 for Jimmy Hendrix.
Now please excuse me while I kiss the sky. GWB |
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Location: villa ridge | How can you guys compare apples and oranges? personally i like clapton, but i loooove the blues and claptons from the cradle, and sessions for robert j do it for me. on the other hand when im in the "mood" with a little help from some GREEN GRASS, driving down the road on a sunny day, im diggin some free spirited unchained sound of Hendrix. |
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Location: Japan | Originally posted by guitarwannabee:
There you have it Eric Clapton won this poll hands down.
46 votes in and Clapton has 67% of them with
31 votes to Eric Clapton
15 for Jimmy Hendrix.
Now please excuse me while I kiss the sky. GWB ...and as we all know, you just can't believe everything you see and hear,now can you...
Popular consensus; the most accurate way of giving the all important numerical rating for artistic merit. :rolleyes: |
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Location: NJ | ". . How can you guys compare apples and oranges? . ."
Because Poles are Stupid!!!
. . . uh, . . sorry LittleBoyJefferson, . . I meant to say:
POLLS are Stupid!! . . . |
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Location: Hannover | Hendrix changed the world of guitar,
Clapton just perfected the blues. |
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Location: St Louis | Duane Allman...
Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia... |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by frank p aus h:
Hendrix changed the world of guitar,
How? I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just curious what your reference point is. I agree, he definately did some very unique things.
Dave |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I'll stick this in to see if it comes off clever or stupid....
Before Chuck Berry guitar leads were either trying to emulate a saxophone or horns. Chuck Berry played stuff that could only be played on guitar - slurred clusters of notes - bending it out of shape.
Hendrix did something similar, only with the guitar effects as part of the sound/melody instead of decoration. |
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Location: NJ | To me, Hendrix had a couple of memorable performances (his version of "Like a Rolling Stone" at MontereyPop comes to mind), but devoid of the distortion and effects, he never did anything for me.
He was something "new" and "fresh" who came around at exACTly the RIGHT time (when everyone was really, really stoned). |
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Location: Rego Park, NY, | Originally posted by Tupperware:
Hell, the most famous thing Kennedy did was get himself shot. Clapton vs. Hendrix is a no contest.
Dave Dave did you forget about Marilyn? |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | mmmh.
Death by Assasination or humping marilyn monroe.
What a difficult choice ... like what kind of ice cream should I have. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | My point is/was that in the court of public hero worship, you earn major bonus points by being dead. Hendrix happened on the scene at just the right time and passed away at just the right time. Recipe for instant hero status if there ever was one. Dave |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | He couldn't have planned it better. |
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Location: NJ | . . . as did Morrison. |
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Location: Michigan | Dont any of you people read the tabloids??
Kennedy is alive and living on the 13 floor of a hospital in Texas
AND
Jim Morrison is over in England or somewhere in Europe living as a Sheep Farmer or something like that.That is the real scoop.GWB |
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Location: Hannover | Originally posted by Tupperware:
Originally posted by frank p aus h:
Hendrix changed the world of guitar,
How? I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just curious what your reference point is. I agree, he definately did some very unique things.
he did to music what bebop did to jazz, opening harmonical frontiers, or what impressionism or rather expressionism did to painture, allowing emotional expression to overcome formal rules, and he used the guitar as the brush to fullfill it. Maybe he was not the only one doing it, but I can't remember someone who did it earlier. |
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Location: DC Metro | I don't think it's possible to say who the "best" really is at anything and at any point in time. I really enjoy listening to both of their stuff from the '60s, but overall think that Jimi was by far the more innovative and masterful player. Personal opinion only, not right nor wrong. Both helped move guitar playing to another level in a major way. |
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Location: enid, ok | No Roy Buchanan or Alvin Lee? C'mon guys...And, at least Glen Campbell played an ovation. He played a lot of them. I remember as a kid seeing some music awards show. At one point, George Benson and Glen Campbell traded licks on some jazz-like tune, Glen on a 12-string solidbody. After that, I really respected him as a player.
Ovation LTD, Carvin 135T, customized Ibanez 1620 Prestige, Fernandes Revolver Pro |
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August 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I'd say the all-around best player in the '60s was Mike Bloomfield. But there really was no best guitar player. Every one had their strong and weak points. Hendrix probably played more than all the other guys put together, and played better rhythm than anybody else. The problem was, he usually didn't want to. He could do more things with a guitar than anybody else when he wanted to. He probably did nothing but play jams and play hookey to play guitar when he was a kid, did nothing but jam in the army, and even afterward. In fact you can see that what he really does with his records (except for Are You Experienced?) is duplicate a jam session with his buddies--explaining why he preferred Billy Cox on bass, for example, over Noel Redding. Ironically, though he had more raw ability, he couldn't seem to figure out how to put it to good use (and after 1968, was too stoned to care). Hendrix had quite a bit more speed than Clapton. Clapton could not play rhythm like Hendrix could (and still can't), and Clapton doesn't have the fiery speed that he had when he chose to use it (usually not)-- and Clapton never did. But Clapton in his early days was close. Clapton had enough speed to do what he needed to do when he needed to do it, and that was good enough. Listen to the Bluesbreakers album or the live stuff from Goodbye adnd you'll se what I'm talking about. Hendrix really could not play melody, which is not the same thing as saying he wasn't melodic (he was). Clapton's playing had a sense of melody, a sense of development, a sense of dynamics, that Hendrix never had. You got the sense that Clapton could play one song for an hour and be satisfying, because three minutes from now the movement would be completely different (that ended when Cream broke up). You never got that out of Hendrix. With Hendrix, you get basically the same progression developed with a fair bit of dynamics up to a maximum of about 7 minutes. And then to do something different, Hendrix has to do a different song. He could absolutely incredible things in that amount of time, but he could be bad, mediocre, really good, fantastic, and mind-blowing all in the span of 20 minutes-and there seemed to be absolutely no reason for the difference. His performance at Woodstock is a great example of this. So for long overall listen-ability, the balance swings over to Clapton. Clapton was at least consistent in those days--all of his performances from that period--at least the live ones--are good, some absolutely great, with a pretty consistent quality. He could be totally apathetic in the studio. On the Wheels of Fire studio tracks he basically just checked in and rested on his laurels. Hendrix was just the opposite. He was more likely to be excited in the studio or club and apathetic onstage. On the live Experience tour of the US in 1968, you can feel that Hendrix just wants to get off the stage--he's bored. And his recordings--Are You Experienced? and Electric Ladyland are great, but Axis is awful, and the stuff he was working on before he died--well, in his pre-acid days, Jimi would never have put out. It's actually pretty bad. Bloomfield had a style that was completely different from both Clapton and Hendrix--so there was quite an abundance of different styles and sounds in the '60s from today, when everyone is a Stevie Ray Vaughan-abee. Bloomfield's best work is the first side of Supersession, the first Electric Flag album, Dylan's Highway 61, and two tracks on the first Butterfield album. On East-West he seems mainly interested in the two main jams. But he could be just as erratic as Hendrix. The live versions of East-West are so bad they should have never been put out. After Super Session he just checked out. There were great moments after that, but that was the problem--they were just moments. Sure there was WDIA, but practically nothing else. For sheer tone and speed and blues feel, Bloomfield was Clapton's equal and Clapton knew it--even if Bloomfield didn't, and Bloomfield's tone was completely different from Clapton's. Bloomfield represented a direction rock guitarist really didn't explore much until the arrival of Santana.
So each of them had something the other guy lacked--and that's just as true of guitarists today.
And as far as plain speed goes, not one of them could compete with Alvin Lee of Ten years After, who's largely forgotten today--perhaps for good reason. He really didn't have any sense of tone, dynamics, development, rhythm playing, weird sounds, or anything, that the others had. He really just had speed.
And the best guitarist from those days who's still around? Easily Jeff Beck--who in many ways is a lot better now than he was then. |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I meant to say, "the first Butterfield album, and two tracks on East-West," not "two tracks on the first Butterfield album." |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 14
Location: Hannover | Originally posted by Ninurta:
And the best guitarist from those days who's still around? Easily Jeff Beck--who in many ways is a lot better now than he was then. ...yes, listened to some material recently that produced a (re-)new(-de) Beck-Fan. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | Jeff beck has always been one of my favorites. His music keeps evolving but his style always comes through. IMHO nobody uses the whammy bar better. |
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BEST LEAD GUITAR PLAYER OF THE 60S HENDRIX OR CLAPTON???