# Eric Johnson :: Steve Clark

i thought there must have been the guardian angels lending me a big hand in my quest of searching the guitar riffs which are similar to that of Steve's. A glance on some 'Top 10 best guitar riff', 'Top 20 classic rock riff' titles on YouTube, took me to listen on those really amazing guitar intros by some of the guitar legends over the past 30 years.

The name 'Eric Johnson' showed up in the right pane under Related Videos section. A familiar name. A name i've kind of abandoned for quite a long time, since my first encounter with his guitar work about 15 years back, through his album Venus Isle. i recall my instant surprise when seeing the cover design of his casette album. And the front tracks sounded as captivating as its album cover design. But i was so dumb in appreciating the different styles of his guitar work back then, that i just let the album covered by dust over years.


i tried listening to each of the featured guitar video of Eric. The feel is completely different now. Tracks which i found quite boring 15 years back, sound so much awesome when i listen again now. So much resemblance with the riffs and melodies of Steve Clark.

And what the fans had said about Eric Johnson :-

"It just comes from his heart.
They say tone mainly come from the player."

" ...he's playing by pure emotions and not some technical asset."

"his technic is in the feelings he gives ..."

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# on Eric Johnson's Art of Guitar DVD - Phraseology # :-

" ...the master of tone and feel"

"This man has music flowing in his veins... "

"Any good guitarist can appreciate the sweet tone and graceful playing of his musical virtuosity."

"His tone is OUT OF THIS REALITY! "


(being a self-taught guitar player ...)
"Seriously, he's a tone freak, he biases his own tubes, experiments with order of effects, rewires his pickups... uses different amps. There's no shortcut but he'll list a lot of what he does. You can read up on it. .."

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# on Art of Guitar DVD - Phraseology # :-

"He teaches better in this video, much slower examples and clearer explanations. He's grown so much over the years. "

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"I sometimes think he is channeling some very advanced musical soul from another time. "

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# on Cliffs of Dover #

"As my spanish teacher says, "'Cliffs of Dover' explica toda la felicidad en el mundo, sin palabras." Which means,
'Cliffs of Dover explains all of the happiness in the world, without words.'
So true. "


Both Eric Johnson and Steve Clark are guitar soul players. Both styles and riffs are distinctive and unmistakble. Both are guitar legends one of a kind. But Steve left just too soon.

i thought, what if Steve is still alive ? He could have taught guitar lessons. He could have made guitar lesson videos and DVD for guitar fans around the world. He could have a dedicated discussion forum website by his fans, like Eric Johnson.

But that is merely IF ONLY. It has been almost 19 years. If only Steve is still around.
- R.I.P. -