Have You Heard

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, 1966, from Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. Solo by Eric Clapton.

Clapton's slow-blues solo on the Beano album shows the sustaining Les Paul-into-Marshall sound that reset British guitar tone.

This slow blues gives Eric Clapton the space to show what the Beano album was really about: a Gibson Les Paul Standard pushed into a Marshall JTM45 combo until the notes sing and hang in the air. His solo builds patiently, starting with short, vocal phrases and climbing toward long, sustained bends that seem to stretch time. The tone is thick yet clear, with enough grit to bite and enough sustain to let single notes carry whole bars. British players heard this sound and rebuilt their rigs around it. Listen for how Clapton holds a bent note and lets it bloom before resolving it, a move that became standard vocabulary for the blues-rock guitarists who followed.

Have You Heard by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers is featured in our Blues (#7) list. The solo is played by Eric Clapton and the song was released in 1966.

In our lists

• The 25 Greatest Blues Guitar Solos — #7
• Best of Eric Clapton — #8
• The Best Eric Clapton Guitar Solos — #4
• The Best John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers Guitar Solos — #3

Sources