Tokaigeezer ? thanks for the stuff on George Gruhn etc. Yes, just quoting you on Mike Bloomfield ?? could be parochialism on Gruhn's part, I think, in him rooting for an American over a Brit?.? ? ha, I wasn?t going to put it those words in case it offended anyone ? but I think Bloomfield?s role has been investigated many times & result is that Mike only started using the Les Paul several months after Beano was released (& of course Clapton had been seen/heard using that LP for some time before Beano came out) ? I can?t confirm that for sure from my own research, but lots of discussion on Les Paul forum & elsewhere.
Of course, story is that Clapton only bought the LP after seeing early photos of Freddie King with a 1950?s Goldtop-P90, so Clapton was hardly the first to use a Les Paul for electric Blues tones ? in fact Keith Richard had used a Burst with Humbuckers around 1963-64 with the Stones. And it may be that the real influence was some complete unknown guy, eg Clapton may have seen/heard someone else with a Les Paul around 64-65.
But I guess the real influential factor was not just the guitar, it was the tone Clapton produced using the Les Paul through a Marshall JTM45, plus his playing technique which inc. a lot of pick attack & very odd picking patterns ? it was the combination of all three, the amp, the guitar, & Clapton?s playing which fired public attention.
Nowadays, anyone under say 40 is liable to forget how influential Clapton was (especially that record), and maybe it?s easy for younger guys to overlook that, but Claptons role is absolutely pivotal ? he was/is enormously important ? and his early playing with Mayall was simply staggering.
I don?t know if anyone here heard it, but last month there was a very interesting two hour interview with Clapton on BBC radio (part of the run-up to recent Cream Reunion concerts) ? interview contained masses of interesting stuff, often with frank revelations about drugs & drink etc., ? but most interesting to me was his answers to basic Question ?how did you first get interested in Guitar, when did you get you first guitar, what happened then??. :-?
Ian.
Of course, story is that Clapton only bought the LP after seeing early photos of Freddie King with a 1950?s Goldtop-P90, so Clapton was hardly the first to use a Les Paul for electric Blues tones ? in fact Keith Richard had used a Burst with Humbuckers around 1963-64 with the Stones. And it may be that the real influence was some complete unknown guy, eg Clapton may have seen/heard someone else with a Les Paul around 64-65.
But I guess the real influential factor was not just the guitar, it was the tone Clapton produced using the Les Paul through a Marshall JTM45, plus his playing technique which inc. a lot of pick attack & very odd picking patterns ? it was the combination of all three, the amp, the guitar, & Clapton?s playing which fired public attention.
Nowadays, anyone under say 40 is liable to forget how influential Clapton was (especially that record), and maybe it?s easy for younger guys to overlook that, but Claptons role is absolutely pivotal ? he was/is enormously important ? and his early playing with Mayall was simply staggering.
I don?t know if anyone here heard it, but last month there was a very interesting two hour interview with Clapton on BBC radio (part of the run-up to recent Cream Reunion concerts) ? interview contained masses of interesting stuff, often with frank revelations about drugs & drink etc., ? but most interesting to me was his answers to basic Question ?how did you first get interested in Guitar, when did you get you first guitar, what happened then??. :-?
Ian.
