Eric Clapton famous quotes

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Philosophy #Driving #Kind

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Dream #Queens #Mean

For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.
-- Eric Clapton

#Music #Philosophical #Feet

It's been up to me to inspire me.
-- Eric Clapton

#Inspire

I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.
-- Eric Clapton

#Mean #Guitar #People

I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist.
-- Eric Clapton

#Guitarist

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Mean #Thinking #Guitar

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Doctrine #Spirituality #Trustworthy

Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.
-- Eric Clapton

#Risk #Trying #Powerless

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

#Boys #Men #Skins

I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together.
-- Eric Clapton

#Blow #Together #Jam

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

#Thinking #Listening #Wells

From the beginning, I knew intuitively that if nothing else, music was safe, and that nobody could tell me anything about it. Music didn't need a middleman, whereas all the other things in school needed some kind of explanation.
-- Eric Clapton

#Music #School #Needs

When I look for what I'm going to listen to I go backwards. I'm always going the other way you see. Most people are trying to figure out 'how do I get in the fast lane going that way?'. I'm going in the other direction. I wanna find the oldest thing to do.
-- Eric Clapton

#Player #People #Trying

I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.
-- Eric Clapton

#Art #Water #Littles

My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it.
-- Eric Clapton

#Two #Musical #Mind

Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it's the last time.
-- Eric Clapton

#Guitar #Play #Lasts

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

#Water #Sound #Records

... when I saw Jimi Hendrix I knew immediately that this guy was the real thing ... and when he played it was like a rough sketch of what he was going to become ... this guy was our generation, and he wasn't in a suit .. he played a Howlin' Wolf song 'Killing Floor', and then we (The Cream) had to carry on the set. It was pretty hard to follow ...
-- Eric Clapton

#Music #Song #Real

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Responsibility #Guy #Gone

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Guitar #Waiting #Singing

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Father #Loneliness #Sadness

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
-- Eric Clapton

#Nashville #Tennessee #Body

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.'
-- Eric Clapton

#Believe #Surrender #Fantastic

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

#Way #Willingness

I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life.
-- Eric Clapton

#Solitude #Quiet

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

#Suffering #Needs #Helping

Yeah, it is, because it's a real discovery of your inner resources, you know. That's what my character is all about and what my playing is all about. But to get up there and just go inside and draw out something that makes you feel good first and foremost.
-- Eric Clapton

#Real #Character #Discovery

Music became a healer for me.
-- Eric Clapton

#Healer

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

#Desire

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.
-- Eric Clapton

#Judging #Looks #Look At Yourself

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.
-- Eric Clapton

#Mean #America #People

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.'
-- Eric Clapton

#Funny #Inspiring #Play

Plant your love and let it grow.
-- Eric Clapton

#Romantic #Plant #Grows

If you hand me a guitar, I'll play the blues. That's the place I automatically go.
-- Eric Clapton

#Guitar #Hands #Play

Music became a healer for me. And I learned to listen with all my being. I found that it could wipe away all fear and confusion...
-- Eric Clapton

#Confusion #Wipe #Found

I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter.
-- Eric Clapton

#Spiritual #Art #Strong

It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I've come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation.
-- Eric Clapton

#Sex #Ideas #Sound