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70 free Eric Clapton trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Eric Clapton trivia quiz covers six decades of Slowhand, from the Yardbirds and "Clapton is God" through Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos to Unplugged, Tears in Heaven and the Crossroads Centre. The easy questions cover the bands, Pattie Boyd, "I Shot the Sheriff", the White Album solo and Blackie. Medium questions dig into Disraeli Gears, the Dirty Mac, Duane Allman, the Layla poem, Hazelden, Phil Collins and the Grammys. The hard and expert questions are for people who own the box sets: the Hoyer guitar, the Roosters, Kingston art college, Golden Beach, TDF, the Comic Relief No. 1, the Vanessa Williams chart block and Bonnie Bramlett's co-write. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation, so the dates, chart positions and names can be trusted. Difficulty is shown on every question, which makes it easy to build a round for a classic-rock quiz night or play the whole set. When you finish, try our Beatles, Cream and other guitar-hero quizzes.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which English county was Eric Clapton born in 1945?
Surrey
He grew up believing his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his older sister.
Q 02Clapton's father was a soldier from which country?
Canada
Edward Fryer returned to Montreal before Eric was born and apparently never knew he had a famous son.
Q 03Which R&B band did Clapton join in October 1963 and leave in March 1965?
The Yardbirds
He quit the day their pop hit "For Your Love" was released, disliking the commercial direction.
Q 04How did Clapton get his famous nickname?
A pun on the slow handclap during string changes
Manager Giorgio Gomelsky coined it during his Yardbirds days.
Q 05Whom did Clapton recommend as his replacement, only for him to decline and suggest Jeff Beck?
Jimmy Page
Beck, Page and Clapton were never in the group at the same time.
Q 06Which bandleader's group did Clapton join in 1965, producing the album fans call "The Beano Album"?
John Mayall
The cover shows Clapton reading the children's comic The Beano.
Q 07What three-word slogan was famously spray-painted on an Islington wall in 1967?
Clapton is God
The famous photo of it includes a dog urinating on the wall.
Q 08Who were Clapton's two bandmates in the power trio Cream?
Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce
Bruce sang most of the lead vocals and wrote most of the songs with lyricist Pete Brown.
Q 09Which 1967 Cream album was recorded in New York in just five days in May?
Disraeli Gears
It featured Clapton's psychedelic-painted Gibson SG, "The Fool".
Q 10Cream's live hit "Crossroads" was a version of which Robert Johnson song?
Cross Road Blues
Clapton has called Johnson his single most important influence.
Q 11Cream's single "Badge" was co-written by Clapton and which Beatle, credited as "L'Angelo Misterioso"?
George Harrison
Clapton in turn played the solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the White Album.
Q 12Clapton played the lead solo on which Beatles White Album track?
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
He used a red 1957 Les Paul nicknamed Lucy that he had given Harrison.
Q 13Which one-off group did Clapton and Lennon play in at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus?
The Dirty Mac
Keith Richards on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums completed the line-up.
Q 21Who is officially credited with co-writing "Layla" for its piano coda?
Jim Gordon
Rita Coolidge, his girlfriend at the time, has claimed she wrote the piano part.
Q 22At which Miami studio was Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs recorded with producer Tom Dowd?
Criteria Studios
Dowd had also produced Cream's Disraeli Gears.
Q 23Which Hendrix song did the Dominos record as a tribute eight days before Hendrix died?
Little Wing
Clapton had bought a left-handed Stratocaster to give Hendrix the day before his death.
Q 14Blind Faith, Clapton's 1969 supergroup, included Ginger Baker, Ric Grech and which singer-keyboardist?
Steve Winwood
They debuted before 100,000 fans in Hyde Park and lasted less than seven months.
Q 15Which Blind Faith song was the first credited solely to Clapton as a writer?
Presence of the Lord
The album's original cover of a topless young girl was replaced in the US.
Q 16Clapton's first solo album yielded a US No. 18 hit with a cover of which J. J. Cale song?
After Midnight
Delaney Bramlett produced the record and co-wrote six songs.
Q 17How did Derek and the Dominos get their name?
"Del and the Dynamos" was misread
Tony Ashton had suggested "Del", his nickname for Clapton.
Q 18Which guitarist joined the Layla sessions as a guest and added slide guitar to the album?
Duane Allman
Clapton called him "the musical brother I'd never had but wished I did".
Q 19"Layla" was inspired by a Persian poem about Layla and Majnun by which 12th-century author?
Nizami Ganjavi
Ian Dallas, a friend converting to Islam, gave Clapton the book.
Q 20"Layla" was written about Clapton's unrequited love for whose wife?
George Harrison's
Pattie Boyd eventually married Clapton in 1979.
Q 24Which fellow rock star organised the 1973 Rainbow Concert to help Clapton kick heroin?
Pete Townshend
Clapton repaid him by playing the Preacher in the film of Tommy.
Q 25Clapton's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" gave him his first US No. 1. Who wrote it?
Bob Marley
It appeared on 461 Ocean Boulevard and helped reggae reach a mass audience.
Q 26The title of 461 Ocean Boulevard refers to the address of a house in which Florida town?
Golden Beach
Clapton later recommended the house and Criteria Studios to the Bee Gees.
Q 27On which 1977 album did "Wonderful Tonight" and the J. J. Cale cover "Cocaine" appear?
Slowhand
The album took its name from Clapton's nickname.
Q 28Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" while waiting for Pattie Boyd to get ready for whose Buddy Holly party?
The McCartneys'
He wrote it on 7 September 1976 on his Martin D-28.
Q 29Where and when did Clapton finally marry Pattie Boyd?
Tucson, Arizona, in 1979
Harrison attended the wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.
Q 30At which Minnesota treatment centre did Clapton check in for alcoholism in January 1982?
Hazelden
He returned in 1987 and has been sober ever since.