Eric Clapton Quotes

Very much like that, and very much a loner, do you know and I didn't fit really into sport or all kind of group activities as a kid, I couldn't find a niche. And music was not really part of the kind of village curriculum it would, you know.

It was stumbling on to really the bible of the blues, you know, and a very powerful drug to be introduced to us and I absorbed it totally, and it changed my complete outlook on music.

I have always been resistant to doctrine, and any spirituality I had experienced thus far in my life had been much more abstract and not aligned with any recognized religion. For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music. It cannot be manipulated, or politicized, and when it is, that becomes immediately obvious.

But the guitar, when you think about it, is the most versatile, really. I mean you can pick it up and take it with you wherever you go.

The music scene as I look at it today is a little different from when I was growing up. The percentages are roughly the same - 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure.

I feel wonderful because I see the love light in your eyes, and the wonder of it all is you just don't realize how much I love you.

I've always wanted the sound of Muddy Waters' early records - only louder

There's a desire in me to express something - to match what I hear in my head.

When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it's a pretty honorable position to be in.

An obsession is where something will not leave your mind.

So there I was in Hollywood, thinking I was doing good.

In playing, I suppose my greatest gift was to express the way I felt or the willingness to express myself.

I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist.

Well, I think part of my gift, or if I have one, is that I love listening.

A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America.

The toughest thing about being a celebrity, I suppose, is being polite when I don't want to be.

Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I'd rather lie around. No contest.

Musically, he was like an old man in a boy's skin.

I remember hearing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and not really knowing anything about the geography or the culture of the music. But for some reason it did something to me - it resonated.

I often enjoy singing in an acoustic setting more than an amplified one.

I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy.

The Yardbirds came in to the Crawdaddy Club a week after the Stones finished their Sunday night residency. They had done it for almost a year, I think, and then we did it for a year. It was better when they were playing there because when they went they took half the crowd with them and it took us quite a while to build up our own following.

Plant your love and let it grow.

Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.

The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn't really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it.

It's been very important throughout my career that I've met all the guys I've copied, because at each stage they've said, 'Don't play like me, play like you.'

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.

The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible.

I wish I could write easily. I'm one of those guys who's visited by the muse when things are dire.

My driving philosophy about making music is that you can reduce it all down to one note if that note is played with the right kind of sincerity.

When I was in Nashville, Tennessee in 1970 with Derek and the Dominoes, I went into this shop and they had a rack of Strats and Teles - all going for $100.00 each. I bought a handfull and made Blackie out of the body from one, the neck from another, and so on

Loose ladies on the road will drive you crazy, every no, becomes a maybe.

Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.

Whatever your standing in life, the most important thing is behaving in ways that help other people. It's the same with music. I am a servant of the music ... and if I get caught up in ego, I'll lose everything .. it'll burn and that's a guarantee.

They found our hero in the gutter with a diamond ring and a gun.

It's very dependent on your state of mind. And your emotional state as well. And a lot of it comes pouring out, you don't really have that much control with it.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in Heaven?

I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn't seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it.

I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men.

Only ask and you will get what you are needing, the rest is up to you.

I tried when I was 13, when my grandparents gave me an acoustic guitar, and I tried for a year. It hurt so much to play. I mean, the fingertips hurt so much, I gave up.

I couldn't believe how good Jimi Hendrix was It was a really difficult thing for me to deal with, but I just had to surrender and say, 'This is fantastic.'

Leave bands, go back to obscurity if I choose to, without a great sense of loss of security because it's all been based on the fact that I did it on my own or was doing, enjoying doing it on my own in the first place.

I just like the company of beautiful women. I have a weakness in that department.

There are people these days who can do things on the guitar which are beyond my reach. There's one guy who plays with Queen who can do things I would dream of doing. I sincerely mean that.

To sing in a lower key is harder work. You have to use your diaphragm more.

One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma.

I always respected that B.B. sees music in a very open, free way.