ERIC CLAPTON: FROM THE ALBUM UNPLUGGED
Signature Licks Book/CD

Learn the techniques Clapton used on his best-selling acoustic album. Covers 14 songs: Alberta · Before You Accuse Me (Take a Look at Yourself) · Hey Hey · Layla · Lonely Stranger · Malted Milk · Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out · Old Love · Rollin' and Tumblin' · Running on Faith · San Francisco Bay Blues · Signe · Tears in Heaven · Walkin' Blues.

Inventory #HL 695250
Book/CD $24.95 (US)

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton has had a hand in so many phases of rock and blues music since the mid-1960s that it’s hard to exaggerate his impact: just do a search of "Clapton" on this website and see for yourself. In the nearly 40 years since he went pro, Clapton has made it his purpose to infuse rock music with the blues, from the raw and the loud to the soft and the subtle.

He was still a teen when he joined the Yardbirds in 1963, and would earn a reputation as a blues purist for later quitting them for being too commercial. In 1965 he did one album with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and initiated a wave of "Clapton is God" graffiti. Restless, he then formed Cream in 1966 with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, inventing the power trio in hard rock.

Following Cream and the shortlived Blind Faith, Clapton battled heroin addiction but managed to record the now-classic Layla & Other Assorted Lovesongs with Derek and the Dominoes. He then settled into a laid-back period of bluesy solo albums throughout the ‘70s (most of them underappreciated today) before scoring big with Slowhand in 1977. In the ‘80s, the hits were slower in coming but he maintained his title as rock’s premier bluesman with numerous tours and projects.

In 1992 his career took an acoustic turn with the smash Unplugged, featuring the ballad for his lost son, "Tears In Heaven," and he followed this with his blues-only From the Cradle in 1994. Since then, Clapton has assumed his place in the pantheon of rock deities as an elder statesman of the blues. He has the distinction of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times: for the Yardbirds, Cream, and his solo work.

Click below for Clapton's full biography:

DEREK AND THE DOMINOES: LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS
Guitar Recorded Versions

Anyday · Bell Bottom Blues · Have You Ever Loved a Woman · I Am Yours · I Looked Away · It's Too Late · Keep on Growing · Key to the Highway · Layla · Little Wing · Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out · Tell the Truth · Thorn Tree in the Garden · Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?

Inventory #HL 2500336
Book $10.95 (US)

Guitar: Primarily known as a Fender Stratocaster player since 1970, he does alternate with a Gibson Les Paul. His famous "Blackie" Strat was actually a composite of three different Strats assembled by Eric himself. He played a Telecaster with the Yardbirds, and Gibson Les Pauls, SG, ES-335, and Firebird with Cream.

Action: 1/8" all the way down the neck.

Amps: Vox AC-30 in the early days, switching to ever more powerful Marshalls in the mid to late ‘60s. Played a tweed Fender Champ during Derek and the Dominoes.

Strings: Light. Ernie Ball Super Slinky: .009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042. (Also uses Slinky, or .010s.) Normally changed only when one breaks; occasionally three high strings changed.

Click below for full details on Clapton's gear: