Eric shares advice on how to grow your audience as a musician with a focus on the importance of listening. He also talks about some of his favourite current classical guitarists including John Feeley and Stephanie Jones and performs examples including his own composition 'Muse' and 'Estudio No. 5' by Fernando Sor ..read more

In today’s video Eric talks about melody, and how to interpret a phrase, in this new video including his own tips and shortcuts drawn from decades as a master of his art. He also talks about his time as a young boy studying classical guitar with Andrés Segovia in Spain ..read more

Building on his past visits to Guitar Salon International, Eric returned to their Santa Barbara showroom for another performance, this time enchanting all with his own compostion for classical guitar, ‘Lullaby’. Choosing from Guitar Salon International’s extensive collection, Eric chose to use a 1994 Jose Ramirez "1a Tradicional" CD/IN for this performance, made with cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides. The ‘Ramirez 1a’ model of guitar is perhaps the best known most played in classical guitar history. Read more about master guitar maker Jose Ramirez on the GSI website. Visit the Eric ..read more

Tune into KX FM for an exclusive live session from Eric on Thursay 16th June at 10:30am PST ahead of his live appearance at Campus Jax supper club in Newport Beach on Saturday 18th June performing classical guitar pieces and arrangements of some classic rock songs. KX FM Radio is based in Laguna Beach. Eric will be live online at 10.30am Pacific time on the ‘Mornings with Ed’ slot with Ed Steinfeld. Eric will play a couple of tunes live and then have a quick chat with Ed about his gig on Saturday at Campus Jax. Listen to the show live via the KXFM website. Buy tickets to Eric’s gig at Campus J ..read more

Watch as Eric shares a lesson on how to play his classical guitar arrangement of the classic rock song 'Little Wing' by Jimi Hendrix. 'Little Wing' was composed by Jimi Hendrix and released as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, in 1967. The song featured on their 'Axis: Bold As Love' album and has long been popular with artists with cover versions performed by Eric Claptopm, with Derek and the Dominos, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gil Evans, Sting & Jeff Beck. Watch Eric's full performance of Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing' below ..read more

Eric recently visited the folks at Guitar Salon International in Santa Monica, CA. to record a number of performances capturing his original compositions and arrangements of some well known covers on some beautiful guitars from their collection. He recorded his own composition "Muse (For Virginia)" on a Teodoro Perez “Maestro” classical guitar from 2014. This guitar was made with cedar top and African rosewood back and sides. Watch Eric perform this haunting piece below. Next up was one of Eric’s beautifully arranged covers, this time it was Jimi Hendrix’s ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ performed on a ..read more

Always keen to impart his knowledge, Eric’s latest video finds him sharing tip and tricks on how to play his arrangement of The Rolling Stones ‘Paint It, Black’. Looking at both the left and right hand positions, Eric walks the viewer through the song part by part offering hints and notes on how his arrangement was played, breaking it down into sections for better understanding and notes on performance. 'Paint It, Black' was composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones, appearing as asingle in 1966 and on the US edition of their 'Aftermath' album. Eric’s past video perform ..read more

I’m currently reviewing and studying the cello suite number 3 by J.S. Bach. I like to start by studying each movement’s rhythmic figures or motifs by physically tapping the rhythmic patterns on the back of my guitar. This gives me an insight of a uniform interpretation and understanding of what to convey to the listener ..read more

Following the stunning performance of his previous visit to Guitar Salon International, Eric was recently back at their showroom in Santa Monica for another performance. This time mixing things up with his classical guitar arrangement of the surf rock classic ‘Pipeline’ by The Chantays. This time Eric picked out a 1968 Manuel Reyes flamenco guitar for this interpretation of a modern classic. ‘Pipeline’ was a hit for the Californian outfit in 1963 and has been covered by many artists since including Pat Metheny, Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn and even thrash metal act Anthrax. For Eric’s arra ..read more

More in Depth Insights & Techniques for Practicing the Classical Guitar Before I go on to talk about some other things concerning practicing classical guitar, I would like to first comment about the importance of continually going through a piece of music, repeatedly from beginning to end using the method I covered in my previous blog (e.g. repeating things three times).  There are many cases where, after the first two or three times of going through a piece or study that is new and very difficult, there is a struggle to play it successfully at tempo and smoothly.  I have learned ..read more