About two months ago, Eric Clapton grabbed the headlines by saying “maybe the guitar is over.” In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the legend shared a bit of a different stance, dubbing the six-string “still the most flexible instrument.” He said:
“This is funny [that you’re asking me whether guitar still has a future as an expressive force], because I’ve had a conversation about this phenomenon just a while ago.
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“In the last few months, I’ve been talking to a guy who doesn’t know where to go next. It was a conversation with a young musician who contacted me through some friends.
“I could see that he was genuine and I was interested in what he had to offer. Finally we had lunch and he said, ‘Do you want to listen to something?’ It was esoteric and abstract, and I thought, ‘Where would this go?’
“I wanted the guy to be taken somewhere. I could hear that he was in his own head too much, and that can be a cul de sac. There is always something to listen to, to aspire to, with the guitar.
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“It is still the most flexible instrument. You can improvise on it. You have such freedom. I don’t think there is a limit to it.
“Anyone who talks about it [the guitar as a spent force] should listen to Roebuck Staples [founding guitarist of the Staples Singers].
“It is so moving. And that’s in the past. So it’s not about what’s to be. It’s already there. If you can get in touch with that, you can do anything.”