Electric Guitar Shop

For more than half a century, Riley B. King – better known as B.B. King – has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over 50 albums, many of them time-honored classics. Mississippi-born King played on street corners for dimes in his youth, sometimes playing in as many as four towns a night. In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis , TN , to pursue his music career and the rest, as they say, is blues history. Blues legends B.B. King and Buddy Guy took the blues to a higher level on January 2 at hard Rock Live in Hollywood. As you could imagine, these two blues legends gave a performance that will long be remembered. After the show, I had the great opportunity to meet B.B. King. Have I never met such a kind and gentle soul. He spoke with me and my father for nearly fifty minutes, and signed several autographs including a CD and a red electric guitar. Truly a great man.B.B. King took some time from his current tour schedule to answer a few questions. Q: When did you first become interested in the guitar?When I was a very small boy, my mother used to take me to church, and the pastor in church played the guitar. That made me want to play it, because I wanted to be like him.  I’m not a fast learner. I’m very, very slow. I’m still learning. My first guitar was a little red Stella guitar. It cost me $15, and I was making $15 a month at the time. My boss bought the guitar for me, and allowed me to pay it off.Q: Who were some of your earliest musical influences? One was a guy called Lonnie Johnson, who played acoustic guitar and sang blues. Another was Lemon Jefferson. I was told Billy Joel Signed Autographed Fender Airbrush Guitar & Proof PSA DNA Lemon Jefferson was born blind because everyone called him Blind Lemon. Both of those played acoustic guitars and sang blues. Then I heard of a jazz guitarist called Charlie Christian and it was electrical. And man, did I like that! Another one was a French gypsy, a guy called Django Reinhart; also was playing acoustic guitar, but he had an amplifier through a microphone. And boy was that good. And one I still have with me on my MP3 today is T-Bone Walker. He played the electric guitar; single-string, mostly blues. Had the big fat chords when you hit them, and I liked that. So those five have been my major influences. I could never play like any of them. I tried many times, but not even today I couldn’t play like them.Q: Were some of your early recordings done at the infamous Sun Records in Memphis? I was trying to get into the business. I thought I was good enough as a singer and a player to record. And you know, in Mississippi we didn’t even have music stores, or a music store. But I’d heard that in Memphis they had a recording studio; that was one of the reasons I went. It was called Sam Phillips. But I never recorded for him, I recorded in his studio. But I never did play for him. Q: Of all the guitars in the world, why do you choose to play the Gibson guitar exclusively? It has a long, thick neck on it. I’ve got big fat hands and I’m a big guy. During the early years, it was hard to get a good guitar. It was really hard. I hear people talk about today its hard to find a good guitar, but today guitars are like insects to me, there’s so many of them. At that time, I couldn’t make enough money to buy one. I did try many kinds. Whoever designed the Gibson guitars in the beginning did a really good job. One of the things I like about it is if the neck stops to warp – if I take my hand and my hand is like that (demonstrates), but after awhile it starts to do this – the guitar neck does. Well, they put a rod in the Gibson guitar. And when it starts to bend a little bit, there’s a little wrench you have that you can tighten it and it straightens it back out again. That’s another thing I like about it. If you notice my fingers, I don’t have big corns on them like some other people ‘cause I keep the action pretty close to the frets. Q: Are you  critical, at all of your own playing? Yeah. In the early years, you’d go into a little juke joint and you’d play. Somebody else would come in who would play better than you, and you don’t come back. They’re finished with you. I really think I’m kind of like that today; I’m never any better than my last concert. And I make mistakes nightly. But the only part that’s pretty good is when you make a mistake and cover it up without anybody else catching you. That’s the smooth part of it. I’ve got a band, some guys have been with me up to 26 years and when I make mistakes I feel so ashamed, I don’t want them to catch me. The hard part of practicing; is trying to do the same thing you did when you don’t know you were doing it ‘til you hear it and try to cover it up where they don’t know. Someone might say, “Oh, B.B, you got your new lick, huh? How’d you do that?” “Oh I don’t know.” Cause I don’t know what I was doing in the first place. Q: The blues and the guitar are a natural fit, but you could pretty much play just about anything

What’s your fav. song out of these????
What’s your favorite and also least favorite of these songs??? You can pick more than one if you want. Also if you could tell me songs about moving on and starting over Billy Joel Signed Autographed Fender Airbrush Guitar & Proof PSA DNA please do!Ace of Bass – “I saw the Sign”The Beatles – “Blackbird”The Beatles – “Here Comes the Sun”Billy Joel – “I’m Movin’ Out”The Byrds – “Turn turn turn”Christina Aguilera – “Cruz”Dixie Chicks – “Wide Open Spaces”Kelly Clarkson – “Breakaway”Madonna – “Sky fits Heaven”Mary J Blige – “No more Drama”Mary J Blige – “Just Fine”Natasha Bedingfield – “Unwritten”Styxx – “I’m Sailing Away”Tracy Chapman – “Fast Car”

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