Eric Clapton

For a guitar player, I don't really listen to a lot of guitar players. All my favorite music is pretty much guitar-based, but you'll rarely catch me listening to Jeff Beck or Derek Trucks. It's not because I don't like them--I do. I just don't connect with them. The one guitar player I really connect with is Eric Clapton. I love Hendrix, and Stevie's cool, too, but Eric Clapton...There's just something about him.

I went through a huge Cream phase, and I mean HUGE. I learned like..16 songs in a month one time. I don't think I've ever done that with any other artist before. Well, maybe Billy Joel, but still. I was a Cream fanatic. I still am, I'm just running out of songs to learn.

Anyway, back to Eric. I didn't notice until my teacher pointed it out the other day that I rarely use my pinky when I play. She said, 'You're a Clapton fan, aren't you?' I said yeah. 'I can tell because you don't use your pinky.' I had never noticed that, but it makes perfect sense. I've spent hours and hours watching him play, it's only natural that I copy my favorite player. He didn't need it, he didn't use it.

So instead of working on what I'm supposed to be, I've been relearning Cream songs for the past hour or so. Brings back a lot of great memories to say the least.

Clapton is God.