During a recent conversation with Jeff Gaudiosi, Triumph’s Rik Emmett revealed that he doesn’t think Eric Clapton is the ‘Guitar God.
The musician talked about the three famous guitarists who were in the Yardbirds during the ’60s. He shared what he thinks about Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, saying:
“They go, ‘Eric Clapton is God.’ And I go, ‘Well, Clapton, actually, he might have ended up being a better R&B singer.’ His guitar playing is a fairly narrow kind of a palette if you think of those three guys that came out of the Yardbirds: Beck, Clapton, Page.”
Emmett’s Thoughts On Clapton’s Guitar Style
Emmett detailed his opinions about Clapton as a guitarist:
“Eric was the narrowest of them all. He was the most old-school blues, with a lot of stuff that was, ‘Come on now, that’s an Albert King lick.’ There’s things that he lifted that he kind of stayed with all of his career. Which is not to say that he didn’t write good songs that weren’t like that, I’m not putting him down.”
What Rik Think About Yngwie Malmsteen As A Guitarist
Clapton is not the only guitarist Rik shared his thoughts on. During a chat with the Rock Interviews Series earlier this month, the rocker targeted Yngwie Malmsteen. Triumph and Malmsteen toured together in the mid-1980s. As someone who listened to the guitarist, Emmett discussed:
“His band, eh. And the style of music, after you’d heard three or four songs, you’d kind of heard every trick that was in the book, kind of. So, it wasn’t really my cup of tea, necessarily. But there’s people that really do love guitar heroes. And that’s what he was.”
The rocker also recently spoke about Triumph’s absence from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He thinks the band didn’t get recognition because of prejudice. Emmett also said Rolling Stone and the Hall of Fame co-founder Jann Wenner had an impact on that.
Watch his full interview with Gaudiosi below.