Post: #1

Just wanted to honor one of my favorite musicians of all time. That group includes blues players such as Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters as well.

I'll have more to write later as well but feel free to drop some lyrics or notes.

Post: #2

Hah, you beat me to starting this thread by a minute. He was a true legend; very few people have contributed as much to the guitar as BB King, and the number of great guitarists who cite him as a primary influence is beyond count.

BB advising against being Beta Bux in "How Blue Can You Get?":

I gave you a brand new Ford
But you said: I want a Cadillac
I bought you a ten dollar dinner
and you said: thanks for the snack
I let you live in my pent house
you said it just a shack
I gave seven children
and now you wanna give them back
I said I've been down hearted baby
ever since the day we met
our love is nothing but the blues
baby, how blue can you get?

RIP

Post: #3

That's a lot of talent that's gone. RIP.

Post: #4

Rest in Peace, Mr. King.

A BB King show was my first concert. It was a great show and he was pushing 70 at the time.

Post: #5

Damn. There goes a legend. RIP. This man made the greatest road trip music.

Post: #6

I'll remember BB King for the beautiful phrasing and expressiveness of his playing. The use of space. And that vibrato.

RIP

Post: #7

He was definitely one of the all-time greats. RIP.

Post: #8

Part of the American soul was lost today.

I'm glad I saw him play before he passed.

The man could literally play his guitar Lucille and sitting in his chair and everyone else would up in their seats clapping and yelling.

Post: #9

I never realized how much of an important figure this man was. I recently watched a documentary on Netflix. It is also available on Youtube:

Post: #10

B.B. King was one of the main reasons I ever picked up the guitar. I was around fourteen when I first heard 'Lucille' and the song and BB's smooth delivery completely blew me away. He was one of the few blues guitarists with a truly authentic style and sound – he could literally play one note and you'd know who was on the strings. Truly incredible. RIP.

Post: #11

Me and my band will be playing a gig in a week. Can't wait to play the solo on "The thrill is gone" in front of a packed crowd. Clapton made me pick up the guitar, and through him I have discovered many greats.

Post: #12

BB King was such a G. Mad respect for the man. His legend will live on.

Post: #13

A true American original RIP. If there ever was a genre of music that is largely red pill it would probably be the blues and BB King kept it real in many songs.





You act like you to don't wanna listen,
When I'm talking to you
You think you outta be my baby,
Anything you wanna do
You must be crazy, baby,
You just gotta be out of your mind
As long as payin' I'm the bills, woman,
I'm payin' the cost to be the boss
I'll drink if I wanna,
And play a little poker too
Don't you say nothing to me,
As long as I'm taking care of you
As long as I'm working baby,
And payin' all the bills
I don't want no mouth from you,
About the way I'm supposed to leave
You must be crazy, woman,
You just gotta be out of your mind
As long as I'm footin' the bills,
I'm paying the cost to be the boss





Oh, I don't want a soul, baby
Hangin' around my house when I'm not at home
I don't want you to answer the door for nobody, baby
Oh, when you're home and you know you're all alone

I don't want your sister coming by
Because the little girl she talk too much
If she wanna come either visit us
Tell her to meet us Sunday down at the church





There was Adam, happy as a man could be
Till Eve got him messin' with that old apple tree
Ain't that just like a woman? Yeah just like a woman
Ain't that just like a woman, they'll do it every time
Lot took his wife down to the corner for a malted
She wouldn't mind her business, boy, did she get salted
Ain't that just like a woman? Ain't that just like a woman?
Hey just like a woman, they'll do it every time





Don't ever trust a woman, until she's dead and buried
Yes, don't ever trust a woman, until she's dead and buried
One day she'll say that she loves you and the next day she'll throw you in the street

She'll smother you with kisses, when her birthday comes around
But soon as she gets her presents, she'll down talk you all over over town
No, don't ever trust a woman, until she's dead and buried
One day she'll say that she loves you and the next day she'll throw you in the street

She'll beg you for clothes and diamonds, until you're all in hock
And then you'll come home one mornin' and your key won't fit the lock.

Post: #14

End of an era.

Bacon posted my favourite BB lyrics.

Post: #15

RIP B.B. King

Post: #16

A little bit of education that I found for ya'll.


The seeds of Riley B. King's enduring talent were sown deep in the blues-rich Mississippi Delta, where he was born in 1925 near the town of Itta Bena. He was shuttled between his mother's home and his grandmother's residence as a child, his father having left the family when King was very young. The youth put in long days working as a sharecropper and devoutly sang the Lord's praises at church before moving to Indianola -- another town located in the heart of the Delta -- in 1943.

Country and gospel music left an indelible impression on King's musical mindset as he matured, along with the styles of blues greats (T-Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson) and jazz geniuses (Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt). In 1946, he set off for Memphis to look up his cousin, a rough-edged country blues guitarist named Bukka White. For ten invaluable months, White taught his eager young relative the finer points of playing blues guitar. After returning briefly to Indianola and the sharecropper's eternal struggle with his wife Martha, King returned to Memphis in late 1948. This time, he stuck around for a while.

King was soon broadcasting his music live via Memphis radio station WDIA, a frequency that had only recently switched to a pioneering all-black format. Local club owners preferred that their attractions also held down radio gigs so they could plug their nightly appearances on the air. When WDIA DJ Maurice "Hot Rod" Hulbert exited his air shift, King took over his record-spinning duties. At first tagged "The Peptikon Boy" (an alcohol-loaded elixir that rivaled Hadacol) when WDIA put him on the air, King's on-air handle became "The Beale Street Blues Boy," later shortened to Blues Boy and then a far snappier B.B.

King had a four-star breakthrough year in 1949. He cut his first four tracks for Jim Bulleit's Bullet Records (including a number entitled "Miss Martha King" after his wife), then signed a contract with the Bihari Brothers' Los Angeles-based RPM Records. King cut a plethora of sides in Memphis over the next couple of years for RPM, many of them produced by a relative newcomer named Sam Phillips (whose Sun Records was still a distant dream at that point in time). Phillips was independently producing sides for both the Biharis and Chess; his stable also included Howlin' Wolf, Rosco Gordon, and fellow WDIA personality Rufus Thomas.
The Biharis also recorded some of King's early output themselves, erecting portable recording equipment wherever they could locate a suitable facility. King's first national R&B chart-topper in 1951, "Three O'Clock Blues" (previously waxed by Lowell Fulson), was cut at a Memphis YMCA. King's Memphis running partners included vocalist Bobby Bland, drummer Earl Forest, and ballad-singing pianist Johnny Ace. When King hit the road to promote "Three O'Clock Blues," he handed the group, known as the Beale Streeters, over to Ace.

It was during this era that King first named his beloved guitar "Lucille." Seems that while he was playing a joint in a little Arkansas town called Twist, fisticuffs broke out between two jealous suitors over a lady. The brawlers knocked over a kerosene-filled garbage pail that was heating the place, setting the room ablaze. In the frantic scramble to escape the flames, King left his guitar inside. He foolishly ran back in to retrieve it, dodging the flames and almost losing his life. When the smoke had cleared, King learned that the lady who had inspired such violent passion was named Lucille. Plenty of Lucilles have passed through his hands since; Gibson has even marketed a B.B.-approved guitar model under the name.

The 1950s saw King establish himself as a perennially formidable hitmaking force in the R&B field. Recording mostly in L.A. (the WDIA air shift became impossible to maintain by 1953 due to King's endless touring) for RPM and its successor Kent, King scored 20 chart items during that musically tumultuous decade, including such memorable efforts as "You Know I Love You" (1952); "Woke Up This Morning" and "Please Love Me" (1953); "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta' Love," and "You Upset Me Baby" (1954); "Every Day I Have the Blues" (another Fulson remake), the dreamy blues ballad "Sneakin' Around," and "Ten Long Years" (1955); "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," and a Platters-like "On My Word of Honor" (1956); and "Please Accept My Love" (first cut by Jimmy Wilson) in 1958. King's guitar attack grew more aggressive and pointed as the decade progressed, influencing a legion of up-and-coming axemen across the nation.

In 1960, King's impassioned two-sided revival of Joe Turner's "Sweet Sixteen" became another mammoth seller, and his "Got a Right to Love My Baby" and "Partin' Time" weren't far behind. But Kent couldn't hang onto a star like King forever (and he may have been tired of watching his new LPs consigned directly into the 99-cent bins on the Biharis' cheapo Crown logo). King moved over to ABC-Paramount Records in 1962, following the lead of Lloyd Price, Ray Charles, and before long, Fats Domino.
In November of 1964, the guitarist cut his seminal Live at the Regal album at the fabled Chicago theater and excitement virtually leaped out of the grooves. That same year, he enjoyed a minor hit with "How Blue Can You Get," one of his many signature tunes. "Don't Answer the Door" in 1966 and "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" two years later were Top Ten R&B entries, and the socially charged and funk-tinged "Why I Sing the Blues" just missed achieving the same status in 1969.

Across-the-board stardom finally arrived in 1969 for the deserving guitarist, when he crashed the mainstream consciousness in a big way with a stately, violin-drenched minor-key treatment of Roy Hawkins' "The Thrill Is Gone" that was quite a departure from the concise horn-powered backing King had customarily employed. At last, pop audiences were convinced that they should get to know King better: not only was the track a number-three R&B smash, it vaulted to the upper reaches of the pop lists as well.

King was one of a precious few bluesmen to score hits consistently during the 1970s, and for good reason: he wasn't afraid to experiment with the idiom. In 1973, he ventured to Philadelphia to record a pair of huge sellers, "To Know You Is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love," with the same silky rhythm section that powered the hits of the Spinners and the O'Jays. In 1976, he teamed up with his old cohort Bland to wax some well-received duets. And in 1978, he joined forces with the jazzy Crusaders to make the gloriously funky "Never Make Your Move Too Soon" and an inspiring "When It All Comes Down." Occasionally, the daring deviations veered off-course; Love Me Tender, an album that attempted to harness the Nashville country sound, was an artistic disaster.

Although his concerts were consistently as satisfying as anyone in the field (King asserted himself as a road warrior of remarkable resiliency who gigged an average of 300 nights a year), King tempered his studio activities somewhat. Nevertheless, his 1993 MCA disc Blues Summit was a return to form, as King duetted with his peers (John Lee Hooker, Etta James, Fulson, Koko Taylor) on a program of standards. Other notable releases from that period include 1999's Let the Good Times Roll: The Music of Louis Jordan and 2000's Riding with the King, a collaboration with Eric Clapton. King celebrated his 80th birthday in 2005 with the star-studded album 80, which featured guest spots from such varied artists as Gloria Estefan, John Mayer, and Van Morrison. Live was issued in 2008; that same year, King released an engaging return to pure blues, One Kind Favor, which eschewed the slick sounds of his 21st century work for a stripped-back approach. A long overdue career-spanning box set of King's over 60 years of touring, recording, and performing, Ladies and Gentlemen...Mr. B.B. King.

Post: #17

I don't know if any of you guys ever went to B.B. King's Blues Club in Manhattan, but it was a great concert venue. I saw plenty of metal bands from Europe come through there in my early 20s before I moved to Miami.

For me personally, many of my best concert memories were at a venue that had his name on it. I'll never forget that.

http://www.bbkingblues.com/index.php

Post: #18

(05-15-2015 01:15 PM)civpro Wrote:  

RIP B.B. King

You know what gives BB King the blues? When you mix him up with Chuck Berry.

Post: #19

I've been a big blues freak my whole life (I'm 59) and I saw BB King live back in 1977. He wasn't sitting down then, he was kicking ass with a full horn band.

He lived a lot longer than most bluesmen (89). Most of them don't get past their 60's with the hard lifestyle.

I've seen Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Earl King, Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Johnny Copeland, plus tons of other blues guys like Johnny and Edgar Winter, SRV, Robert Cray, Bobby Bland, Jimmy Vaughn, Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Earl, the list goes on forever.

RIP, BB

Post: #20

(05-16-2015 12:12 AM)DelMarMan Wrote:  I've been a big blues freak my whole life (I'm 59) and I saw BB King live back in 1977. He wasn't sitting down then, he was kicking ass with a full horn band.

He lived a lot longer than most bluesmen (89). Most of them don't get past their 60's with the hard lifestyle.

I've seen Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Earl King, Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Johnny Copeland, plus tons of other blues guys like Johnny and Edgar Winter, SRV, Robert Cray, Bobby Bland, Jimmy Vaughn, Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Earl, the list goes on forever.

RIP, BB

I'm a drummer (well haven't played in almost 9 years but), the one and only authentic blues gig I played with a bunch of seasoned players was a trip.

The band had a 2 might booking at a local blues bar, and the drummer at the time was Vinnie Dombroski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Dombroski , the lead singer if the band Sponge (also a seasoned blues drummer) had to drop the drumming gig 2 days before the first show, to prepare to go back on tour with Sponge. I knew no blues standards, nothing, squat.

I was booked to play the Saturday night show, and to "take notes" the lead singer/guitarist of the band (who was my connection) said to stop by Friday and watch.. none other than the original drummer for the the Johnny Winters band (unbeknownst to me before my arrival) Uncle John Turner http://www.unclejohnturner.com/bio.html. Granted it's the blues, but the stabs and breaks and changes aren't always straight 4/4 12-bar blues, so you gotta know your shit either way.

In awe of this opportunity, I'm getting a little nervous since these guys were all vets with national experience. The keyboard player was a wizard.

Saturday night rolls around, I get set up. And with 15 minutes we open the set, no sound check, just gas and go. Man was I playing on the edge of my seat the whole gig. It's the dead of winter, 20 degrees out, After the first song I start feeling high. Like someone slipped me some drugs. By the 4th or 5th song I'm shocked how well I'm pulling off the gig, hitting the stabs, everything.

By the 2nd set, I tell the band leader I'm not feeling well.. like I might barf.. in the middle of the song, while we're still playing. He said I looked green and white and was changing colors like a chameleon. The whole band was laughing how deathly I looked and still playing.

I played all 3 sets feeling like I was on demerol or heroin., finished the night with only a few mistakes which I bullshitted my way through. Loaded the drums, and took my temperature and it was 103.7. Haha, I was literally hallucinating from a fever, while playing this rare gig opportunity with high profile blues guys. I'll never forget that night.

Post: #21

Post: #22

BB King had his own unique style, that literally no one else try's to copy. He was a story teller and a true artist on the guitar. If someone tries to play like BB, the vibrato or quick popping riffs, its so obvious, you would say "why are you trying to play like BB". There are many greats, and I think the ones that truly reign supreme have a few things in common; they work incredibly hard for years cranking out albums and touring, and they have a truly unique style of play. EVH is a good example. BB is another example. Completely unique, completely original, and worked his ass off for DECADES. Today I will play my hand me down Epi 335 copy('69 cherry red), and remember his example to go out and do my own thing, and work as hard as possible.

Blues on the Bayou is a great one to check out;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jx_FRZA...nT0IMWaDcM

Post: #23

RIP, a sad loss. I've spent many a happy hour working out BB King licks and riffs and in a previous band we did a few of his song.

In just one of his solos you can hear phrases that influenced other great guitar players who followed, Clapton, Page, Hendrix, SRV etc.

I wonder, are there any of the original blues greats left??

Post: #24

(05-16-2015 09:12 AM)Guitarman Wrote:  I wonder, are there any of the original blues greats left??

Buddy Guy - who else?

Post: #25

Fifteen kids. Worked as a farm field worker as a kid. From absolutely nobody to world famous immortal.
A couple of his daughters are claiming a manager or other biz associate poisoned him. The NYT described his estate as "large."

Verdict: Genius, and incidentally Alpha as fuck.


http://variety.com/2015/music/news/b-b-k...picks=true