Joe Bonamassa on Eric Clapton's Crossroads: "You Want Everybody to Shine"

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival celebrates guitar players and guitar music, but the event is not solely about guitarcraft.

Joe Bonamassa has performed at three Crossroads festivals—2010 in Chicago, 2023 in Los Angeles and this year’s event in Austin, Texas—and his first thought about the guitar concert isn’t about the performances. Read on to learn why he thinks the atmosphere Eric Clapton creates at Crossroads is unlike anything else in music.

A Festival Built on Generosity

“I've always said that what Eric does with this festival is so selfless and generous,” says Bonamassa. “He makes everybody feel welcome and he makes everybody feel comfortable at his own expense. There are a lot of bands and a lot of everything. It has been really fun, because I get to sit in with people, play with Eric Clapton's band and then whatever happens in the finale happens.”

Everybody Has Everybody's Back

"I don't really prepare,” says Bonamassa about his approach to stepping onstage at Crossroads. “You just prepare to react, because you can get it in your mind how you want this stuff to go down, and when you get out there in real time, plans are laid to waste.

“For example, the loneliest feeling in the world is when you're up there in like this kind of mixed situation and either your amp doesn't work or something else fails. And if it's going to fail, it's going to fail at that moment in front of the crowd. That's 100% when that's going to go down. It happened to my friend Eric Gales at Crossroads. He plugged into a clean amp, and for some reason, his pedalboard wasn’t working. And he's like, ‘Oh my God—of course this happens right now.’ I soloed first and then Marcus King soloed, and while Marcus was playing, I said to Eric, ‘Hey, I have something with overdrive.’ I had brought one of new Dumble Overdrive Special amps, and I gave him the cable. ‘Do your thing,’ I said. That’s what you do in these situations. Everybody has each other’s back. You want everybody to shine and everybody to win. Eric and Marcus would have done it for me. So, I ended the song unplugged—which probably made a lot of people happy [laughs].”

Discovering Everyone’s Personal Voice

“Well, the thing is, with guitar, everybody uses the same amount of frets and strings by and large,” says Bonamassa. “There are exceptions, but it’s usually 21 or 22 frets and six strings. And everyone can elicit a different reaction, a different emotion and different phrasing out of the same platform. That's why the guitar—especially the electric guitar—has endured. It’s because of how expressive and tactile the instrument is. You hit a note, and depending on how you strike it and how you feel it, it's going to sound different than if I handed the same guitar and amp to somebody else. They'll make it sound completely different—brighter or darker, depending on however they're feeling it. That's the thing about playing guitar that amazes me time and time again. It just kind of sounds like you.”

Listening Better

“When playing a song in a multi-act scenario like Crossroads, your best asset is your volume control,” counsels Bonamassa. “When you have four or five guitar players up there, you should play at minimal volume. You know—just listen. If somebody is playing a riff and you're playing in the same position, either lay out or do something different. Try to fit in and create a natural space. Maybe go with the bass player or keyboard player. If you're unsure of what to do, just lay out, because somebody else is probably more sure about what they are doing than you are.”

Getting Inspired

“My best Crossroads memory was Jeff Beck playing ‘Nessun Dorma’ in 2010,” remembers Bonamassa. “I snuck out front to watch him play, and as he was starting to crescendo, the sun had caused these storm clouds to turn purple. It was the most amazing visual to go along with some of the most amazing guitar playing I've ever heard in my entire life.”

Continue Your Crossroads Journey

There’s still more to watch in Guitar Center's Crossroads 2026 coverage and be sure to check out Joe Bonamassa's signature gear.