“I first heard him play via a tear-out flexi-disc that was included in Guitar Player magazine back in 1986. I had never heard anything like that in my life!”: Joe Bonamassa on the influence of the great Eric Johnson

On the left, Joe Bonamassa plays a Gibson Les Paul Standard, while Eric Johnson plays a Daphne Blue Fender Strat on the right.

It occurred to me that I have yet to speak about one of my biggest guitar influences – the other elephant in the room, as it were! I always say that, for me, it’s all about “the two Erics” – Eric Clapton and the one and only Eric Johnson.

I first heard Eric Johnson play via a tear-out flexi-disc that was included in Guitar Player magazine back in 1986. It was his studio recording of his virtuosic masterpiece Cliffs of Dover.