Editing Eric Clapton (section)

==Influences==
[[File:Eric Clapton & B.B. King (4776991214).jpg|thumb|right|Clapton and [[B. B. King]] in 2010]]
Clapton cites [[Muddy Waters]], [[Freddie King]], [[B.B. King]], [[Albert King]], [[Buddy Guy]], and [[Hubert Sumlin]] as guitar-playing influences. In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton refers to Muddy Waters as "the father figure I never really had". Until his death in 1983, Waters was a part of Clapton's life. "When I got to know Muddy, unfortunately, my drinking career was in full sway."<ref>{{cite news |title=Eric Clapton Looks Back at His Blues Roots |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15333469 |access-date=23 May 2020 |publisher=NPR |archive-date=3 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403104401/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15333469 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2000, Clapton collaborated with B.B. King on their album ''[[Riding with the King (B.B. King and Eric Clapton album)|Riding with the King]]''. The music video for the title track shows Clapton as the [[chauffeur]], with one of his idols in the back seat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=Maury |title=Rock N Roll Gold Rush: A Singles Un-Cyclopedia |date=2003 |publisher=Algora Publishing |page=239}}</ref>

Clapton has said that blues musician [[Robert Johnson]] is his single most important influence. In 2004, Clapton released ''[[Me and Mr. Johnson#Sessions for Robert J|Sessions for Robert Johnson]]'', containing covers of Johnson's songs using electric and acoustic guitars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/me-and-mr-johnson-r682466/review|title=Eric Clapton: Me and Mr. Johnson|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=22 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816035036/http://www.allmusic.com/album/me-and-mr-johnson-r682466/review|archive-date=16 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> In an essay for the [[The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album)|1990 boxed set of Johnson's recordings]], Clapton wrote:
{{blockquote|''Robert Johnson to me is the most important blues musician who ever lived''. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, ''I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice, really'' ... it seemed to echo something I had always felt. [italics in original]<ref>{{Cite AV media notes| title = [[The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album)|The Complete Recordings]]| others = [[Robert Johnson]]| section = Discovering Robert Johnson| first = Eric| last = Clapton| type = Boxed set booklet| year = 1990| location = New York City| publisher = [[Columbia Records]]| id  = C2K 46222| oclc = 24547399}}</ref>}}

Clapton also singled out [[Buddy Holly]] as an influence. ''[[The "Chirping" Crickets]]'' was the first album Clapton ever bought; he later saw Holly on ''[[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]]''.<ref name="Holly"/> In his autobiography, Clapton recounts the first time he saw Holly and his Fender, saying, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven&nbsp;... it was like seeing an instrument from outer space and I said to myself: 'That's the future – that's what I want.{{'"}}<ref name="Holly">Clapton, Eric (2010). ''Eric Clapton: The Autobiography''. p. 19. Random House.</ref> In the 2017 documentary film, ''[[Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars]]'', Clapton cites [[Bismillah Khan]] as an influence, adding that "I wanted my guitar to sound like his reed instrument."<ref name="RollingStone 2017"/> In the same documentary he also cited harmonica player [[Little Walter]] as an influence: "The sound he made with the harmonica playing through an amplifier. It was thick and fat and very melodic."<ref name="RollingStone 2017">{{cite magazine |title=10 Things We Learned From 'Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars' Doc |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/10-things-we-learned-from-eric-clapton-life-in-12-bars-doc-127351/ |access-date=14 April 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414212223/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/10-things-we-learned-from-eric-clapton-life-in-12-bars-doc-127351/ |archive-date=14 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>