Guitar icon Eric Clapton has revealed in an interview with Classic Rock magazine that nerve damage has made it difficult for him to play the guitar.

As Clapton, 71, explained: "I’ve had quite a lot of pain over the last year. It started with lower back pain, and turned into what they call peripheral neuropathy – which is where you feel like you have electric shocks going down your leg…"

In a career that began in the early '60s, Clapton pioneered blues rock guitar with bands like the Yardbirds, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, and a long list of other projects and releases. Throughout his career, Clapton struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.

Clapton acknowledged the effects of abuse on his health, but expressed thankfulness that it wasn't worse:

“Because I’m in recovery from alcoholism and addiction to substances, I consider it a great thing to be alive at all. By rights I should have kicked the bucket a long time ago ... For some reason I was plucked from the jaws of hell and given another chance."