10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists Of The '70s

By the time the '70s were underway, Eric Clapton had already proven himself to be the guitar player's guitar player. After slogging it out in blues joints like the Yardbirds and forming one of the first supergroups with Cream, Slowhand was finally ready to strike out on his own as the Flower Power started to fade. Even though many cite this period as Clapton's falloff, he was only just getting started.

Coming off of the intense passion he had for George Harrison's wife, Slowhand created one of the greatest lovelorn records of all time in Layla, whose title song became one of the most in-demand licks of the decade. As opposed to sticking in the blues mode, Clapton also found time to experiment with different styles, from the upbeat swing of reggae on his cover of I Shot the Sheriff to the delicate beauty of Wonderful Tonight.

Playing something like this might not be too hard on the surface, and yet this is where Clapton's genius comes in. After years of knowing how to assault the audience's senses with a barrage of chaos, the fact that Clapton could switch back to a clean tone and make that sound amazing showed that he was still willing to obtain as much knowledge about his six-string as he could. Though the 'Clapton is God' tag may have worn off after the '60s, there was still some divine intervention at work underneath those fingers.