he's got Marshall ears...
Posted on 01/12/2018 4:40:33 PM PST by nickcarraway
Musician Eric Clapton says he is going deaf. The 72-year-old singer says he plans on still performing, but his mounting health issues as he ages are a concern.
“The only thing I'm concerned with now is being in my 70s and being able to be proficient,” Clapton said in an interview with BBC 2. “I mean, I’m going deaf, I’ve got tinnitus, my hands just about work. I’m hoping that people will come along and see me just because, or maybe more than because I’m a curiosity. I know that is part of it, because it's amazing to myself I’m still here.”
Clapton, who began his career in the early 1960s, was on the show promoting his new documentary, “Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars.” The film looks at his start in the music industry and how music -- especially the guitar -- helped him throughout his life through a drug and alcohol addiction and the death of his son, Conor, in 1991.
The legendary guitarist and singer said in a Rolling Stone interview that he goes to the doctor for the slightest thing and that, although his eczema affects his guitar playing, he now has it managed.
“I had eczema from head to foot,” Clapton said. “The palms of my hand were coming off, and I had just started making this record with (producer) Glyn Johns. It was a catastrophe. I had to wear mittens with Band-Aids around the hands and played a lot of slide (guitar) as a result.”
“My hands are good. It hasn’t gone completely, but I put ointment on.”
Clapton said he would be OK with not playing guitar again, but is taking advantage of how well he feels now.
“I’m as good now as I’ve been in the last two years.”
” It was all worth it.”
My doc is bugging me to get back into it. He knows that my missing playing is a big problem with my depression. I was playing from 8pm until 2am 6 nights a week +working 6/8 hours as a private contractor. I just wore out. And I was the on call steel player for three studios. Busy, busy, busy! Now that I’ve quit contracting, I may dive back in. Now I spend spare time restoring/refurbing/and updating old steels. It’s satisfying, but not like getting out and playing for people!
As I recall he’s been deaf for years. I played bass in a blues-rock band in my youth. My bass amp and the drums did not bother my hearing but loud guitar amps and cymbals were really bad.
What did my left ear in was shooting at a bear in Prince William Sound, Alaska while leaning over a rock. Missed the bear and shot the rock about 2” in front of the muzzle of a .338 Win Mag. That was a painful and embarrassing experience and now anyone can sneak up on me on my left side. OTOH, when the wife starts snoring I put the normal right ear in the pillow and don’t hear much of the chainsaw in my left ear.
Pete blames it on being close to Moonies’ drumkit when he let off some fireworks when they played on The Smothers’ Brothers show.
he's got Marshall ears...
Trust me. You absolutely should. I would love to hear you play!! and drink beer. Life is to be lived. I dont practice that very well but im listening to me now and I’m right. I wish I had that talent. It is God given and few understand it. please let me know. What have you got to lose?I would love to hear your best stuff, even the names and composers of your best stuff. Maybe you are on you tube. Ill bet you are. Give me a clue on Mail here. I am R&B boy. But I like it all but rap crap.
That would do it. A single explosion will cause permanent hearing loss. Guitars and cymbals are more gradual.
I began losing my hearing at 55..I’m now totally deaf...and yet I hear...
Thank You COCHLEAR IMPLANTS..
I am bilateral implanted, the first in 2010 and the second in 2011. I just recently update both and and have two plugs that attach directly to my implant..I also have remote control to control volume and a ‘mighty mike’ that I can lay on a dinner table and hear all the surround conversations, especially nice at noisy wedding receptions.
Implants help you understand WORDS..hearing aids are good for volume..I wasted $25K on hearing aids..Implants are expensive but Medicare now covers them plus Medicare covers battery expense as it is surgical procedures.
just sharing..but they are the future for HEARING NOW AND HEARING ALWAYS..
He works very hard to help others get off it, and he does not perform the song any more.
Phenomenal guitarist.
I’m sorry he’s going deaf. Wishing him well.
Figure he and Kieth Richards are onto something good?
Those rides are LOUD. In a 3000 seat theater in the round, listening to Steppenwolf, I could hear the ride cymble coming off the stage despite the PA.
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All of the big rock axemen are wearing hearing aids just to be able to play.
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Phenomenal understatement!
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Sharif don’t like it!
We play music from the 20’s thru the 40’s mostly (All of Me, Blue Skies, ...). Good songs. Recently we’ve added some 50’s and 60’s songs and a Tribute to the US Armed Forces.
He was explaining how arthritis was killing his ability to play the way he was famous for. That full fingered insane playing was no more, but he had evolved to a slower, just as melodic style. I still have his albums to remember how I heard him play at Royce hall UCLA some 40 years ago.
Ears or hands, guitar players pay the piper.
He is one of the best guitarist ever. I never used to really like him.
Very cool.
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