It’s true that he’s worked constantly for five or more decades, playing with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Stéphane Grappelli, to John Williams, Nigel Kennedy and jazz-rock band Soft Machine.
And it’s the fusion of jazz and rock guitar that marks out his playing as different – though “not better” he insists.
Jazz was a love learned from his pianist father, while the rock came from the inspiration of guitar gods Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.
“If I hadn’t seen them I would probably have become what I was meant to be – a doctor,” he says.
A poster for the gig at The Manor House pub where Etheridge saw Clapton play for the first time.(Image: Newsquest files)
As a budding guitarist he haunted London’s Blues clubs where the emergence of Clapton – and Hendrix – shaped rock guitar in the mid 1960s.
Etheridge vividly recalls seeing Clapton for the first time with John Mayall and his Blues Breakers in 1966 at a Finsbury Park pub.
“It was in an upstairs room at the Manor House – someone should write a story about the importance of function rooms in pubs to the music industry because all the gigs were played in rooms with 100 odd people,” he says.
“It was mind-blowing. I was 17 and it was a completely different sound to anything I’d heard.
“When Clapton started playing the Les Paul with a Marshall amp it was so revolutionary that soon everyone started playing like that. He never takes the credit but he invented British rock guitar, he was our God.”
Rock guitarist Eric Clapton in 1970, Etheridge says it was a 1966 gig above a Finsbury Park pub that inspired him to become a guitarist.(Image: PA)
Months later, Etheridge saw Hendrix at the Ricky-Tick club in Windsor.
“This particular period was very fruitful and I was lucky enough to actually be there and see him live,” he says.
“Hendrix was the whole package, totally unique. I remember he came on with this wild hair and military jacket and played a slur while looking lasciviously at a woman in the audience. I thought ‘I will never be able to do that’.”
“Clapton used to stand there po-faced while playing this amazing stuff, but Hendrix had an incredible fluency, the movements, the sound coming out of the instrument, all flowed together in a balletic performance.
John Etheridge has lived in Hampstead since the 1970s and still practices for two hours every day.(Image: RLN Music)
“When I saw Mick Jagger, I thought ‘this is a poser,’ but we hadn’t seen or heard anything like Hendrix – it was very joyful, upbeat and fresh.”
Hendrix also gave Etheridge a vital break – and early encouragement.
He had started combining rock guitar with what he calls “my jazz vibe” and formed a band with Martin Amis’ brother Phil. In 1967, Hendrix got them a gig at the Speakeasy Club in Fitzrovia – a popular hang out for music industry folk.
“His drummer told Hendrix we were amazing and he went to the manager and got us put on for half an hour on a Sunday. Jimi sought me out after the gig and was very complimentary, saying ‘you’re great’ – this is before he was the divine rock god that he became, but it was very nice.”
After going to University to please his parents, Etheridge was soon back in London, answering ads in Melody Maker in the ‘Musicians Wanted’ section.
“It would say ‘name band requires guitarist, willing to travel’ and you would audition in the back room of a pub with 20 other guitarists who all played beautiful British-style blues rock. I would come in with my different kind of playing – I’m not saying better, just different – and everyone would perk up.”
He got lots of gigs and was in and out of bands, before finding a happy home with Soft Machine. Over the years he has built an enviable reputation as one of the greats – Sting is quoted as saying: “I never wanted to be a star, just a highly respected musician like John Etheridge.”
He is about to head on tour with fellow guitar veteran Gordon Giltrap, who calls him an “outstanding virtuoso.”
He said: “I’ve known Gordon since 1973, we’re the same age and are coming from the same place. We started playing together in various combinations, then last year he said ‘shall we do a duo?’
“He has his own unique way of playing that’s completely different to me. I am a fitter inner, and join him on his tunes putting my own part on top. Then I do a bit of my own thing – and it works.
“It will be a really good show. Getting stuck on the road with some people can be awful. Some tours are great musically but can be stressful, but Gordon is a decent bloke so there’s no stress.”
Etheridge has lived in Hampstead since 1978 and still practices for two hours a day.
“Every day at my age you are fighting decay, ” he says. “Up to a certain age you can go with the flow of nature, but now nature is saying ‘lie down and piss off’.
“You have to do a couple of hours every day – I call it practice, for someone like John Williams it really is practice. I sit around with the guitar noodling, but it keeps everything going, otherwise you get hand problems.”
“I love playing and I love playing live,” he adds. “Playing in a band or duo, it’s great to have that energy.”
The 77-year-old reflects on the threat of AI and how it will soon be impossible to distinguish a recording of an artist from an AI version.
But the sheer musicianship of two grizzled veterans with a combined experience of more than a century playing live, can’t be replicated.
“A proper blues guy doesn’t have to be anything, he has just got it. Hendrix and Clapton were totally authentic, you just felt it. That’s what people pick up on.”
The 2 Parts Guitar UK tour runs from October 4 to 29 with London dates at Pizza Express in Dean Street on October 28 and 29. www.john-etheridge.com