Why Did Eric Clapton Switch to a Fender Stratocaster?

Baxter and Sean talk about about Eric Clapton's switch from Gibson's to Fender Stratocasters.

[jimwoodard]

I think everyone's journey is different. I have friends who play Strats and Teles and they make them smoke. I played Fender nearly exclusively for 10 years, but there was something that drew me back to the first guitar I ever bought with my own money, a Les Paul. There is just something about the scale, the violin carve, the warm tones... I think everyone should play what works for them, even if it's a string taut between two tin cans so long as they are making the music they love.

[ltgray]

They're guitars. Play them, and dig what each can do. I have a 2008 Standard and a 2021 Shijie STE SSS Stainless frets, and both are amazing. (Lucky me). I started playing in the mid 70's, and played Strats for years. They're Guitars. Play them, and Love them. Don't get caught up in the hype. Do your own thing. Think we need more of that. Do not worry about being better than your predecessors, don't worry about being better than your contemporaries. Worry about being better than yourself.

[franksmith]

I think Clapton always sounded better and played better, more creative licks when he played Gibsons.

[ThisOldGuy]

I met Leo, in the 80's in Fullerton California at the G&L factory store. He was a nice guy and didn't mind chatting about his guitars with little ole me a nobody. 🤘😎🎸

[ytpkj]

Two things transformed him: he switched to Fender and he got clean. Not sure which one did more damage.

[plantagenant]

I like Strats...probably my desert island guitar....but Clapton IMHO was at his best playing Gibsons ( and before he got addicted to Heroin). His playing and tone in Cream was peerless.

[ScottSiegling]

I think it’s cool that Baxter puts both of his kids on the channel.

[brianseneca]

I am a Les Paul guy. But I LOVE Strats. I have had a love/hate relationship with them since my first one. i personally have to play them higher, hold my hand in the middle of the pickups, hit the volume knob CONSTANTLY. But I am adjusting as I get older because there is nothing like the tone of a Strat. I found it interesting that you guys enjoyed the way you had to adjust your playing to a positive way. To each his own

[_rafael_b]

I don't disagree with anything that you guys have said about strats here. They're excellent guitars and they are as popular as they are for very good reason. Even if I like Telecasters more, I also love a good strat. However, I think that Clapton's best tones came when he was playing Gibsons in the 1960's. His best playing and indeed his best music for that matter was with The Bluesbreakers and especially with Cream. For me, Cream was peak Clapton. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that and that's fine. I don't mean to make anyone angry, but that statement probably will.

Watching the Cream reunion awhile back, I was slightly disappointed that he used a strat for those shows because some of the brashness of Cream's songs went missing with the mellower strat tones. The Royal Albert Hall reunion show was still great, but I missed the noise. That's personal taste and I'm not going to tell anyone who disagrees with me that they're wrong. Personally though, I prefer the younger and brasher Clapton of the 1960's to the more genteel (musically speaking) pop star that he became post Cream when he played strats.

If we're going to talk about great strat tones, we have to be talking about the great Jimi Hendrix. He is the one who made me realize how great a strat could be. Again, I realize that these kinds of things are totally subjective. In my opinion though, the song Voodoo Child might just contain the best electric guitar tones ever heard by human ears. I also absolutely love Dick Dale's strat tones. As a player, I don't think he's on the level as Clapton or Hendrix. His strat tones were super good in a different way though. He was also a guy who showed the world how good a strat could sound.

Anyway, that's just my two cents on the subject. Thanks for another great video and I'm glad the lights are back on.👍

Cheers!

[seanmurphy]

Eric Clapton switch to the Stratocaster from the loud booming humbuckers and Marshall Stacks can be defined and summed up in one word! HEROIN!!

[christanhartley]

I think a lot of musicians get a bit older and get tired of holding a heavy les Paul and like the lightweight feeling of a strat, I’ve been told this by a few people

[daveshamir]

Derek & The Dominoes was a transformative moment in Clapton's evolution as a player. I think that the more sparkly and percussive tonal palette of the strat really opened up his playing and set him on a more melodic path in how he builds his solos til this very day. Interesting that this landmark album that saw his full embrace of the strat was made in conjunction with a man who epitomized the Les Paul -- Duane Allman

[markmcdonald]

I have a left-handed G&L George Fullerton model strat I got for my 50th birthday in Oct. 2004. It is a copy of a 1957 strat, black with a white pickguard and maple neck and a hardtail bridge, basically as close to the Blackie guitar I could spec. Buy a G&L strat if you want a real strat.

[TheseusTitan]

I think Clapton’s tone was much richer with Gibsons. I agree with the idea about Hendrix using a Strat influenced Clapton and may other guitarists to use a Stratocaster.

[larryzink]

Yall are the most watchable cause you dont take yourself too seriously unlike 99% of the other guys. A breath of fresh air.

[kevinbolick]

I own a sunburst maple board Strat because of what EC did on the Layla sessions. But for my money, his best tone and playing is on a 335, and not the Cream era Cherry 64. It’s the sunburst 335 he played on the From the Cradle sessions. My goodness his playing and tone were at the highest level of his career, imo! Every time I see him play a Gibson, I get excited! Including the video clips of him playing that Loar era L5 at MSG last summer!

[derek]

The Gibson was the right guitar for the way not just Eric Clapton was playing with cream but the way it blended with Jack Bruce's eb3 bass and ginger bakers drumming plus Marshall amplifier's

[ishatype]

Strats (or Strat-like) guitars have that great sound that really only a single-coil PU can give you, I particularly like the #5 and #2 positions. That being said, Peter Green's LP that had the PU's out of phase had a sort of Quack to it in the middle position which is very easy to achieve if you care to do that to your Gibson. Personally, SG's with P90's are the best for me, very light, clear as a bell at low gain and growl like a lion when pushed.

[coreymihailiuk]

Don't forget that in Eric's early days he is playing a telecaster. He played a red telecaster with a rosewood neck in the Yardbirds and later plays a sunburst tele with a maple stratocaster neck in Blind Faith. He's also seen playing a blonde tele in Derek and the Dominoes. So he had spent time with both single coil guitars and humbucker guitars before finally settling on a Stratocaster as a preferred guitar.

[beanth]

His best playing was on gibson based guitars, his live playing with cream is up there with hendrix.
On a strat he adopted a more songwriter approach and became a generic blues player.