AceShowbiz - Eric Clapton has a big critic of his singing - himself. The guitar great admits he has turned down the volume on his voice on his new album, "Clapton", because he wants to sing more quietly.

He admits it's the only way he can tolerate himself on record. Clapton tells Mojo magazine, "I hate my singing. I don't like the way I sing. It all sounds like I'm 16 years old from Surbiton (England). I do my best to try and feel it."

"When I watch Ray Charles sing, I think, 'That's it, that's how it's done.' He remembers thousands of songs and he sings them all as if they're the most important song he knows. He does it from the bottom of his heart, every time, every song. And that's, that's the inspiration. That's my influence.

"But I'm imbued with so much self-doubt about my singing, that it's very difficult for me to get to that freedom that those kinds of singers have."