Eric Clapton's 'old Man' Voice

Eric Clapton had to learn to love his "old man" voice.

The legendary blues guitarist claimed he has taken a long time to grow into liking the sound of his singin voice, but now he has grown huskier as he has got older he is more satisfied with it.

When asked if he liked his singing, Eric said: "No. I do now. It's taken me to be an older guy, an old man, to have an old man's voice. Because I only liked old men's voices.

"As a kid, I didn't like pip-squeaked singers. It was always someone with authority. And for a singer to have authority, they have to have some kind of social standing. Otherwise, it's fake."

Eric, 64, also talked about how singing affected his guitar playing, as he suddenly had so much to think about.

He added to Rolling Stone magazine: "I'm talking from my experience, my concentration will become focused on whether I'm pitching properly, whether my diction is okay, if the evenness of breathing is getting to all of the melody line, that I'm not losing the last part of the line because I'm running out of breath. And then I've got a guitar solo, 'Oh God, I have to do that as well' "

Eric Clapton is currently touring across North America with Jeff Beck.