When the world accepts you as one of the great guitar players, one would think you wouldn’t necessarily have anything left to learn.

But Eric Johnson always keeps an open mind.

The Austin, Texas-based guitarist, best known for his 1980s LPs Tones and Ah Via Musicom and the song “Cliffs of Dover”, has had the opportunity to play the classic songs of Jimi Hendrix on the Experience Hendrix Tour. And Johnson said he picked up a good bit.

“Yeah, playing something like that gives you a reality check,” Johnson said in a telephone interview. “When you’re playing the songs of one of the masters of pop and rock, people like that had it all going on. When you study someone like Jimi, it’s like going to school.”

Johnson is back playing his own music, with his own style, heading to Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room on Friday night for an intimate show.

“Playing a smaller room, you have a creative connection, and thereby connect with the audience,” Johnson said. “It forces you to try and apply yourself musically, and you get an instant response from the crowd.”

Johnson’s most recent album, Up Close from 2010, seems as intimate. Johnson digs into his roots, and comes up with bluesy riffs, but also poppy rhythms.

He also had the chance to record with some fellow musical powerhouses, such as Steve Miller, Jimmie Vaughan, Jonny Lang and Sonny Landreth.

“With Up Close, I got into songs that were more musical, more of just what I kind of play,” Johnson said. “I put a lot of feeling into it, instead of spending time with the clinical side of making music. If you get so intense mentally with making music, it’s like having a beautiful house, and spending too much time arranging the furniture. You have a conversation with someone, and at the end of the day, it’s about the furniture feeling comfortable.”

Still, Johnson’s perfectionist streak – which has been blamed for his long stretches between LPs (he’s gone as long as nine years between albums) – is still in place. He said he’s doing a second version of Up Close for the European market, taking out overdubs and making the music more straight ahead.

These days, it’s not only his new music that’s gaining attention – Johnson has also picked up fans from a different source: The video game “Guitar Hero III”. His song “Cliffs of Dover” is a late-game challenge that is a rough time for all but the most experienced of players.

“I’m thankful for it,” Johnson said. “We started seeing a lot of younger kids coming to our shows. We’ve always had kids that play guitar, but this was a different audience. That was a real gift to me. Wherever people hear your music, and like it, that’s always good.”