I’ve always wanted the sound of Muddy Waters’ early records – only louder
ERIC CLAPTONAnd I don’t like having my picture taken. I’m almost like an old African in that sense. I think it steals a bit of the soul.
More Eric Clapton Quotes
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I did play a lot of fingerstyle when I first started playing. I could never really find the right combination of flatpick or fingerpick, so playing fingerstyle is really the easiest way – though it’s quite strenuous on the fingertips.
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Although they can do it all the time, you know, they’re far better than me, on a musically, on a theoretical music level. You know, they’re out of my league.
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An obsession is where something will not leave your mind.
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Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn’t a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that’ll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months.
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I mean, it didn’t matter to me that there were people, it didn’t matter that I was shy Just the sound was so captivating that it helped me to get rid of those inhibitions.
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The only planning I do is about a minute before I play. I desperately try to think of something that will be effective, but I never sit down and work it out note for note.
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Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it’s the last time.
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Give me a guitar and I’ll play; give me a stage and I’ll perform; give me an auditorium and I’ll fill it.
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Only ask and you will get what you are needing, the rest is up to you.
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I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life.
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For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.
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This moment in time, on this tour, you know, I’m discovering a lot of new things. And to be 45 and doing that, it’s a mixture of pleasure and pain, I can assure you.
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Like a fool, I fell in love with you, Turned my whole world upside down.
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Musically, he was like an old man in a boy’s skin.
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Our love will rule in this kingdom we have made.
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Lately I’ve been running on faith.
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You were at school and you were pimply and no one wanted to know you. You get into a group and you’ve got thousands of chicks there.
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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.
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For me, the most trustworthy vehicle for spirituality had always proven to be music.
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I grew up playing in clubs – that’s my spiritual stomping ground.
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It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I’ve come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation.
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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.
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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.’
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Music became a healer for me.
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I feel a real need to observe a level of propriety in what I’m handing out. Instead of me just venting or spilling my guts, I’ve got to consider how it’s going to affect people. How it’s going to affect me, as well. Because it’s like a cycle.
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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.
ERIC CLAPTON