[Slowhand] Magazine Editorial

[DeltaNick]

This month we tab a track from the album that arguably first demonstrated 
modern lead guitar tone. This sound became the basis for so much that came 
after it and, even though it really can't be "the first" -- there had been 
distorted guitars years before -- it stands as a pivotal moment for rock 
guitar.



It was 40 years ago this year that the "Beano": album appeared. In the short 
time between leaving the Yardbirds and joining John Mayall, Eric Clapton's 
playing was transformed. The restraints of his Telecasting days with the R&B 
set were immediately lifted and a new, Les Paul-powered guitarist emerged.



As Dario Cortese points out in his transcription, Clapton had made a 
gigantic mark on the guitar world a year before Hendrix came along. It was 
his fiery, speedy style with guts and vibrato that encapsulated the raw 
earthiness of the blues. No one had heard anything like it and every 
guitarist who did was both in awe, and at the same time inspired to have a 
go.



Players like Edward Van Halen, Eric Johnson and Gary Moore heard that album 
and it made them want to be guitarists too. Indeed, part of Jimi's own deal 
with manager Chas Chandler was that he'd get to meet this amazing player if 
he came to London.



Comparing Clapton to Hendrix is silly, and trying to put one above the other 
futile nonsense. To my mind it seems that Hendrix's rise to God-like status 
was partly do (sic) to the James Dean/Marilyn Monroe/John Lennon phenomenon 
(die young, stay young, become deified) and also in guitar circles because 
the next generation of players picked up on him rather than Clapton who, by 
carrying on, seemed of less musical interest.



I love Hendrix and I'm certainly not going to knock him. He had so much and 
did so much in his short time. But I would like to stand up for Clapton, a 
player to whom so much of what we hear today is owed. Think of Cream, of 
Layla, of that Bluesbreakers album and of all the great songs he's written 
recently, next time you want to confine him to the garbage can of guitardom. 
And if Tom Jones and Mick Jagger deserve one, Where's EC's knighthood?



Just for good measure, and in celebration of that sparkling period in 
British guitar playing, we've also tabbed the fantastic Communication 
Breakdown from that other Surrey Blues Mafia member, Jimmy Page; and a 
wonderful party piece from their old mucker, Sir Jeff of Beck -- Jeff's 
Boogie. Do enjoy them!



                                                                             
  (signed)//Neville Marten



(Neville Marten (Editor), "Welcome ." Guitar Techniques (UK), Summer 2006, 
p. 5).