The guitarist Eric Clapton said he has been copying all his life

With more than six decades in the music business, Eric Clapton has had an extremely prolific career, not only as a solo artist, but also through his work with The Yardbirds, John Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith and his own band, Derek and the Dominos. He has sold an estimated amount of 100 million records worldwide and is the only musician to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times.

Over the decades, he has spoken about many of his peers and once named one whom he admitted to be “copying” all his life.

The guitarist Eric Clapton said he has been copying all his life

The guitar player that Eric Clapton said he was copying all his life was Freddie King, late legendary American Blues man. “My kind of scholarship in a way, like being at school, to find out where it started (The Blues). I would go back to Muddy Waters, to all the people that came from Mississippi, Chicago and try to examine it and learn every aspect of it. I think that’s what is fascinating about guitar playing, the blues, Rhythm & Blues and Rock and Roll.”

“There isn’t a record made that has any soul that didn’t come out of the Blues. (…) It was very scary but incredibly exciting (to meet the old Blues players). All I could do was to play like them, especially people like Freddie King. I copied him all my life and here he was on stage with me and what could I do? That’s when was really hard to come up with something of my own,” Clapton told Hege Duckert in 1989 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

As the British musician said, he had the chance to meet and play with Freddie King in the 70s. He also helped him to get a record deal with RSO Records. The result was the album “Burglar”, on which Clapton played the guitar in the track “Sugar Sweet“. During that session he and his band also recorded three other songs with King, which were released later. That was the penultimate album released by Freddie King, who passed away in 1976 at the age of 42.

Clapton’s favorite Freddie King song

The track “I Love The Woman” was released in 1960 by King as the b-side of the single “Hide Away”. Eric Clapton told Uncut in 2004 that it was one of his favorite songs. In an interview in 2015 to promote his tribute album to J.J. Cale, the British musician mentioned that song when talking about life changing moments.

(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “I remember the day that Delaney Bramlett gave me the 45 (Record) of ‘After Midnight’ with ‘Slow Motion’ on the other side. There are radical moments (in your life). It’s just like the first time that I heard ‘That I’ll Be The Day’ by Buddy Holly, ‘I Love the Woman’ by Freddie King or “Standing at the Crossroads” (Elmore James). These moments…,” he said.

Hearing that King song, showed Eric Clapton for the first time the lead guitar style with bent notes. According to him, King was one of the guitar players he was “channeling”, especially in the early days of his career. It was something crucial for him to finally come up with his own style later on. “I was channeling music. I was channeling what I heard on record by people that I was following, trying to learn from”.”

“(So) I was melding all those guys into some new shape. And I think people liked that. Maybe people projected stuff onto that. But for me I was purely trying to turn people on to what I loved: old music” he told Classic Rock in 2016.

Fredd King’s music pointed him to the right direction

Eric Clapton’s love for music started after hearing the first Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly records. However, it was after hearing Freddie King’s music that he felt “over the moon”. Also certain that it was the kind of music he wanted to make.

“I think (it was) on the early Elvis records and Buddy Holly, when it was clear to me that it was an electric guitar, (that I understood) I wanted to get near it. I was interested in the white rock ‘n’ rollers until I heard Freddie King and then I was over the moon. (Then) I knew that was where I belonged, finally. That was serious, proper guitar playing and I haven’t changed my mind ever since. I still listen to it and I get the same boost now that I did then,” he told Guitarist magazine in 1994.

Freddie King is often recalled as one of the “Three Kings of Blues Guitar”. He shares that recognition with B.B. King and Albert King.

Freddie was highly influential and known for his unique guitar playing and powerful vocals. During his career, the musician released 13 studio albums, the final one being “Larger Than Life” in 1975.

He is known for songs like “Going Down”, “Stumble”, “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “I’m Tore Down”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 by ZZ Top. Other British artists who loved Freddie’s music were Peter Green, Jeff Beck and Mick Taylor.