Andy starts us off with some Eric Clapton background. Eric 1st came to my personal attention during his stint with unsung hero John Mayall in his London based band 'The Bluesbreakers'. Or maybe it was the Yardbirds? He was in both bands. No it was the Bluesbreakers.
Andy picks a song called "Steppin Out" off the 2nd John Mayall release, the "Beano" cover LP with Eric Clapton. Andy is going to give us our first lesson in the style of this Memphis Slim song.
An LP in case you forgot stands for, in vinyl record lingo: Long Play vs. a 45. Originally there were '78s and then there were 45's and 33 RPM discs. Thank Thomas Edison who had invented the cylinder phonograph in 1877.
Anyway if memory serves me well it was 1966 and I was 12 yrs old. I cut my teeth on this record in terms of liking the blues. There are covers on the re-issue CD I am holding by Freddie King, Mose Allison, Ray Charles and my favorite by Otis Rush who is a great left handed Chicago Blues guitar player.
My point is if you don't know about this record you need to buy it if you are a Clapton fan. His influences are many and show cased on this particular disc. In particular the Freddie King Hideaway riff and licks are a must know for any serious electric blues guitar player. Even though he doesn't do it on this record the good thing about 'slow hand' is he didn't just play the blues and Clapton could play other guitar styles too. I read his autobiography and he was attracted to music from very early on but is coy about the nitty gritty practice details. From the toddler stage on he developed an ear and had a musical extended family as well.
“I don’t know anything about music, In my line you don’t have to.”
― Elvis Presley