John Mayer’s opinion on Eric Clapton

One of the most praised and successful guitarists of his generation, John Mayer has always talked about his biggest guitar heroes and shared his opinion on many of his peers. One of those musicians is Eric Clapton, who has also praised the American guitarist. Mayer, in turn, has often spoken about Clapton’s playing and how much it has influenced him.

What is John Mayer’s opinion on Eric Clapton

“The thing about Clapton that’s important to remember as a guitar player, it’s a necessity because Clapton is lyrical. Doesn’t mean he is singing, he is playing lyrics on a guitar. Which is why housewives, people who don’t even know how many strings are on a guitar, want to listen to Clapton play the guitar. Because Clapton finds a way to play guitar in a way that hits people in the heart, not the head. He’s a lyrical guy,” John Mayer said in an interview for CMT Crossroads in 2004 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

He has been a big fan of Eric since he was a kid and remembers the first time he heard “Journeyman”, his favorite album by the British musician. He mentioned the record after the interviewer said many guitarists wanted to sound like Clapton in the song “Pretending”, from that album. “Oh, well, this is a great conversation. This speaks to what matters to you based on your age, right? This is the whole genesis of Van Halen discussions. It all has to do with how old you were when it hit you. And when I was in high school, it was ‘Pretending.’ It was ‘Bad Love.’ It was ‘Running on Faith.’”

He continued:

“If you liked guitar and you liked Eric Clapton, that’s what he was playing if you went to go see him at the New Haven Coliseum. I remember seeing kids in school on a Monday showing off their Eric Clapton T-shirts — that was a cool thing. You can’t expect someone who’s 16 years old in 1990 to understand Cream. Not yet. So what finds you if you first pick up a guitar at that time? It’s that record. That record has such a deep place in my heart,” he said in an interview with Guitar World.

Mayer had the chance to perform with Clapton several times and also record with him. He has been part of the Crossroads Festival and loves to see the British musician. “It’s always great when the stars align and I get to catch up with Eric Clapton. An exceedingly generous man. Watching him play is like getting picked up by the scruff of my neck like a kitten. I just love it. To do it in Tokyo makes it all the more special. Excited to be making an appearance at his Crossroads Festival in September,” John Mayer said on his social media in 2019 after playing with him in Japan.

Mayer said Clapton is for him was Freddie King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were to Eric

Every generation is influenced by the artists they listened to in their youth, and Clapton was deeply influenced by American Blues musicians like Freddie King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. In an interview, Mayer said that Eric means to him what those three legendary artists meant to Clapton. “He is to me what I think Freddie King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were to Eric. So it’s a really fun lineage to be a part of. Certainly I’m not saying in any way that I’m like Eric,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Curiously, session guitarist Robbie McIntosh, who has worked with Paul McCartney, the Pretenders and many others, once mistook Mayer’s playing for Eric’s. He played with John on the live album “Where the Light Is” and recalled the time he mistook one guitarist for the other. “John is an unbelievable guitar player, but playing some of the parts was quite easy – I certainly can’t play his lead stuff. Then John actually phoned me up, and I kind of put my foot in it, because I thought Eric Clapton was playing the lead guitar on, I think it was ‘Stop This Train'”.

“I said, ‘Oh, when did you get Eric to play on that?’ He said, ‘Eric’s not playing on it. That’s me.’ Just on that track, it sounded more like Eric Clapton than John Mayer. He laughed, and he said, ‘Oh, thanks, man,’” Robbie McIntosh said in an interview with Guitar.

Clapton loves Mayer’s playing

When the British guitarist made the tribute album “The Breeze: An Appreciation of J.J. Cale” in 2014, he invited John Mayer to play on the record. One of the songs he played on was “Magnolia” and at the time, in an interview, Clapton praised him.

“You see, I had no idea that John even thought that much about J.J. (Cale). I’m not really sure if I remember rightly but I think some songs were moved around. He wasn’t initially in ‘Magnolia’.”

“But by the time we got to New York, to record that’s what we had in play for him. ‘Don’t Wait’, ‘Magnolia’ and ‘Lies’. He cut all those tracks in about an hour. First or second take and I was gobsmacked, really. I mean, I respect John because he’s extremely gifted. His facility is phenomenal, he is a master and I don’t think he even knows how good he is. He nailed ‘Magnolia’, it’s so sensitive,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

During his career, John Mayer released 8 solo studio albums. The first one was back in 2001 and the most recent one in 2021. He won several Grammy Awards as a solo act and was part of Dead & Company.