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THE TRUTH ABOUT: Slowhand - The Untold Story

Why Jeff Beck said no to replacing Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers: “He called my mum several times. She said, ‘That John Mayall sounds very nice!’”

Beck was asked to follow Slowhand’s footsteps out of the Yardbirds and into the Bluesbreakers before he decided to go solo

Guitar World

“That’s one thing I don’t like… It’s a completely different scene”: Jimi Hendrix never understood why people pitted him against Eric Clapton

In a rare interview conducted in 1968, Hendrix offered his thoughts on the rivalry that had been forced on himself and Slowhand

Guitar World

“I let it go to voicemail. It said, ‘Hello, this is Eric Clapton. This may sound like a hoax, but it’s not’”: Slowhand tried to invite Derek Trucks onto his album with JJ Cale – but he thought it was a prank call

Trucks was in the middle of a game of poker when Clapton came calling – but he didn't answer the phone

Guitar World

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Eric Clapton ends gig early after being hit by object thrown from crowd

Slowhand didn't come out for an expected encore after he was struck in the chest by what appeared to be a vinyl record

Guitar World

“He was going to record it, so they put it on hold so nobody else could. But he didn’t actually record it”: Sheryl Crow says Don Henley told her to stop giving her songs away after she wrote a song for Eric Clapton that never got released

Will Slowhand ever release this song? It has been sitting "on hold" for him since the ’90s

Guitar World

“I said, ‘Oh, when did you get Eric Clapton to play on that?’ He said, ‘He’s not playing on it. That’s me’”: Paul McCartney guitarist Robbie McIntosh on the time he mistook John Mayer’s guitar playing for Slowhand’s

McIntosh joined Mayer’s band and played a starring role on his acclaimed live album, Where the Light Is

Guitar World

“I’m pretty sure that statement was not meant to be a compliment”: Gary Clark Jr. on the time he bumped into Eric Clapton at a show – and what Slowhand said about his tone

Joe Satriani has commented on the bluesman’s Instagram post to offer his own interpretation of the exchange

Guitar World

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“Over the past three decades, his partnership with Martin has produced some of the most sought-after signature guitars in the company’s history”: Martin recreates Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged acoustic for limited edition anniversary run

These two versions of Slowhand's pre-war 1939 acoustic were announced on his 80th birthday and celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first signature Martin

MusicRadar

“Eric, I know I can bring out something great in you”: In 1971, John Lennon wrote to Eric Clapton asking him to help form a new band – now that letter is going up for auction

Lennon sought out Slowhand as he set about establishing a new band, pitching to Clapton they could “make the kind of sound that could bring back the balls in rock 'n' roll”

Guitar World

“We got a bang on the door and it was Eric's security. That was embarrassing – he might have thought it was me making this racket”: That time Ritchie Blackmore disturbed Eric Clapton by cranking Marshalls in a hotel at 3am

Blackmore decided to protest some noisy hotel maintenance with some equally noisy guitar antics. Unfortunately, Slowhand was in the room next door…

Guitar World

His musical career has taken him from blues to pop, reggae, country and back again as we hone in 4 key chords from the career of old Slowhand himself to help you mine some inspiration for yourself

D major triad of your love

MusicRadar

Zany polar bears and a '3-headed' giraffe star in Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Nikon release its best entries so far for the Comedy Wildlife Awards 2024.

LiveScience

"For me it was either the beginning of the beginning or the beginning of the end": the night Eric Clapton guested with Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall and changed his career

"I can never repay him for what he did because he came out and did something that turned my career around"

MusicRadar

Eric Clapton on Robert Johnson: "When I was younger, Hellhound used to frighten me when I listened to it. The idea that he was really singing about being pursued by demons was too much for me – for a while I really couldn’t deal with it"

Classic interview: When Slowhand revisited Robert Johnson's legacy in 2004 we caught the bluesman in candid mode – "Robert Johnson wasn’t entertainment. When I first heard him I had a very hard time listening to him, because it demanded something of me"

MusicRadar

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Eric Clapton pays tribute to Robbie Robertson in rare interview: "He was the visionary. I have no doubt that he wrote all those songs"

Slowhand isn't talking to mainstream journalists anymore – but one YouTuber has become a trusted outlet for his thoughts

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