Bah.
Claptons music is simple, easy to play and slow. He plays very tastefully though.
His slow playing earns him the nickname 'slowhand' imitators are said to have 'the clap' in guitar circles.
I do like a lot of his stuff, but its very tame, very proffesional, very formulaic and very dull at times. If he was a pop band he would be simply red.
PS
I suppose it depends what you learned to play on. For me, I learned on a strat, so its the easiest most comfortable guitar in the world. I dont play one because I wanted a different sound... you cant knock the iconic nature of the instrument, a 20th century design classic without a doubt.