OK Guitar Gods....... Clapton or Page????

watching my Zepp DVD last night (ahem... under the 'influence') :smoke: got my mind a thinkin'.

who is the bigger guitar God....

ERIC CLAPTON???

or

JIMMY PAGE??

have seen them both live and gotta tell you. they BOTH make that axe SCREAM (but in different ways)

sooooooooooo

which is it?

BTW, i am in no mean implying that these are the ONLY two 'guitar gods' out there but for this purpose let's pretend :)

on edit: talking earlier Clapton here. not the 'crooner' stuff

I really don't know.

For overall musical ability: Page, definitely. For pure blues technique: Clapton, definitely.

But guitar gods? I think Richard Thompson or Merle Travis should take that honor.

:)

:hi:

I'd give it to Pagey for his production/songwriting ability.

But Jimmy Page comes first in my book.

--MAB

Jeff Beck. Now THERE'S a guitar god.

Beck kicks both of their asses. But John McGlaughlin kicks HIS ass.

I would have to say Page hands down. Clapton's writing ability is not the best, although I loved him with Cream. Listen to his tone during Cream and then post cream (as well as his solos), and after cream, he is nowhere near the same guitarist that he was during his tenure with cream. His solos aren't as interesting, his phrasing gets way more stereotypical-blues (i've never been that impressed with his blues playing, its good, but not groundbreaking, very traditionalist, and he tends to beat some licks to death with overuse). Page's solos were always original, not as traditionalist-blues as clapton, and they were set to his riffs, which were much more original than Clapton. Love Cream, can't stand much clapton afterwards (i'm 24 btw, so I didn't live through any of this stuff). Page hands down.

I've been playing guitar longer than you've been alive, and personally, Clapton has never really done anything for me. I think he copped a lot of licks from a lot of great blues players, but I don't see where he brought much of himself to his playing. He's like an archivist of blues licks. His catalog is impressive, but when I listen to him I always feel like he's just stringing riffs together. Back when he was with Cream and doing LOTS of drugs, he would occasionally just go apeshit on a solo, and then some flickers of true genius would shine through. But for the last 25 years he's been utterly boring to my ears.

Page is a lunatic, he plays like a lunatic, and I like that in a guitarist. I especially like when it seems like his solos are just about ready to careen out of control and lose touch with the song completely, and then he always brings it back. Too many great solos on the Zepp records to even begin naming them, but so much of it was (and still is) simply jaw-dropping in its creativity and execution.

Clapton IS good, but his style sounds like he's mimicing someone. Page's sound, though bluesy, sounds more original.

I don't buy this notion that he's more original than Clapton, whose style is explicitly based on the blues masters from Robert Johnson up through B.B. King.

Page just borrowed from a wider scope of influences-- which, let us note, he was expected to do, in his pre-Yardbirds gig as hired gun session guitarist. He could do the heavy guitar thing as in "Lemon Song" (worked out in collaboration with Jeff Beck), and he could do the delicate finger-picking thing as in "Black Mountain Side" (largely stolen from Davy Graham), and so on. The "Communication Breakdown" solo is American rockabilly licks played with Ray Davies' distortion tone. The "Dazed and Confused" raga idea was something the Yardbirds had been into since before his tenure-- consider "Still I'm Sad" and "Over Under Sideways Down."

I'll give Page credit for technical achievement and, even more important, for synthesizing a wide swath of interesting influences into the rock'n'roll stew that was Zeppelin. (And it sucks that his descendents seem to think you only need to listen to Zeppelin and don't go back to his sources. If Kingdom Come had listened to more actual folk and Indian musics, they'd have been a much cooler band.) But I firmly resist the idea that Page was a great innovator-- he was just a more enthusiastic and erudite thief.

And, however lame Clapton's post-Derek career has been, at least he's still creating. Page's post-Zeppelin career defines pathetic.

Buddy Guy

My dad owned a bar in Lake George, New York and met Buddy Guy several times! Along with Count Basie, etc. We have an autograph of several of them, although I'm sure Buddy Guy never gave the bartenders or owners any sort of autograph or recognition (he wasn't a nice guy, from what I hear) :)

Clapton himself says that Buddy Guy is the best guitar player on the planet. I don't know where I heard/saw that (and no, I don't have a link) but I'm not making it up.

Bake

They're both in the pantheon of the Gods of Rock.

Pete Townsend kicks both their butts..


DDQM

:toast:

Jimmy Page all the way baby!

Clapton's playing is counterfeit and mediocre. His songs are boring.

Even when he was at his peak artistically, in Cream, he needed lot of help from other artists.

You can count the number of songs that Clapton wrote on the 4 Cream realeases...........on one hand!!!

Oh. And he sings about as well as my grandfather.

Because we all know it's Jimmy Page!

They're both great guitarists, as are many others, but Clapton's guitar has the ability to get into my heart and soul. I'm only referring to his recorded work up through Derek & the Dominoes, as well as his subsequent blues recordings. And it still applies to his work in concert (at least up through last time I saw him on his 'nothing but the blues' tour).

I saw him in concert for the first time back around 1978-79 (when he was putting out crappy records), and I was on a totally drug-free high for several days afterwards, no easy feat since I had a totally shitty job at the time. (And not many concerts/musicians have affected me quite that way.) His guitar just reaches me deep inside, and when a musician can do that, I consider that something quite special.

Page slightly for a bit more crazy experimentation with sound.


But let's face it, Jimi Hendrix kicks them both to the curb. :evilgrin:

Comparing Cream-era Clapton to Zeppelin I-II-era Page.......

I can cite incredible work by both of them, just from each band's first 2 albums.

But I've always sort of held the belief that a lot of Pagey's solos were the result of 'happy accidents' in the studio - some of what ended up on the records was so 'out there' for the time, that I think some of it was the result of 'comping' 2 or more solos together. Could be wrong on that - some of those solos might have been a result of Pagey hanging out with Jeff Beck.

Clapton always seemed much more deliberate on the studio albums, but I got to see Cream live (never saw Zep, unfortunately). Clapton live in that era was a wonder to behold - with Bruce and Baker, they would cover amazing amounts of musical terrain in one song, to the point where you'd wonder how they'd ever get back to where they started. But the most always did.

So after weighing all this and thinking hard about it - I'd have to say......

Jimi Hendrix. ;)

-as

GEOOORGE HARRRISOONNNNN :D

Oh ok, Eric Clapton then.

Music is not a contest.

Having said that, Page's playing never did squat for me. Competent but not much else. Clapton's playing just gets to me every time. I never get tired of hearing him.

Bottom line: CLAPTON. (as if anybody who knows me is surprised by that!).

Bake

'Guitar god' is a myth.

Page sounded better with the Yardbirds. Had they had comparable sound quality recordings its hard to say, but Page did sound better.

In early Zep Page was a monster - and, a whole lot of that stuff seems a tad dated these days. Clapton on the other hand has stuck to his blues roots most of his career, with deviations into rawk and bubblegum crap, and some is dated, some still sounds great, but there is certainly a larger body of work for Clapton.

Frankly don't see how you can compare the two. Different styles are hard to compare and they don't have equivalent bodies of work. Don't think its fair, afterall, has Page made an album of note in 20 years? Clapton's work in the last 20 (post RSO) might be considered crap by purists, but it still gets accolades and sales.

But who wants to be on their knees, praying, when there's boogie to shake yer butt to?



(And don't take that to mean I think Page's the best ever. But he's pretty damn close.)

Clapton can play just about anything and it's always dead on (the only thng he may not be able to duplicate is Eddie Van Halen's tap technique I think that's what they call it).
Paige (while an awesome guitar player) has been said to be sloppy at times and doesn't really have much range in my opinion but I still love the guy.
Just because Claptn has chosen to lighten his play and stick mostly to the safe and comfy blues and jazzy stuff doesnt mean he's a worse player. ever see him do one of those benefit concerts or big jam gigs they used to show on tv? he would play well with everyone until it was his turn to do a solo then watch as everyone on stage tried to steal a look, he always makes the other big namers drop their jaws

They both put me to sleep. Not to say they're not very talented or accomplished, but, well, they're not my cup of tea. I never cared for anything Led Zeppelin did, same with most of Clapton's stuff. I do like a handful of songs by each, but otherwise: :boring: I'd take Pat Metheny over them both. If you insist on rock guitarists...hmmm...I think I'd pick Jimi Hendrix.

Beck is the direct link between Hubert Sumlin and Jimi Hendrix

Page is also great.

There are many wonderful guitarists, but you di good picking these two for a side-by-side.

i saw page and plant at red rocks in 1998. although he kind of looks like a troll (or pat morita—wife's input), jimmy page is the closest thing to a rock god that i've ever seen with my own eyes. his hands blur as you are sucked into his musical transport.

clapton was great to see as well, but it was a different thing. the page/plant show was a singular experience. or maybe i was just really high. more likely a little from column A, and a little from column B...

:)

:D

Clapton is more precise. Page has written better songs. Clapton has better technique. Page has better phrasing. I have seen both live and both blew me fucking AWAY and I play guitar to this day as much as I do because of those two men.

But in the end I'm going to say Page just because he played the solo to Fool In The Rain