Eric Clapton & his Gibson SG (1968)

Eric Clapton shows in a interview the sound and use of his psychedelic Gibson SG, his wah, woman tone, and blues skill.

[@The88Mason]

This era was so awesome, even the instruments smoked...

[@Florian-78]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@NeilsinMandela08]

does anyone else just wish this interview never ended ?

[@edisonkillingelephants]

YES, I can't even believe this footage exists so you get to see how he thinks with the guitar in his hands.

[@marcopervo]

It's rare to see such a coherent, thorough interview with rock musician from that era.

[@facugou]

That's true 😂

[@spb7883]

With the exception of Zappa, for obvious reasons

[@rafaelzengo5534]

Sometimes you're so loaded you even start to make sense

[@Baghuul]

This was before he was hooked on heroin and cocaine

[@paulchristian5375]

Yeah interviewer was quite knowledgeable with this gear

[@GlennJimenez]

2:55 That unmistakeable "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" vibrato.

[@CHlEFFIN]

YES

[@KowboySantos]

that vibrato is worth millions of dollars

[@cagethefoxtrick3852]

After listening to Clapton that's my vibrato tecnique now The best vibrato you can get is this one

[@jwjeffrey]

@@cagethefoxtrick3852 Actually Paul Kossoff had the best one, even Eric said so because he ask Kossoff how he did his vibrato and Paul said to Eric you're kidding right.

[@toonarmy2979]

@@jwjeffrey clapton had a better vibrato

[@michaelondrusek3768]

@@toonarmy2979 agreed 100% 👍

[@megadave1197]

@@jwjeffrey No way! Best vibrato was Danny Kirwan.

[@TheEpicImpaler]

How to get the Woman Tone: 1) Turn your guitar’s tone dials all the way off. 2) Place the pickup selector switch in the middle position 3) Roll the bridge pickup’s volume to about six or seven, and crank the neck pickup all the way up to 10. 4) Set the amp's volume, bass, midrange and treble all set on 10. 5) Enjoy!

[@floydian1867]

+Raul Mejia what if you're using a strat?

[@davefan16]

+floydian1 I just turn the tone knobs all the way I get a decent cream tone

[@floydian1867]

+davefan16 Thanks ^_^

[@davefan16]

floydian1 tone knobs all the way down**

[@mrJimCharles]

Use a Strat at your own risk!!!

[@ChrisHollandGuitar]

So many modern rock guitarists play his licks, maybe without even knowing it. They're inspired by guitarists who were inspired by Clapton, and his licks and approach to bluesy rock phrasing gets “handed down” from generation to generation. His contribution to rock guitar will live on forever.

[@Woozy.0]

Not to disagree with you, he took quite a few of these licks from American musicians. I give him credit in his country, but he's mostly just another brit that jacked our swag

[@Rhythmicons]

The licks Clapton stole from black blues artists...sure.

[@ChrisHollandGuitar]

@@Rhythmicons Which artists did he steal from? Any solos in particular that contain these stolen licks? It's easy to cross-reference and compare these days, when people can pull up pretty much any song within seconds. I'm curious to take a listen.

[@ChrisHollandGuitar]

@@Woozy.0 Can you give examples of who Clapton took licks from? Not a rhetorical question. Genuinely curious.

[@TheStormtrooperrr]

He stomped the shit outta those pedals!

[@SirLancelotTheBrave]

He said “Fuck this pedal in particular”

[@chromosomegun5845]

@潘卓Pan_Cho I thought they were made of rocks back then

[@andrewcruz7595]

I tried a vintage Vox Clyde Wah before and honestly you have to press it twice as hard to engage it . So compared to a modern day wah it was definitely more sturdy .

[@OrionVortexOfficial]

Eric Clapton has a love-hate relationship with his wah. "Yeah, I have to kick this to start it".. *SMACK* "Let me turn this thing off." *SMACK*

[@robbieclark7828]

Dominique Arquiza The only reason he started using it on Cream songs like Tales of Brave Ulysses and White Room was to one-up Hendrix, who had started experimenting with it first.

[@xBlackout718x]

I have a bunch of different wah pedals and some are harder to start than others. For example the Xotic wah is famous for having a really soft switch. There’s another one that I can’t think of that as soon as you put your foot on it, it senses that slight pressure change and activates. It’s actually too sensitive - a lot of players complain it goes on when they accidentally brush against it when hitting a different pedal. Others are really hard to activate - my Wilson wah I kinda have to give it a good jolting press to get it on, specifically if I’m doing it in time with a song. But I’ve never played a wah pedal where you have to kick it as hard as Eric did 😂

[@khangenbamavanjit122]

Really funny you can maybe write a comic book about the musicians of the sixties and seventies

[@NotDingse]

xBlackout718x With my T•Rex wah you definitely have to kickstart it heehee

[@ivorharden]

@@xBlackout718x yeah my cry baby can be a bitch sometimes.

[@Timliu92]

Why you got to love Eric - at a young age the man is already highly mature in his approach on the guitar. A blues virtuoso indeed.

[@francisdedumo3323]

Timliu92 I think because of the death of his rival-friend the legendary Jimi Hendrix. He was kinda depressed that time.

[@francisdedumo3323]

Timliu92 When he bought a Strat the day before Hendrix died

[@UrAnus1231]

Jimi died in 1970 though, and this video is from 1968. I think he just is/was calm by nature

[@xBlackout718x]

Francis Dedumo He didn’t buy a Strat for himself the day before Jimi died. He found one of the rare left-handed ones and was planning to gift it to Jimi, but he died the day after he bought it. Clapton didn’t start playing the Strats until he went for his solo album and the DatD stuff. At the end of Cream he was using Firebirds and 335s, and then Les Pauls with the Bluesbreakers and THEN Strats.

[@johnlannikk2701]

Thats the thing about virtuoso, you cant work it out just how they got so good so soon, Gary Moore was the same at 18 he had it all.

[@TweedSuit]

Clapton invented the look and sound of every hard rock guitarist that followed.

[@allrequiredfields]

He had the best vibrato and the best tone (pre-strat era, of course).

[@thedarkknight6799]

allrequiredfields I think this is up there with the best tone anybody has ever had. Eddie Van Halen’s brown sound is up there as well, but I think it’s extremely hard to compare anyone to Clapton in the late 60s when it comes to technicality. I personally think is when Clapton was at his best, because of the tone and because I think the SG & Gibson guitars in general are superior to Strats and Teles.

[@regolithia]

The Dark Knight Technicality? In terms of speed or virtuosity in vibrato, pitch and knowin what to play when?

[@uv77mc85]

@@thedarkknight6799 what happened to him? his playing went from awesome to middle of the road overnight it seems

[@thedarkknight6799]

Method1 I don’t know what you’re referring to but if you’re saying that he’s been bad live lately that’s probably due to arthritis

[@MrDino1953]

I think the king of vibrato at that time was Danny Kirwan in Fleetwood Mac.

[@maximvolodkin6809]

the greatest video with Eric i ever seen

[@TheNightmare75II]

There's even a Jack sighting at 1:53!

[@spunnek75]

I am blown away everytime when I hear how skilled and knowledgeable this man already was at young age.

[@MrPyroguru]

I could watch this again and again and again and again!

[@ToyKotoMadman]

Eric Clapton seems like a very nice man. He has humour and he doesn't mind telling people how to play guitar better. He is very kind and I sometimes wonder if he knows how great he is. Eric Clapton is the best!

[@experimenteight4550]

Why did he change to a Strat?! Not knocking the guitar at all (personally love em) but EC's style was perfect for dual humbucker guitars especially when Woman Tone is involved, he just had more fire in his playing and sound with those guitars

[@clowntrooper61]

Because Hendrix and Steve Winwood used strats

[@Euanhamiltonmusic]

I think you answered your own question. As he got older, his tastes softened. He doesn't play the aggressive hard blues-rock much anymore. He plays softer blues. I assume that's why he switched to the strats.

[@woodledog]

I think the Rock God life almost killed him and the switch to a Strat reflects his backing away from the aggressive style in Cream.

[@jenlennon6614]

I don't know if I'd say its necessarily a reflection of him leaving the harder lifestlyle behind. The reason I say this is because he started playing the strats around the time Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs came out (its noted by Duane Allman who played guitar with Eric on a majority of the album that you could tell who's guitar it was because of the thickness in tone spoken in reference to Erics Strat and Duanes Les Paul). During that time he still would've been struggling with his addictions and other side affects of his hard rocking lifestyle. Granted his switch could be reflection of his wanting to leave that lifestyle being but who's really to say i guess.

[@francisdedumo3323]

Experiment Eight I think because of the death of his rival-friend the legendary Jimi Hendrix. He was kinda depressed that time.

[@TheNightmare75II]

Holy shit, he is good. Also, I laughed when he said, "I'm not aggressive in the way I use it, though. Some people are... people like The Who."

[@luckyfamilyman]

4:27 “you want me to break the guitar up” 😂 Classic

[@mairenared]

I remember seeing this interview live on TV and thinking "Wow, that's amazing". Still love his playing after all this time.

[@warshipsatin8764]

clapton had some of the best phrasing and vibrato of all time

[@jasonboyd5586]

Eric Clapton is truly slowhand. He is a master and a legend

[@tozguitar]

Some of the best vibrato I've ever heard from a young guy that normally takes decades to achieve. WOW

[@gawdzila]

That "woman tone" sounds awesome. Reminds me quite a bit of when I saw B.B. King a few years ago. Lucille's tone is so deep and polished, like a perfect candy-blue hotrod paint job, but just a little roughed up around the edges. Man what a beautiful sound -- probably the most beautiful timbre I've ever heard come out of a guitar.

[@arthur.monticelli]

This video changed my life. I always struggled to make vibratos cause people always told me "vibratos are made by twisting the wrist". But then on this video clapton talks about a "finger vibrato" (never heard this expression before), and after watching how he does it, I started doing it with more strength from the fingers. Now my vibrato is healed, my playing is a lot more consistent and someday I will thank Clapton for that.

[@craigwg]

Good video. I think its these types of interviews that Spinal Tap got their inspiration from.

[@MarlonDeanMcQueen]

EXACTLY! Nigel Tufnel!

[@nadses]

Sunshine of Your Love is a famous example. But if you listen to Steppin' Out from the Live Cream Vol. 2 disc, he runs through pretty much all the various tones in the course of his solo ...

[@aquasloth6832]

This is one of my favorite Clapton clips, his playing and tone in Cream is my favorite era.

[@navigator3744]

I remember seeing this on TV way back when it was made. I love watching his hands.

[@misterfrias]

Great video! Thank you so much for posting it!!!

[@Rave779]

I love how he explains with such simplicity the entire mechanics behind his whole playing style and tech specs. Dude really knows the ins and outs outside of reading and writing composition styles.

[@Roose416]

this video kicks ass...clapton really lit it up on the guitar back in those days. i love this! thanks for the post!

[@BeachJazzMusic]

Nobody could get this tone out of a Marshall except Eric. Pure raw original Marshall sound! No distortion pedals!

[@PaulSter]

Erummm...Jimmy Page?

[@BeachJazzMusic]

@@PaulSter Totally different sound. Not worse, just different.

[@PaulSter]

As they were close in those days, I think the "Les Paul into a cranked Marshall" tones were all about the same. Vibrato, style, rhythm differentiated them, but not by a wide margin in live sections. All those cats from back in the day had essentially the same tone. All great.

[@BeachJazzMusic]

@@PaulSter They were all amazing and set the tone for all that followed. Even Hendrix who mostly played a Strat used Gibsons quite a bit. Really changed they way rock music was played even to this day.

[@PaulSter]

@@BeachJazzMusic yep. I'm a fanatic of all things electric. For me, it was seeing Jimi on TV at his seminal Monterey Pop Festival performance. I was probably 14. I started playing guitar that same year - '74. As passionate about it today as I was then. I'm in my studio, surrounded by Strats, Les Pauls, Teles, SGs, a V, other various guitars, basses, my plexi half-stack,'68 Super Reverb,'68 Leslie model 16, DRRI, Mesa Lonestar, and other very nice tube amps and a bass amp. So a range of 22w to 100w. Thankfully (?), I'm out of room, or there would be more. Probably 15 more guitars in storage. All to say that I'm totally immersed in it. And it all started with Jimi at Monterey.

[@garwoodjc]

i've grown up listening to this man, and he never ceases to amaze me.

[@proboy215]

thank you for this classic video!

[@fossilmatic]

I have been obsessed by the “electronic” guitar ever since I saw this interview late one night as a 10 year old. After years of other interviews, demos, rig rundowns, and KZbin guitar shows, there is still no better explanation of what the “electronic” guitar means.

[@el0blaino]

Lovely interview, and Eric in great form very obliging with musical examples-what a treat!

[@NeilsinMandela08]

i wish that interview never ended ..

[@IricForset]

fuck me dead...that sound...so many guitarists with their iconic sounds..thats one of my favourite

[@izzzzzzza]

my god, such an amazing and inspiring video. thanks.

[@Renejames1117]

Like a time machine, heard this beauty just sold ✨️ 🎸

[@shaharkarp4357]

I have watched this video maybe a million times over the years

[@olipas2775]

This is pure rock. I mean the feeling and the atmosphere of this video.

[@simoncassar6090]

I love his playing these days, but I wish he'd play like this again.

[@MarioHernandez-zc7dv]

I know right? Getting old sucks

[@youreatoilet]

He needs to go back to using Gibsons! He sounds great on strats but there's something about his style using humbuckers that sounds so good

[@pwnayr]

sweet video man, thank you

[@ereiwaz]

i never heard an sg sound that good before wicked vid a classic

[@HerrJohannW]

"can you to that again?" "yeah" haha i just love that part

[@Robin-Hood-369]

shame Gibson don't make such great guitars as stock now - like they did then. you have to get custom shop or buy old ones. Clapton sounds fab with this SG.

[@PutraBlues]

love that vintage wah-wah sounds ,

[@RockNRollIsrael]

2:57 "could you just do that again?" the simple vibrato was just an amazing back in the 60s, since the electric guitar wasnt really discoverd all the way. Amazing to see clatpon and the cream inventing the rock genre as we new it back in the 70s, and fortunatly and unfortunatly to what it turned into nawadays.

[@openbluesband]

The best guitar tone I´ve ever heard ! ! !

[@fuzzface100]

Ahh, that guitar tone is just beautiful!

[@rama6maiden]

one of the most beautiful sg ive seen

[@jimmymurphy7789]

After seeing a picture of EC with his psychedelic-painted SG/Les Paul & heard its Tone (Disraili Gears LP), I just HAD to get a '61 of my own. My Dad had a real Fit when he found out I traded my brand new Candy Apple Red Gibson ES 330 they had just helped me buy for one. He angrily told me that compared to my beautiful hollow body 330, the SG (Used/Scarred) was "Just a Hunk of Wood". When I replied "Dad, you don't understand - This one gets that SOUND !", I thought he was gonna take & hit me over the head with it.

[@Goatchild90]

CLAPTON IS GOD

[@buddyollie7400]

Roberto Sedinho Fuck off...

[@WayneCatlin]

Joshua Stephens WAS God, Clapton WAS God...

[@louiebellas]

this is my favourite video, everything about it

[@freddell7358]

It's a good one, for sure. He's really being serious, and answering the questions honestly.

[@Kins1002]

I love how his smoke is on the head on the guitar xD

[@Baghuul]

Hes the first man to plug a Les Paul through a Marshall to make that woofy overdriven sound all his contemporaries fell in love with, Page, Beck, Hendrix, Gilmour ect...

[@jessejordache1869]

With Hendrix, the line of influence is pointing in the other direction - Sunshine of Your Love was Cream making a song a la Hendrix, having just seen him live and been blown away. Page is a funny case - he's got Clapton's tone almost perfect in parts of LZ I, particularly studio version of How Many More Times and in the solo, and he played a telecaster in those days. When he picked up his Les Paul (and I agree, they've got a sonic profile pretty similar to an SG) he moved away from that sound and into a more honking, rough tone that became kind of the hard rock default. I love Led Zeppelin, but I think rock and roll would have been better off without them. They broke ground, and anyone who lived through the hair metal bands of the 80s or ever had a neighbor who played Foreigner too loud knows that it was the WRONG GROUND. Now that I think of it, Jeff Beck is playing on the Yardbirds "Over Under Sideways Down", which also got a jump on the Cream tone that was Clapton's best. I think Clapton did it better than anyone (other than possibly Hendrix, who had a similar but distinct thing going on) but the originator he was not.

[@limblesstiger]

man i love clapton

[@andyinwards2119]

One of the best videos on the internet. Wait... one of the best pieces of footage ever recorded

[@arjaya]

Clapton will never be at his peak...he keeps getting better and better! He's a guitar god.

[@azusarie8886]

Young beautiful eric!

[@negativezero3107]

is why i got one, him and angus

[@ChrisStrat67]

Sweet video. I have a copy but the sound quality in yours in much superior. Thanks for posting.

[@matthewryan1185]

Cool insight! 👍

[@patient1115]

Every guitarist must see this interview

[@waterhead001]

I love the tone he had on Live Crean Volume 2 when he played Stepping' out.

[@chuckpotockimusic2288]

Guitar Master Class with a 22 year old Eric Clapton...the interviewer sounded like he really could've cared less, but had I or anyone else been there, we would've been completely enthralled!

[@samswank]

The only thing better than a clip like this are the remarks that go with it.

[@stratcat70]

f..ing awesome vid thanks for posting this!!

[@TastyMetal]

Listen to that tone! Amazing...

[@WheatonBrad]

Definitely in agreement on the gear. And, Ginger was, and always has been, ridiculously interesting.

[@glitchesandglitter]

great paint job. def. my fav. in terms of periods in clapton's career.

[@bb57365]

Master Class. 🎸

[@MetallicBlack86]

man looking at Eric Clapton in this video compared to what he looks like now sure makes a Huge difference...can't place both his old and new looks together....kinda hard to believe that that was Eric Clapton back then...cool video

[@timtipton5071256]

Nice Les Paul Lesson... What a Beautiful Human being ... one of my favorites

[@dennismason3740]

The Guitar Center flagship store on Sunset Boulevard (I was told to leave two years ago because the floor manager didn't like the way I looked - I told him that I had shopped there since 1972. He didn't care...) has a beautiful feature in the foyer of the store (front) and it is called the Rock Walk of Fame and it has concrete hand and sometimes footprints of many of the world's greatest bands and guitar players, many of whom are not around like B.B. and John Lee Hooker. I finally found Eric's handprints in the concrete, close to the front door on the right. Since the sixties (I saw Cream twice) I thought that Eric's hands and hand motions on guitar looked just like mine. I held my breath and put my hands in his handprints...exact match. His pinky fingers are a quarter inch longer. I still can't seem to get him to jam so that I can show him a better way to play Crossroads.

[@zacharysmith4354]

Eric Clapton is why I want to play

[@Qoooba95]

so inspiring

[@Ch3micalJoe]

Eric Clapton, the badass.

[@richardtgallegos438]

jesus has mercy for you- ewtn.com and tbn.com

[@AveshChaudhary]

Badassness Overload!

[@cozyblake8947]

"The only time I'm happy is when I play my guitar"

[@CHlEFFIN]

This may very well be the most incredible tone I have ever heard and it was recorder through a potato HALF A CENTURY ago…!

[@fenderamr2222]

why anyone would dislike this is beyond me

[@johndrake2729]

Killer, man. Clapton is a legend.

[@blacklespaul01]

I love the trick with his cig

[@dherm56]

I bought the autiobiography for Christmas and am about 1/3 of the way done with it. It's a great read, I'd definetely reccommend it if you're even slightly interested in Clapton

[@YT28666]

The pickups on the "SG" Clapton played back then are standard large Gibson humbuckers. They have two coils side by side underneath a chrome cover. P-90s are single coil and are smaller. They were around since before Gibson introduced the humbucking pickup in 1957 on Les Pauls. A P-90 is also known as a "soap bar" pickup when they have the white/cream colored plastic cover. P-90's also came with black plastic covers.

[@TonyCosta123]

What a treat!!!!

[@WesselCaster]

I LOVE the sound of 4:47 It's so awesome

[@mauerbluemchen0]

Nice video, lovely. And...I'm getting....yes, definitely getting...some Spinal Tap moments.... XD Bless. I saw Eric in concert the other night and he's still brilliant.

[@leslie1977]

OMG I love you Eric xo

[@TheOZMr]

Wow..I thought I was a guitar player..now I understood I am a guitar owner...

[@vdbdg]

this is such a great video, Clapton was really the shit back then. I'm gonna turn on my amp and work on my tone and vibrato right now.

[@YohanLoggia]

C'est que du bonheur une vidéo comme ça et puis ... quelle chevelure ! c'est beau xD et puis quelle guitare avant tout. Vraiment impressionant

[@davemustainfield95]

holy crap i want that sound

[@sloopcamotop502]

I keep expecting him to explain how it goes to 11. 🙄

[@Milton90909]

great book

[@MoosicDude]

Sunshine of your love is probably the most famous one where Clapton gets that woman tone effect going. I've not listened to that much Cream stuff, but enough to have a huge amount of respect for Clapton.

[@heartofsoul]

Awesome jangling noise machine!