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DARK SECRETS: 3 | Vintage Vibes

“My manager told Eric, ‘You should meet this young artist I'm working with. He's a funny guy – I think you’d like him’”: How a ’70s soft rock icon ended up recruiting Eric Clapton on his debut album

After a friend gave his demo tapes to Art Garfunkel, singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop somehow ended up in the same room as his guitar hero from Cream

Guitar World

"I'm not too struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, I never saw what was in Clapton at all". In 1975, Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore was asked for his thoughts on his peers: he did not hold back

Blackmore on Hendrix, Beck, Page, Clapton, Townshend and more

Louder

"That riff is probably the very first heavy metal riff ever": The story of the Hendrix-inspired Cream classic their label boss thought was "psychedelic hogwash"

Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love was a slow-burning success, but it inspired a generation of future rockers

Louder

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“It took me 10 or 11 takes to get the timing on the intro right. Jimi easily could have just done it”: The life and times of Dave Mason, the former Traffic guitarist who made a habit of playing on iconic tracks

The Traffic guitarist’s best work of the ’60s and ’70s was magical, but the stop/start nature of his career held him off household-name status

Guitar World

"Ma, I'm real sick. I need help. I got to come home": The trauma and triumph of Stevie Ray Vaughan

After almost dying at a London show, Stevie Ray Vaughan was given two weeks to live - it was the wake-up call he needed

Louder

‘I’ve only been addicted to two things – funk and praise’: Eddie Marsan’s honest playlist

The actor dances his insecurities away and wells up at a particular Eric Clapton song. But which double act brings out his inner cockney?

The Guardian - UK

“I knew about it for years. I couldn’t tell anyone”: Eric Clapton's ‘Summersburst’ Les Paul – used on Cream's debut album – has finally been unearthed after 60 years

From England to New York and Paris, the 1960 Les Paul Standard Clapton used on Cream’s game-changing debut is now being brought to the masses of guitar aficionados, thanks to Matthieu Lucas of Matt’s Guitar Shop

Guitar World

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"We were playing to capacity crowds, six or seven nights a week, everywhere we went. So we figured something was about to happen." The story of 1966, the year that built rock

Before 1966, the blues was tired, worn out and unsexy. But then Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Jimi Hendrix created the modern guitar hero too

Louder

“I’m just not gonna tell you which ones they are, and I don’t think you’ll know”: John Mayer says he has already used his signature Neural DSP plugin on record – but on which songs?

Your guess is as good as ours, but it was one of 5 things we learned from the superstar's demo video of his Archetype plugin suite

MusicRadar

“Can't wait to celebrate 90 years of living, loving, and playing the blues”: Buddy Guy's 90th birthday party could be the gig of the year – and Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Joe Bonamassa are all invited

The guitar maverick is turning 90, and he's celebrating with what he does best – a one-of-a-kind bonanza bringing together the top names in blues

Guitar World

Rock's 20 greatest one-album wonders: The bands that made one album then vanished

They came, they saw, they disappeared – these are the bands who made one perfect album then split up

Louder

"Everybody was leaning over the banisters to listen to this guy sitting in the corner of the club playing. They were enthralled.” This is what happened when Jimi Hendrix landed in London for the first time

When Hendrix arrived in the UK in 1966, the rock world tilted on its axis and he shot from unknown to superstar and changed everything

Louder

“Eric Clapton isn’t God. Jack Bruce is. When I was 14 I sprayed his name on my bedroom wall in luminous paint to remind me who the greatest bass player in the world is”: Jeff Berlin on meeting his bass hero – and playing White Room alongside him

According to bass virtuoso Jeff Berlin, Jack Bruce is still the bass guitar’s most underrated innovator

Guitar World

“I have no idea what the first song I learned was. My memory has been worn down by copious LSD experiments”: Billy Squier on saving his ’59 Les Paul from a fire, the world’s greatest Marshall and why he stopped practicing

The man behind The Stroke and Lonely Is the Night checks in to talk all things guitar, imposter syndrome and the enduring appeal of his 1960 Tele Custom

Guitar World

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"People used to say to me, 'Oh, you're better than Eric Clapton.' I didn’t know where to put myself." The triumph and tragedy of Peter Green, the man who founded Fleetwood Mac

Peter Green was one of the greatest guitarists of the late 60s British blues boom – but he never truly conquered his demons

Louder

"An album that in the late 60s was the gold standard for broad-based and improvisational rock." Cream's classic studio/live double album Wheels Of Fire has been pumped full of hot air

The super deluxe version of Cream's Wheels Of Fire: Now available in triple vinyl or quintuple CD

Guitar World

“Clapton in Crossroads, Gilmour in Comfortably Numb and Peter Green in Black Magic Woman… all have their own take on how they approach rhythms in the phrasing”: The secret to great guitar solos isn’t technique – it’s rhythm

All the greats put themselves into their phrasing, and that identity was not only note choice but rhythm. Here are four ways you can add rhythmic interest to great effect

Guitar World

“I found myself sitting next to Keith Richards – just two guys playing the guitar. Doesn’t get much better than that!” From Eric Clapton to Daft Punk and Avenged Sevenfold, Greg Leisz has played with everyone. But don’t call him a session guitarist

He says finding himself working with Matthew Sweet, k.d. lang, and Lucinda Williams has been a dream. But he still wants his stolen ’64 Strat back

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"Are you a guitarist too?" The day that rock legends Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Brian May and Jeff Beck met Queen Elizabeth II

"It doesn’t matter at all that she did not know who we are"

Guitar World

“I was on the way to Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival and I got a DM from John Mayer…” Tom Misch on the time his guitar hero reached out of the blue and offered to join him on stage

The jazz-funk guitar star was on his way to play the Crossroads Guitar Festival when Mayer messaged him

Guitar World

“He took some small songs of mine that nobody paid any attention to and turned them all into classics”: 11 cover songs that Jimi Hendrix made his own – including one that became Eric Clapton’s favorite Hendrix track

Once Hendrix turned his Stratocaster upon a song it would never be the same again. Just ask Bob Dylan

The Independent UK

Keith Richards created the most iconic riff in rock in his sleep – and other key moments from the new Rolling Stones biography

IN FOCUS: A new book about the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band traces their extraordinary history, from the notorious Altamont concert to the Rock and Roll Circus, meeting Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg, and the Redlands raid. Roisin O’Connor chooses just some of the key moments

Guitar World

“You’re not going to get the perfect guitar just because it’s old and cool and original and worth money”: Eric Johnson tells us why vintage is not always best (even if he regrets selling his ’54 Strat)

The guitar-tone guru reflects on the instruments that have passed through his hands, and offers some advice for anyone shopping for a new guitar

Guitar World

“I had a little too much Jack Daniels and went to sleep. Early the next morning, I woke up to Eric and George playing ukuleles at the foot of my bed”: The first time session pro George Terry met a Beatle

Terry was Clapton's guitarist in the 1970s, and through Slowhand he was able to meet a particularly famous face

Louder

From Cream and Velvet Revolver to Them Crooked Vultures and Temple Of The Dog, these are the best supergroups in rock history

Some supergroups just aren't worth the sum of their parts. These are the exceptions

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