The guitar skills of Eddie Van Halen were so astounding and assured that classic rock heroes quickly became dethroned idols as he burst onto the scene and rose swiftly to the top.
To him, Jimi Hendrix was “too sloppy”, Rick Derringer was a rip-off who he chastised by demanding that he stop playing “my melody”, and “contemporary music” was something he quit listening to a long time before even the hair metal explosion rose up around him. But there was one fellow who he did revere: Eric Clapton.
Of course, he’s not alone in this regard. Hendrix went so far as to hail Clapton as “just too much” in the best possible way, BB King listed him among the greats, and half of London called him “God” for a period in the 1960s. However, of all the plaudits that the Cream guitarist received, those asserted by the fuzzy-haired force behind ‘Eruption’ were perhaps the most glowing.
Like Lou Reed, EVH was more likely to dish out a slap around the chops than a compliment. With his signature sound cut-up and copied by a coterie of incapable cling-ons in the era of tired, second-hand showiness, he was perhaps justified to feel so aggrieved. Although maybe he took things a little too far when he bought a bloody tank.
Yet, he was all too happy to go all doe-eyed and revisit the halcyon days of his youth when he would jam along to Clapton records. It seemed the ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ strummer brought out a rare sentimental side in EVH. After moving over to Pasadena, California, from the Netherlands with his family when he was seven, the sound of Clapton was the first pulse of rock ‘n’ roll that he heard, and it set his imagination racing.
Suddenly, a new life in new lands stretched out ahead, and he had one hero guiding the way. “Clapton was it,” he told Guitar World. “I knew every note he played. That’s what I was known for around home. Me, Alex, and another bass player called ourselves Mammoth and we were the junior Cream.”
This intimacy with Clapton’s work from such a young age makes EVH’s appraisal of it all the more noteworthy. So, when he told Guitar Player about the two stand-out moments in Clapton’s discography, it essentially represented the apprentice hailing the master’s finest work at a point in 1978 when they had emerged as the one and two in the whole classic rock cannon.
Eric Clapton’s greatest solos, according to Eddie Van Halen
‘I’m So Glad’
The Details: Originality written by bluesman Skip James in 1927, Clapton reprised this sparse Delta lick for Goodbye, the live Cream album from 1969 (yep, that’s the same one often referred to as Live Cream).
Why is ‘I’m So Glad’ so good: While the lick might be a classic, typically it is sparse. However, Clapton, without bastardising the spacious bluesy beauty of the original, embellishes it with a fresh dynamic edge, rolling through a rapid pentatonic. He heavily blends notes so that the E Minor mainstay is gorgeously subverted. And his ‘double stops’ give it his signature distinctiveness.
What did Eddie Van Halen have to say: Aside from naming it one of Clapton’s two greatest moments, he went as far to say that every rock fan worth their salt should be a fan of it. ”Listen to ‘I’m So Glad’ on Goodbye Cream,” he said. ”If that doesn’t blow your f**king mind, I don’t know what will.” On another occasion, he said it epitomised what he loved about Clapton’s “mind-blowing” work, and it’s easy to see how the ecstatic complexity influenced his work.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9NkaZJrbf0Y
‘Spoonful’
The Details: Another blues classic, but this time it’s one that edges closer to rock ‘n’ roll. It was originally written by Willie Dixon in 1959 and first recorded by the great Howlin’ Wolf during a Chess Records session, before eventually ending up on two Cream albums: Fresh Cream in 1966, and a live version from 1968 on Wheels of Fire.
Why is ‘I’m So Glad’ so good: Well, it’s the live version that EVH reveres the most, and for that thrilling rendition, Clapton stretches things out for 16 minutes. During that time, there isn’t an ounce of sloppiness; he’s just a conduit to pure expression. While the spacing and ‘build-up’ of the composition are exceptional – once again flitting around with pentatonics – what really makes this stand out is the unique amp and tone configuration, showcasing his complete knowledge of all things guitar.
What did Eddie Van Halen have to say: Well, it’s a solo that he learnt “note-for-note”, and perhaps more than any other piece of music, you can see how it defined his own playing. The call-and-response phrasing that Clapton deployed is something EVH would make his own. But while this was measurable, what he truly loved about it was the je ne sais quoi you could only define as emotion. “There’s always a difference between a person who has the feel and those who don’t,” he said.
Later, he would even remark, “I haven’t heard anyone do a long, interesting guitar solo outside of early Clapton.” Adding, “With his feel, he’d hit one note where someone else would hit 20.”
