If thats boring than we should all quit playing guitar.

How could you not recognize that in two notes, it's the same arrangement he's used for forty years, going back to "Layla and other assorted love songs"(in my opinion the greatest rock album ever made).



I just don't get saying Eric Clapton is boring, he's still making great albums.

I feel that he's boring primarily because he's... well... boring.

to be honest i've only ever heard the title track from that album. 40 years of playing Little Wing in a way that sounds so little like the original that they have to start singing for it to be recognized isn't exactly what i'd call a worthwhile cover of what's considered one of Hendrix most recognizable GUITAR pieces.

@RezZ - i like you and all but seriously dude. hearing Clapton singing 'I Shot the Sheriff' is offensive on the same level as middle class suburban white kids talking like they're from the ghetto because they listen to Eminem and Jay-Z.

the whole point of the song is a rebellion by the Jamaicans against cultural oppression from the British. that's the whole point of 'shooting the sheriff, but not killing the deputy'. the sheriff would have been a white colonist forcing a Jamaican to police his peers for the more 'civilized' European laws. Clapton WISHES he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but his family would have most definitely been a sheriff. he's most definitely not a deputy.

it's not some feel good hippie jam so some upper class brit can completely miss the point of the tune so he can wank out some more blues licks. it's a tune Rage Against the Machine should have covered on Renegades.

I actually posted that because of that guitar solo. Its probably one of my all time favorites. I just couldn't find a video of only that. Its fantastic, and his phrasing/dynamics are beautifully done.

I see your point, but I see the song at face value. Clapton is clearly a big Marley fan and just because he is not a particular type of person doesn't mean he cant make his own version of a song. Now correct if im misinterpreting but what I got from your post was that if your not in any way similar to the content of the song/artist then you have no right covering it.

You should do yourself a favor and give the Layla album a listen, it's the best rock album ever in my opinion.

As far as "Little Wing" goes I think when an artist covers a song they should put their own stamp on it much like how Jimi Hendrix changed the sound of "All Along The Watchtower".

I don't find it offensive that he covered the song, I don't really think it should matter who it is performing a song if it's well done. But I don't like it simply because it's boring as hell. Nine minutes of guitar masturbation does not automatically equal great artistic expression, that's for sure.

I agree with Jedey partially, Layla is a good album.

A 4 minute solo is just masturbation...? That means 50% of most blues players are just masturbating day in and day out.

The preferable nomenclature would be "wanking" :) IMO, EC's innovative period was the 60's and early 70's. That time frame saw him determined to alter his sound from album to album. He developed a purist sound into a really stinging and full tone with the Bluesbreakers, and then evolved into a harsher aggressive tone with Cream, then scaled back to a much more mellow psychedelic style with Blind Faith, then revived his Bluesbreakers style with the Dominoes for his last hurray. He's always been great technically since, just not as interesting to me as he was in the early days.