I've always loved Clapton. He's never been a great guitarist, but he's always been an expressive one. I was arguing with my friend who really loves John Mayer. I can't stand the motherfucker. I explained how I thought Mayer is an incredible proficient guitarist, but a bad artist. No voice, so to speak, in his playing. It was boring. I used Clapton as the opposite, specifically using his covers of Robert Johnson. Not a great guitarist, but a fantastic artist, because what he can say with that instrument speaks so clearly and wonderfully.
That's exactly how I feel about Clapton too. I'm a John Mayer fan, although I get in a lot of shit if I admit that around certain people. He's amazing when he decides to ditch the pop songs he writes and write something of substance. Every so often he'll pull something like Covered in Rain out of nowhere and blow me away. If you haven't listened to that song, try and get through the entire thing. One of my favorite solos ever is in that song.