OK, first of all bear in mind I'm a big fan of Clapton, but especially his '94 "From The Cradle" compilation. If I uploaded a selection of my playing some you might, (just maybe!) recognize some of the tracks from it. :) Well the other day I'm digging through some older stuff and put on The Bluesbreaker album he did with John Mayall, what in '66? I was pretty surprised at the similarities! His tone is still distinctly "British", but a bunch of other things I can't quite put my fingers on, down to the prolific use of the harp on both albums. Now some of you might say, well that's Clapton isn't it? But bear in mind that this is nearly 30 years apart with "461 Ocean Boulevard" stuck right in the middle! ;) So disagree if you like, that's cool, but listen to them both and tell me he wasn't profoundly influenced by John Mayall.