The Legacy of Lucille: The Surprising Story Behind B.B. King's Guitar - Rolling Stone The Legacy of Lucille: The Surprising Story Behind B.B. King's Guitar The Legacy of Lucille: The Surprising Story Behind B.B. King's Guitar After it was rescued from a fire, the guitar became an icon B.B. King and his guitar, Lucille, were virtually inseparable for more than a half-century. Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Eric Clapton had "Blackie" and "Brownie"; Willie Nelson has "Trigger" ; Keith Richards, "Micawber." But before all of them, B.B. King had "Lucille." More News B.B. King, Blues Legend, Dead at 89 Brilliant bluesman who inspired a generation of guitarists and singers dies after decades-long battle with diabetes For more than a half-century, the bluesman and Lucille have been virtually inseparable — few, if any, relationships between man and guitar have persevered for as long or proven more fruitful.

Lucille is the stinging single-note lines that punctuate "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Sweet Little Angel"; the embodiment of the whole of American blues music on U2's "When Love Comes to Town"; and, more generally speaking, the sound that has stirred and inspired guitarists for generations. Lucille also serves as B.B. King's voice, as much as the bluesman's actual voice. "The minute I stop singing orally," he once said , "I start to sing by playing Lucille." One thing that Lucille is not — unlike Blackie, Trigger or Micawber — is a one-of-a-kind instrument. Through the years, there have been many Lucilles. Today, Lucille is widely recognized as a black-with-gold-hardware Gibson ES-355–style guitar. But she came into being as a much different instrument, one born — in a origin story befitting a blues icon — in a burst of fighting and fire. Related PHOTOS: 10 Legendary Acts That Wouldn't Exist Without B.B.

King From Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan, King's impact is large and undeniable Lucille's beginnings date to 1949, when King, then in his early 20s, was performing at a nightclub in Twist, Arkansas, in the dead of winter. To heat the cold room, King recalled in a video interview , "they would take something that looked like a big garbage pail, half fill it with kerosene, light that fuel [and] set it in the middle of the dance floor." All well and good, but on this night, a fight broke out between two men, and the pail was knocked over. "It spilled on the floor, it looked like a river fire," the guitarist said. "And everyone started to run for the front door, including B.B. King." The blueseman managed to make it to safety outside — only to realize he had left his guitar behind. He raced back inside to retrieve it even as the wooden building, he said, "started to fall in around me." The next day, he learned that two men had died in the blaze and that the fight that had set off the tragic chain of events had been over a woman who worked at the club.

Her name was Lucille. Werner B.B., who claimed he "almost lost [his] life" rushing back into the nightclub, christened his guitar after her, he said, "to remind me never to do a thing like that again." The original Lucille — the guitar King rescued that night in the fire — was an inexpensive, small-bodied Gibson L-30 archtop. The singer would go on to play a range of guitars over the ensuing years, attaching the Lucille name to each one. He was particularly drawn to Gibsons of the semi-hollow "ES" (Electric Spanish) variety, such as the ES-335 model that can be heard on his legendary 1965 disc, Live at the Regal. He eventually arrived at the ES-355, a top-of-the-line model boasting stately looks (gold-plated hardware, multi-layered binding, big mother-of-pearl fretboard markers) and a sharp but sweet tone bolstered by dual humbucking pickups and stereo and mono outputs. The ES-355 remained B.B.'s instrument of choice until the early Eighties, when he collaborated with Gibson to create his own signature model.

Known as the Gibson "Lucille," the guitar was essentially a 355 outfitted with several modifications, some of them aesthetic (the personalized "Lucille" headstock), and others more functional — King, who reportedly would occasionally stuff rags into the f-holes of his guitars to reduce feedback, requested that on his signature model the f-holes simply be removed entirely. Related PHOTOS: B.B. King's 5 Greatest Live Performances The recordings that prove the blues legend was one of the greatest live performers in history Over the years, the Gibson Lucille has been issued in a variety of iterations, including a limited-edition "King of the Blues" version and an ostentatious "Super Lucille." In 2005, Gibson produced an 80th Birthday model Lucille for the bluesman, which he summarily adopted as his main stage instrument — until, in the summer of 2009, it was stolen. But a few months later, a guitar trader and appraiser named Eric Dahl came across this very Lucille in a Las Vegas pawn shop. "The whole thing was covered in sweat. The strings were nasty," Dahl told Gibson.com .

"Then I flipped it over and looked at the headstock and it said, 'Prototype 1' in a white stamp.... I assumed it meant this was one of the original 80th Birthday model Lucilles that B.B. King had approved." Unaware of what he was holding in his hands, but curious about its unusual headstock stamp, Dahl contacted Gibson about the guitar. Following several months of dead-end inquiries, he was notified that the instrument was not merely a Lucille approved by B.B. King but, rather, King's actual Lucille. Upon hearing his guitar had been recovered, King met with Dahl and traded him a new Lucille for the prized 80th Birthday model. Following the exchange, Dahl recalled that King "told me he hoped I'd enjoy playing mine as much as he enjoys playing his." Indeed, it would seem that B.B. King has continued to enjoy playing his Lucille, right up to and through his most recent show, on October 3rd, 2014.

That night, like thousands of nights before it, could likely have been summed up by the opening lines of King's song "Lucille," the paean to his trusty companion that King recorded for his 1968 album of the same name: The sound that you're listenin' to Is from my guitar that's named Lucille It's a sound blues fans have been listening to now for more than 50 years, and it's one the world won't soon forget. Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this? How Did B.B. King's Guitar Get the Name Lucille? | Entertainment Guide How Did B.B. King's Guitar Get the Name Lucille? by Amy Lively B.B. King started naming his guitars Lucille after a 1949 bar fight.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Related Articles How Did Malcolm X Become Famous? Riley B. King was born on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1925. He wanted a good name for the radio, so he became known as B.B. (shortened from Beale Street Blues Boy) in Memphis in the 1940s. Since then, B.B. King has earned his place as one of the world's most famous blues artists. He has performed with his guitar, Lucille, well into his 80s. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. what is a fallback Origins of the Name Lucille King's tradition of naming his guitars "Lucille" dates back to 1949, when he was playing in a small dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. It was winter, and the only source of heat was a large container of kerosene, which was lit and placed in the middle of the dance floor. Two men got into a fight near the container. They knocked it over, and fire spread across the floor.

King escaped from the building, but he ran back in when he realized that he left his guitar inside, despite warnings from the fire department. Later, King learned that two men died in the fire and that the men who were fighting were arguing over a woman named Lucille. From then on, King named his guitars Lucille as a reminder not to do a "silly thing" like that again (as he phrased it to author William Ferris in "Give My Poor Heart Ease"). The Guitar King has had several "Lucilles," but since the 1960s, he has primarily used the electric semi-hollowbody Gibson ES-355. In 1980, the Gibson Guitar Corporation began custom-building King's guitars, and a version of his guitar is available to the general public as part of the Gibson Artist Collection. King favors a glossy black finish with gold hardware, although the ES-355 is also available with a cherry finish. One modification on King's custom-built Gibson is the lack of soundholes. Before his guitars were custom-made, King stuffed rags into the soundholes to prevent unwanted feedback. Another important modification is the name Lucille, which is written in white script on the guitar head.

King's Sound King transformed the sound of blues guitar from one that was primarily acoustic to one that encompasses trilling vibrato (similar to that of the slide guitar) and string bends that make it seem as if Lucille is singing along with him. The influence of early bluesmen like T-Bone Walker is evident, but he has developed his own style that also incorporates elements of jazz and big band music, making horns and strings important aspects of King's unique sound.

Classic King Recordings In the 1950s, King hit the R&B; charts with singles like "You Upset Me Baby" and "Every Day I Have the Blues." He released "Live at the Regal" in 1965, which Rolling Stone says is "one of the hottest blues-guitar albums ever recorded." King cracked the Top 20 on the pop charts in 1970 with the classic "The Thrill is Gone," and crossed over to rock in 1988 when he collaborated with U2 on "When Love Comes to Town." In 2000, King joined Eric Clapton on the Grammy-winning "Riding with the King," which included a reworked version of King's first hit from 1951, "Three O'clock Blues." References 14 Famous Guitars With Names - And Where They Are Now - Guitar-Muse.com 15 14 Guitars With Names, And Stories, And What Became Of Them Guitarists name their guitars all the time.

It seems that – at least for some of the more famous guitars with names – these guitars are very road worn, and they’ve all got great stories to go along with them. We’re going to take a look at 14 of them here. Click Any Image To Enlarge Yngwie Malmsteen’s “The Duck” The duck is a 1971 cream colored Stratocaster, that Yngwie originally purchased in 1978, in Sweden. It’s been in countless photo shoots, and has been featured with Yngwie on many of his album covers. When Yngwie purchased it, as a teen, and it was Olympic White in color. Since then The Duck has seen a new paint job, several pickup changes (all Seymour Duncans), new frets (after a fan threw a bottle at the guitar and popped off the 17th fret), at least 6 neck (due to headstock breakage) changes. Apparently, the headstock most commonly gets broken when Yngwie throws it up into the air and fails to catch it. Where is it now?

Yngwie is still rocking the Duck, and while he says it is not his favorite Strat, he does think it is one of the best sounding guitars he owns. David Gilmore’s “0001” This guitar is the source of much controversy, due to the mysterious and attention-getting serial number it has stamped on it: “0001”. We know it’s not the first ever Stratocaster produced, so the reasoning behind the number remains a mystery. Some theorize that it was made special for an employee of Fender. The guitar was originally owned by Leo Fender, and then Leo either sold or gave it to Seymour Duncan. Seymour sold it to someone else, for around $900, and that person (whose exact identity is another argument point for some) ended up transferring it to Gilmour. Seymour Duncan says that there were originally two 0001 Stratocasters, and David Gilmour’s is one that was sent out for repairs, and received a new, random body. Either way, it’s a prized possession of Gilmour’s, and he still owns it and uses it on occasion.

Billy Gibbon’s “Muddywood” Muddywood isn’t a guitar that Gibbons has toted around on the road and played the crap out of, it’s more of a tribute guitar to Muddy Waters. It was built from cypress beams that were once a part of the cabin that Muddy Waters grew up in, at Stovall Farms, in Missisippi. Muddy worked as a tractor driver and sharecropper there. The guitar was unveiled in 1998 at the Delta Blues Museum, and currently sits in a corner of the restored cabin where Muddy once lived. Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” Eric’s first Stratocaster was a brown burst, that he called “Brownie”. After that, it only made sense to call the Black one that came next “Blackie”. Blackie actually was built from the best parts of three different Strats – which were all from 1956 or 1957. He purchased the guitars – six in total from a guitar store in Nashville. He gave three of them to his friends – Steve Winwood, George Harrison, and Pete Townsend. The remaining three went together to form Blackie.

The first time Blackie got stage time was in January of 1973. The last time he played it in public was in 1991. Where is it now? In 2004 the guitar was auctioned to raise money for the Crossroads Foundation, Clapton’s own drug and alcohol rehab center. The high bidder? Guitar Center, who walked away with Blackie after bidding $959,500. Eddie Van Halen’s “FrankenStrat” or “Frankenstein” Back when Eddie Van Halen was searching for his “sound” and “feel” from a guitar, there weren’t as many options as we have now. Specifically, he was looking for a guitar that could pull off the sounds of a Gibson, with the feel of a Stratocaster. It was of course, made from a Stratocaster body, which Eddie routed out to accommodate a Gibson PAF Humbucker, which came from a Gibson ES355. This pickup was later replaced with a Seymour Duncan. Frankenstein had a maple neck and fret-board. Together, the neck and body cost him $130, $80 of which was the neck.

At first he used the original Fender tremolo, but later added the Floyd Rose. To give the guitar it’s now famous paint job, Eddie painted the guitar black, added masking tape, and then painted it again white. The red was added later when Eddie started to notice too many other black and white guitars (or other two tone combinations) that were coming out at the time. He used Schwinn Red Bicycle paint. Today, there are many replicas of this guitar, some of which Eddie has endorsed and used. Update: Check out the Striped Series guitar Eddie Van Halen released at NAMM 2013 Neil Young’s “Old Black” Old Black was originally a 1953 Gibson Les Paul Gold-top. It was painted black before Neil acquired it, however. Neil traded a Gretsch for it, in 1968. A year later, in 1969, Young added the Bigsby to Old Black. It now rocks a bunch of metal hardware, such as the aluminum pickguard and rear electronics cover. Where is it now? It’s still rockin in the free world, Neil Young still takes it out and plays it on a regular basis.

Willie Nelson’s “Trigger” We’ve got a whole article dedicated to Willie Nelson’s worn Martin N-20 . This guitar is probably the most road worn guitar in this article. Willie says it’s a part of him, and things just wouldn’t be the same without it. Trigger is a 1969 Martin N20. The obvious holes are from Willie using a pick on a guitar that was intended for finger-picking. The N20 was named Trigger after Roy Roger’s horse. Where is it now? Same place it will always be – very close to Willie Nelson. Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Lenny” and “Number One” Stevie has two guitars worth mentioning here: Lenny, and Number One. Pictured to the left here, is Lenny. Lenny was built somewhere between 1963 and 1965. Stevie fell in love with the Stratocaster when he saw it in a pawn shop when he was 26 years old. Although Stevie was already an phenomenal guitarist at the time, he and his wife Lenora didn’t have the money to purchase the guitar.

Lenora decided to get it for Stevie, so she asked seven friends for $50 each, and they all agreed, so the asking price of $350 was met. The guitar was presented to Stevie at a show, and later that night he wrote the song “Lenny” on it, which he played for Lenora the following morning. Years later, Billy Gibbons, from ZZ Top gave him a maple neck for it. We’re assuming that this guitar is in the possession of Jimmy Vaughan, who is said to have all of Stevie Ray’s guitars and pedals. Number One is a 1962 / 63 Strat that Stevie used for most of his career. Vaughan purchases it in Austin, Texas. Number One was rebuilt “countless” times. Here’s an article on a cool replica Fender made of Number One George Harrison’s “Lucy” Here’s another guitar that George Harrison was given by Eric Clapton. Before that, the guitar was owned by Rick Derringer, and John Sebastian. Later, when Clapton was asked by Harrison to play the lead to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, he used this guitar.

Lucy was made in Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory in December of 1957, but she wasn’t originally red – she was a Gold-top. In 1966 Rick Derringer had her refinished, but when he got her back, he said that she felt like a completely different guitar, and he just wasn’t into her anymore, so he sold her to Dan Armstrong’s guitar store in New York. A few days later, Clapton swooped in and picked Lucy up, and then later gave her to Harrison. In 1973 Lucy was stolen, but was recovered some time later after some negotiations with the person who had inadvertently purchased her as stolen property. But that’s a different story for a different day. Harrison kept Lucy until his death in 2001. Keith Richard’s “Micawber” Keiths iconic Telecaster, Micawber, is a 1953 model. Richards actually picked it up in 1971. Micawber is always set up for open G tuning, and is normally used on songs like “Honkey Tonk Women”, “Mixed Emotions”, and “Brown Sugar.

Micawber only has 5 strings in use, and only 5 bridge saddles. There’s a Gibson PAF in the neck and the bridge has a stock Fender lap steel pickup, or a 90s nocaster pickup. The guitar is still in Keith’s possession and enjoys regular use. Quite possibly the most famous named guitar is BB King’s Lucille. By now almost everyone knows the story behind Lucille, so here’s a quick recap. Back in 1949, King was playing a nightclub, and it caught fire. Everyone rushed outside, but King realized he had left his guitar inside, and went in after it. Of course he made it safely back outside with the guitar, and later he found out that a fight had caused the fire – two men fighting over a girl named Lucille – and two had died in the fire. He named all his guitars Lucille after that, to remind himself never to fight over a woman, and never to do something as dumb as running back into a burning building. Now there are many Lucilles – in fact, in 1997, King gave Pope John Paul II one of his Lucille guitars. Where is the original Lucille now?

The last time King saw the original was in Brooklyn. It was stolen out of the trunk of his Oldsmobile, not long after the fire, and he states that he would pay $100,000 to get her back. King says that whoever got it probably doesn’t know what they’ve got because his name wasn’t anywhere on it. Brian May’s “Fireplace” or “Old Lady” or “Red Special” The famous “Red Special” guitar was built by Brian May and his father, Harold in 1963. The majority of the wood came from an 18th century fireplace mantle that a neighbor was throwing away. The guitar has many chambers due to the way Brian and his father put it together. Brian still has the guitar and it has been “upgraded” and repaired a few times. In 1998 and 2005 it was refinished and had some other cosmetic work done on it, and later the zero fret was replaced. The other frets have not been touched. Of course Brian still plays this one of a kind classic – but now he has many others that have been replicated by companies such as Guild and Burns.

Tony Iommi’s “Old Boy” Old Boy is a Jaydee Custom SG. It was built between 1975 and 1978 – suprisingly, John Diggin’s doesnt remember what year exactly that he built it on his kitchen table. He does remember being under some time pressure to get it done, and not having enough time to get many coats of paint on it. This became a factor later when it was left in a hot car, and some of the paint started to bubble up. This guitar is and was always Tony’s drop D tuned guitar. Now, it’s still in Tony’s possession, and still gets plenty of air time. Albert King’s “Lucy” Albert King’s Lucy is a Gibson Flying V that Dan Erlwine built in St. Louis in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Steven Segall owns three of King’s guitars currently, and one was given to Lee King, who played in Albert’s band. Segall’s collection is pretty impressive, he’s got King’s famous ’59 Gibson V, “Lucy” built by Dan Erlwine, and a mid 60’s V that king played extensively.

Tim Monaghan ( 129 Articles ) Tim has been playing guitar & bass since he was 12 years old and has been in Jazz, funk, rock & metal bands. Influences include Jeff Beck, Stanley Clarke, Doug Stegmeyer, Baden Powell, Steve Vai, and pretty much anyone else who has a unique style that expresses their individuality. One of Tim’s many hobbies is building, tweaking, and repairing basses and guitars. (en) B.B. King B.B. King Because Lucille always wants more By Alberto D. Prieto 5 Jimmy Page "Lucille took me from the plantation and gave me fame; when I'm lost, alone on the road, she talks to me. Sometimes I can hear her cry. Nobody sings to me like her….Sing to me, Lucille" God writes straight with crooked lines. And for Riley B. King, if there is a god, He twisted things up for him since birth.

The Afro-Americans complain that the white man has taken everything away from them, from their dignity to their liberty, and while doing so robbing them of their son, gospel, blues, jazz, petit-band sound, swing, r'n'b, rap and hip-hop…without so much as a thank you. All taken away over just one century, the biggest heist in history, and with just one witness of it all, one Riley Ben King (Itta Bena, Mississippi September 16th, 1925 – Las Vegas, Nevada, May 14th, 2015), spotless in his suit and bowtie, well rounded and seated on his stool, nearing 90 years of age. That was his name up until he was 24, when Blues Boy King made it big on the WDIA, a radio station from Memphis, Mississippi. Oddly, he didn't do so as a singer, but rather a disc jockey, presenting other people's songs to the city's downtrodden black audience. Over the night waves, King would slip in some of his own songs amongst the hits and promote his own concerts.

Gradually, he gathered together a following in the smoky drinking-dives of the post-war south. The whites took nothing away from B.B. King, however; the nearest they have gone to doing so is by copying him, taking inspiration from him and perhaps even worshipping him. After all the years of success, oblivion, comeback and revival, all the whites, blacks and yellows wanted is to play along with him, to bathe in the magic of his fat cat voice, his leisurely playing of the guitar. It was in a town with an apt, musical name, Twist, in which, after one of those gigs that had been plugged on the radio, B.B. King named his guitar. Lucille got her name in 1949 from a woman whose supposed beauty was the cause of a fight in the dive that King was playing in. The scuffles that broke out in this lost Arkansas wasteland soon turned nasty. Pushes came to shoves and then the flashing of knives and in the blink of an eye a barrel of burning kerosene that served to keep the locals warm on that cold winter night was overturned. The wooden building was soon engulfed in flames. B.B.

King managed to escape the inferno, but realised he had forgotten his guitar. Rushing back in to recover it, he found out the cause of the rumble. Afterwards, he christened his guitar Lucille, vowing never to do such a reckless thing again. The following day, he found out that the two men who had started the fight had both died. From then on, the bluesman stayed faithful to the model: an adaptation of the Gibson ES-335, usually black, with no vibrato arm or f-holes, with a semi-hollow, maple body. King's sound is not so much thanks to his guitar but more the way he talks to her. In fact, in all probability, his first Lucille was a solid-block Fender Telecaster. Recently arrived from Memphis, Riley met his cousin, a bear of a man called Bukka White, who got by playing his silver steel acoustic. Bukka showed the youngster the ropes: “If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.

They have to trust you if you want to rob them.” Bukka White always had a slide on his little finger, and B.B.'s interest in nailing that glacier metallic sound could well be the origin of his unmistakable vibrato picking style today. They were the first generation of black people born into freedom in the USA. To survive, be it a tradition of the victors and the vanquished or for whatever reason it may be, the only way a black man could get on in life was to know that he was inferior, know it deep down in his bones, in everything that he did, in everything he said. In a word, to be less than the white men that exploited him. Such knowing implied a deep feeling of tragedy and a contradiction. Tragedy gave character and was expressed in everything this new social class born from the Africans imported in to serve the New World did. The contradiction lay in the submission in order to survive and the instinctive desire to rebel. It was a contradiction that worked to bring the black people together to share their culture and their ways of life. It was a limitless energy that the bluesman channeled, transmitting feelings, traditions and power to be shared by this black brotherhood.

Their music, a connection to their roots and a source of redemption, was part of their destiny. It would be difficult to decide which transcends the other in B.B. King's blues - his plaintive voice or Lucille's. It would be difficult, if it were not for the manual element of learning how to play the guitar. The soft prodigious way he hits the strings, as much an innate talent as his voice is, gives nuances and feelings that take his music up to another level. Nevertheless, it is also true that if King weren't a key figure as an American blues guitarist, he would be anyway as a singer. The old man's voice is even more recognizable than his large and rounded figure, that big black and white silhouette that springs to mind whenever we hear the first notes of his blues songs. Each note lasts an eternity, the clean ring taking its time to fade away. With the passing of the years, each decade of the black music scene has seen a change from blues to jazz, from jazz to funk, from funk to r'n'b, gaining in popularity as the whites little by little started marketing it. With every show, B.B.

King demonstrated the versatility of his talent to ever-growing audiences, while never losing contact with his bluesman roots. God writes slowly on crooked lines and it is important to keep in mind that B.B. King is the grandson of freed slaves. This means that his parents' generation, the generation that brought him up, kept all of their slave customs. As did his grandparents, who were grandchildren of Negros that still missed their native Africa and had to survive under the white man's 'law'. This means that the blues king of this 21st century is a direct living link to the wooden shacks of the plantations, bringing us the sound of that age to Spotify. There exists a musical standard, one that has reigned for a century called A440. This standard dictates that the musical note A above middle C sounds best at this frequency, and therefore all notes in its scale sound better. There is another tendency, called A432, which insists that A at 432 hertz gives a richer mood when playing melodies, giving a certain melancholic feel to the music.

A similar tendency exists in the origins of the blues, which called the flattening of the note a half tone, making it sound sadder, bluesing it. Why? Probably because of the non-academic origins of black African or black North American music, which at the end of the day comes to be the same thing. Or at least it used to. The blues is born from a tortured soul, from misery, and above all from injustice. For this reason the minor scale was so suitable for this style, when the fight for the black vote started, when crowds of black people went to the clubs to live a little, where anybody living in one of those old shacks had lived enough to be able to get in down in verse and make a ceremony of their difficult lives. That and the African tradition to not teach music, but to express it as a very part of one's life made this style (and all of the black styles to follow in its path) a music of truth. Therefore, anyone seen to be a blues virtuoso would be venerated as a living legend: a bodily unification of the truth and the perfect way to express it.

Be the lines straight or crooked, it's difficult to be a legend while still living, even more so for decades. And this is only possible if you always tell the truth, something inevitable if you have not had the time to do anything else with your life. You will probably never hear King and Lucille speak at the same time. Their blues dialogue, note by note, is respectful of one another, each taking their turn. Lucille can be heard even without an amp, as B.B. King takes his music from the depths of his heart. That's what makes his sound so characteristic, "just a single one of his notes is recognizable", assures Eric Clapton, one of his disciples. And so are his gestures, just like they are of a flamenco dancer. When it is the soul that is making the music, the notes are not really looked for, but rather they themselves queue up, vying to be used. That's why King isn't afraid of the moments of silence out on the stage. Sing and play, sing and play.

And when he sings, he makes pauses, to hear himself, to listen to what is being played within… It's now not so difficult to understand how Beethoven could compose while deaf – music comes from your guts. "From can to can't", that's how the young Riley used to pick cotton when he was just seven years old. From when you could in the morning until you couldn't go on any more at sunset, attending the classes of his teacher, Luther at his wooden school: don't drink and don't smoke, you only have one home, and that's your body. You won't get another one, so look after it. In the same "from can to can't" way, B.B. King kept spreading the word of the blues throughout the world, until his body called it a day. Because his soul told him to, and because Lucille asked him for one more song… "Lucille just plays the blues…give me one more, babe, just one more". CEO of Gibson, Long-Time Guitar Home of B.B. King, Remembers the Legend: 'He Was Truly a King' | Billboard Search CEO of Gibson, Long-Time Guitar Home of B.B.

King, Remembers the Legend: 'He Was Truly a King' BB King playing guitar live on stage. The head of Gibson Brands remembers B.B. King's decades-long relationship with the guitar manufacturer. One name will always be associated with B.B. King: Lucille, the name he gave to his guitar. King got the name from an incident at a club in Arkansas in 1949, when a fight broke out during King's performance, starting a fire. King escaped the club before returning to rescue his guitar, naming it after the woman at the center of the fire-starting fisticuffs. Gibson has produced many different versions of King's signature model, also called the Lucille, and King was also a long-time partner of the company. Billboard talked to Gibson Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Brands, Inc., about King's relationship to Gibson and his impact on music. Juszkiewicz remembers King as a gentleman who loved his fans and was an invaluable ambassador for the blues. When I interviewed you last you had mentioned his health was not good. That wasn't very long ago, and now he's passed away. He is really one of the true legends in the industry.

His magnitude is -- I don't even know what the word for it is. You saw that when you met him, even though he was a very down-key kind of gentleman, you could see the awesomeness in the personality and that big smile of his. I'm very saddened for his loss. B.B. King's Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 Hits How long was he with Gibson? He was with Gibson well before my time. [Juszkiewicz arrived at Gibson in 1986.] When I came to Gibson, Gibson was in a bad situation. We were a tiny company. There were a lot of larger competitors that probably would have given him a pile of money. I heard from some of the people around B.B. the reason he stuck with us was when he was down and out as a musician, Gibson was always there for him and at one point was the only real money he was getting. He always remembered that and he was always very loyal to our company as a consequence. What did B.B. mean to Gibson? I think any time you have a close relationship with a legendary person like B.B. that sort of halo carries over to us. He really did actually love our guitars.

He was one of the few artists we have would actually go into the factory or one of the showrooms and pick up a guitar that came from the factory and played it that evening. What we sell is really what he played and he thoroughly enjoyed it. 'I Intend To Do It for As Long As Possible': B.B. King Reflects on His Career (Q&A from the Archives) You're a guitar player. What do you think the blues would have been without B.B. to carry on the tradition for so many years? To a certain extent, blues is one of those fundamental music forms like bluegrass and country that every top musician reveres but isn't all that popular at the end of the day with consumers. It's kind of a struggling art form, and yet it's fundamental to every popular song we hear. So I think the iconic nature of B.B. was able to buoy up that art form and keep it in the public eye. He really was truly a king. His glow and his personality and his notoriety really buoyed the entire music form and many other artists who were able to make a living off of it. What was he like with fans or guitar players that wanted to speak with him?

B.B., like so many legends that I've met, truly loved people. He loved his fans. It was just a sort of thinking that he was serving his fans. He truly loved them. He would drop everything. If he was talking a $10-million deal and a fan walked by, the fan was more important. He would immediately sign things. He would give them a B.B. King [guitar] pick and smile and chat and totally focus on that individual. That's really classy. Watch Eric Clapton's Touching B.B. King Tribute Video: 'He Was a Beacon' What about his guitars? Will Gibson keep making them as always? The Lucille and that specific guitar has become part of him, if you will. And like I said, he actually played the guitars that came from the factory near Beale Street in Memphis. B.B. and his people would come through that factory all the time. They're indelibly linked. When you think of B.B., do you think of any story or any particular time you spend with him? Very early on after I was with Gibson and I had met B.B., I was flying to the Orient and I noticed the stewardess was wearing a B.B. King pin.

In fact, I looked around and it looked like the entire flight staff was wearing B.B. King pins. And so I asked her, "Is every one here a B.B. King fan? Why are you wearing these pins?" She said, You're not going to believe this, but we just flew back to the U.S. with B.B. on the plane. He was in first class, and a fan came back from coach to talk to B.B.. We tried to shoe the fan away and maintain B.B.'s privacy, but he said, "No no no no. Anybody that wants to talk to me I'd be happy to talk to them." Blues Legend B.B. King Dies at 89 And so the fan asked B.B. to play something on the plane for him. And B.B. said, "No problem." He grabbed his guitar that was in one of the closets and started playing and singing in the first class section. Everybody came up from coach and he had an impromptu concert on the plane, and then he distributed his B.B. King pins to every one including the flight staff. How incredible is that? I think it says a lot about him.

We all should be saddened an individual of such character and joy in musicianship has left us. Why BB King's Guitar is Named Lucille - YouTube Why BB King's Guitar is Named Lucille Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jul 29, 2006 In this video, BB King himself tells the story of how he named his guitar Lucille. Category Gibson B.B.

King Lucille Electric Guitar | Musician's Friend { "siteName" : "/mf", "sourceCodeId" : "", "sourceName" : "", "sourceSegment" : "", "profileZipcode" : "", "profileStoreId" : "", "profileStoreName" : "", "contextPath" : "", "unicaEnv" : "site-prod", "staticContentUrl" : "", "styleStaticContentUrl" : "", "catalogAssetStaticContentUrl" : "", "scene7StaticContentUrl" : "", "scene7BasePath" : "MMGS7/", "staticVersion" : "ecom-1.7.0c&cb=7", "versionParam" : "?vId=ecom-1.7.0c&cb=7", "customerService" : "800-449-9128", "profileID" : "4461960028", "contentKey": "site1prod515743", "isInternational": "false", "isInternationalCommerceEnabled": "true", "currencySymbol": "$", "profileCountryCode": "US", "profileCurrencyCode": "USD", "oLOnExit

Number": "0", "liveChat" : "false", "cookieLoggedIn" : false, "richRelevanceMode":"render", "richRelevanceApiKey":"46baeda9936d6a41", "richRelevanceUserId":"", "richRelevanceSessionId":"", "rrBaseUrl":"//recs.richrelevance.com/rrserver/", "rrChannelId":"-", "rrMobileChannelId":"c6e0f249ecc40744", "hashedUserIdForCriteo":"", "rrTimeout":"10000", "isEducatorAccount": "false", "sessionIsDC": "false", "fullyLoggedIn" : false, "welcomeMat" : "false", "powerReviewsUrl" : "", "deviceType" : "d", "prodEnvEnabled" : true, "isMobile":"false", "madMobileEnabled" : false, "rrLoadAtgRecs":"true", "janrainAppDomain":"", "janrainAppId":"fpcfgdnipomgblmndfod", "janrainAppName":"login.musiciansfriend.com", "JSESSIONID":"" , "loyaltyName":"backstagepass

", "showLoyalty":"true", "loyaltyUser":"", "loyaltyPoints":"" } site1prod515743 515743 Gibson B.B.

King Lucille Electric Guitar Looking for Coupons? Call us Cart Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:57:42 GMT You have no items in your cart. 0 Login B.B. King's Guitar Name, 'Lucille,' Came From A Near Death Experience : NPR B.B. King's Guitar Name, 'Lucille,' Came From A Near Death Experience Embed Embed B.B. King's Guitar Name, 'Lucille,' Came From A Near Death Experience B.B. King's Guitar Name, 'Lucille,' Came From A Near Death Experience Embed Embed American blues great B.B. King died Thursday in Las Vegas at the age of 89. King played many guitars over the years, and all of them were named "Lucille." AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: And now, we mark the passing of blues great B.B. King. A Mississippi native, he was born Riley B. King and later went by the name Blues Boy, or B.B. King took the blues music he'd grown up with to international popularity. He developed a guitar style that attracted millions of fans and deeply influenced generations of musicians. B.B.

King played primarily on a Gibson semi-hollow body ES-355, and he had a lot of them over the years, and every guitar was known as Lucille. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LUCILLE") B.B. KING: The sound that you're listening to is from my guitar that's named Lucille. CORNISH: Lucille was born out a near-death experience in the winter of 1949. Here's B.B. King telling that story. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) KING: I used to play a place in Arkansas called Twist, Ark., and they used to have a little nightclub there that we played quite often. When we didn't have any other place to play, we were always welcome to play there. Well, it used to get quite cold in Twist, and they used to take something look like a big garbage pail and set it in the middle of the floor, half-fill it with kerosene. They would light that fuel, and that's what we used for heat. And generally, the people would dance around it, you know, never disturb this container.

But this particular night, two guys start to fight and then one of them knocked the other one over on this container, and when they did, it spilled on the floor. Now it was already burning, so when it spilled, it looked like a river of fire, and everybody ran for the front door, including yours truly. But when I got on the outside, then I realized that I'd left my guitar inside. I went back for it. The building was a wooden building, and it was burning so fast when I got my guitar, it started to collapse around me. So I almost lost my life trying to save the guitar. But the next morning, we found that these two guys who was fighting was fighting about a lady. I never did meet the lady, but I learned that her name was Lucille. So I named my guitar Lucille and reminded me not to do a thing like that again. JOE SMITH: (Laughter). CORNISH: B.B. King speaking to record executive and folklorist Joe Smith. Smith's recordings were donated to the Library of Congress. B.B. King died yesterday in his home in Las Vegas. He was 89. Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved.

Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. B.B. King | About B.B. King: The Life of Riley | American Masters | PBS About B.B. King: The Life of Riley B.B. King: The Life of Riley About B.B. King: The Life of Riley Premiere date: February 12, 2016 | 0:02:23 | Buy the DVD B.B. King, born Riley B. King, was one of the most influential and celebrated blues musicians of all time.

From his roots as a sharecropper’s son, working in the cotton fields of Mississippi, he rose to become a living legend — the most renowned blues singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer of the past 40 years — earning the moniker “King of the Blues.” King’s story of struggle and triumph is chronicled in American Masters: B.B. King: The Life of Riley, premiering nationwide during Black History Month on Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS ( check local schedule ). Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman narrates and appears in the film. Made with the full cooperation of The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi, B.B. King: The Life of Riley was filmed in locations across America, as well as the United Kingdom. Award-winning producer/director Jon Brewer worked on the film with King for two years. Filming was completed shortly before King passed on May 14, 2015. B.B.

King: The Life of Riley explores King’s challenging life and career through candid interviews with the man himself, his family, longtime friends, and fellow music contemporaries such as Bono, George Benson, Eric Clapton, Aaron Neville, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, Johnny Winter, and more. Born September 16, 1925 on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola, King was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr in nearby Kilmichael. After she died, his father brought him to live in Lexington. There, for the first time, King experienced segregation. A mob hung a black boy and then dragged him behind a car to the courthouse in Lexington. King witnessed the boy being dragged; it was an image he would never forget. Like so many blacks of his generation, King was subjected to bigotry, racism, hatred and denial. But he never allowed it to destroy his spirit or his music.

King candidly reminisces about memorable people in his life such as preacher Archie Fair, the first person he heard play an electric guitar; cousin Bukka White, who taught him about being a blues singer; the musical influence of bluesman T-Bone Walker and French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt; his stint as a disc jockey where his radio names (Beale Street Blues Boy and Blues Boy King) were eventually shortened to B.B. King; and how and why he came to name his guitars Lucille. A bittersweet moment in the film is King’s reflection on marriage. King had two wives, Martha Lee Denton, and then Sue Carol Hall. The failures of each marriage were attributed to King’s relentless touring schedule. Rare archival footage is interspersed throughout the film, including his 1968 performance at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West where he was billed with some of the hottest rock stars, who idolized him and helped to introduce him to a young white audience. Among the highlights from the film is footage of King’s collaboration with Bono, where King reveals that he “does not do chords,” and the story behind King and Eric Clapton’s recording of Riding with the King.

Though he made an exception for Clapton, King admits he doesn’t like to play acoustic guitar. The “King of Blues,” who delighted audiences around the world with such classic R&B hits as “Three O’ Clock Blues,” “Paying The Cost To Be The Boss,” “Every Day I Have The Blues,” and of course his most popular crossover hit, “The Thrill Is Gone,” died at age 89. The city of Memphis, where he had performed so many times, held a funeral procession for him down Beale Street, with a brass band marching in front of the hearse, playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” “Play the best that I can. Reach as many people as you can, as many countries,” says King. “In other words, I’d like the whole world to be able to hear B.B. King sing and play the blues.” “B.B. King became America’s most recognizable and influential blues musician,” says Michael Kantor, executive producer of American Masters. “The thrill isn’t really gone yet – I think anyone who sees this film will be thrilled and inspired by this legendary artist.” American Masters: B.B. King: The Life of Riley is a production of Emperor Media Ltd.

in Association with KingSid Ventures Ltd. & Cardinal Releasing Ltd. The show is distributed by BBC Worldwide North America. Producer and Director is Jon Brewer. Executive Producers are Jon Brewer and Tina France. Associate Producer is Laura Royko, Assistant Producer for American Masters Edited Version is Chantell Basiacik. Narrator is Morgan Freeman. Funding for American Masters is provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Rosalind P. Walter, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Ellen and James S. Marcus, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation, Lenore Hecht Foundation, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, and PBS. Support for this program also provided by National Endowment for the Arts. READ NEXT 10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like B.B. King | TAB | GuitarPlayer BY Jesse Gress July 1, 2007 FROM HIS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS as a plantation worker to his rise to world-class status as King of the Blues, B.B. King not only personifies every guitarist’s version of the great American dream, he stands as a true model among men.

His philosophy of life and dedication to his art form the bedrock of a remarkable 60-year career dedicated to self-improvement and universal brotherhood. A consummate musician and entertainer, King has touched and inspired people of every age, race, and creed. In the ’60s, his playing was adopted as the gospel by a younger generation of guitar phenoms that included Michael Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Winter. Looking back on how each successive stratum of guitarists has built on the ideas of the previous, it’s vividly apparent that B.B. King is single-handedly responsible for much of today’s blues and rock guitar vocabulary. King has maintained relentless touring and recording schedules since 1950, often playing as many as 300 dates per year. He’s a veteran of an estimated 12,000 gigs and too many sessions to count, though Live at the Regal (1965), Blues is King (1967), Live & Well, and Completely Well (both 1969) are particularly timeless.

To stay fresh, King has always kept up with the times by recording with a wide variety of artists, from the Jazz Crusaders and Ray Charles to U2 and Sheryl Crow. He has performed for presidents and was even a featured GP columnist from February through November ’83. Even at 82, King shows few signs of slowing down. How does one begin to emulate such a vast wealth of experience? First, you’ve gotta ... 1. DEVELOP BIG EARS Once a Memphis disc jockey whose handle was “The Beale Street Blues Boy” (yep, that’s where “B.B.” came from) and always an avid listener, King drew inspiration from a deep well of influences. By 1980, his blues and jazz record collection numbered over 30,000 discs! Today, King’s vast library of music has been digitized and travels wherever he does. “My style is a mixture of people that I’ve idolized,” King told GP in 1970.

His seminal list of favorites included Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and his cousin and former mentor Bukka White, and you’ll find many of these players’ characteristic musical traits embedded in King’s playing. And despite being self-taught, King firmly advocates musical education. “Get yourself a teacher, take music lessons, and learn everything you can about your instrument,” he says. “Learn to read music. Later on you’ll be qualified to play whatever you want.” 2. FIND YOUR SOUL MATE Perhaps you’ve heard the tale of how King came to name his guitar Lucille. (He rescued it from a fire started at an Arkansas juke joint when two men began fighting over a woman named Lucille.) But did you know that King’s original Lucille was a little black Gibson acoustic fitted with a DeArmond pickup? Or that King went through nearly every guitar in the book before discovering Gibson’s ES-335 in 1958 and settling on his beloved ES-355 in 1959? “Fenders, Gretsches, Silvertones—you name them, I’ve probably had one,” says King.

“When I found that Gibson with the long neck, that did it. That’s like finding your wife forever.” As of 1992, King was playing his 15th Gibson “Lucille”—which over the years has evolved into the signature semi-hollow sans-f-holes model that he still plays today. King generally disregards the guitar’s Varitone circuitry, opting to adjust the guitar’s volume and tone controls on the fly. “I set my guitar according to how it sounds. I never look down to see what I’m doing,” he says. In concert, King prefers to coax surprisingly overdriven tones (the man hits the strings hard) from a Fender Twin Reverb or Lab Series 2x12 combo, and, except for setting the bass control at about 6, he runs his amp “wide open, all the time. I do that so that when I need extra power, I can get it from the guitar.” It’s no wonder that for the last 30 years, King’s sound has approximated Clapton’s coveted “woman tone” more so than E.C. himself. 3.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY In addition to his revolutionary string bends, King developed his “butterfly” vibrato (or “trill,” in King’s words)—so named for the way his fretting hand opens up and appears to flutter over the strings—after hearing slide guitarists use the technique to sustain notes. “I think that the best thing I’ve done is learning to trill in such a way that I create a sound similar to that produced by a person using a bottleneck,” says King. “Trying to get that effect is what started me working on my vibrato, which is kind of like a steady pulse, pushing the string up and letting it go without losing control of it. I try my best to make my left hand trill evenly without any effort. Of course, a great deal of practice is necessary before the hand attains the dexterity required to move smoothly enough to get that vibrato. I want to make it just like my heartbeat, something I don’t have to think about at all.” Amen! 4. INSPIRE CHILDREN B.B.

King’s heart of gold is legendary, and a perfect example came at a concert in the mid-’80s when he pulled a gifted young student of mine named Adam Hokenson on stage and presented the nine-year-old with his pick. But it didn’t stop there. Four years later, Hokenson was a blooming blues prodigy, when I noticed him sidestage at another King concert. He had the plectrum with him and wanted to thank B.B. for it, so we headed backstage and found the King of the Blues sitting alone, eating half of a sandwich. Adam froze mid-step, his jaw practically dragging on the floor. (He’s starstruck, I thought.) Then Adam blurted, “You’re eating my favorite food—tuna on white!” Hearing these words, King reached out and offered his protégé the other half of the sandwich, and the two guitarists proceeded to munch out together, each sporting as big a grin as you’ve ever seen. Small gesture, huge lesson in generosity. 5. USE YOUR OTHER INSTRUMENT While this is a lesson about playing, the biggest mistake you can make when trying to emulate B.B.

King is to ignore the other half of his music—his singing. In its purest form, blues is about call and response between voice and guitar, and no electric blues player in history exemplifies this synergy better than Mr. King. His lyrical guitar leads pick up seamlessly where his vocals leave off, and it’s no stretch to say that King’s voice and guitar combine to make one bigger instrument. While most of us would be hard-pressed to sing blues with as much soul and conviction as the Beale Street Blues Boy, we can certainly have fun trying. 6. INTRODUCE YOURSELF Examples 1a through 1f depict six classic intro licks that have become synonymous with the name “B.B. King.” Notice that we’re playing over a slow, 12/8 blues groove in Bb. Unlike many blues-rockers, King is partial to “horn” keys, such as F, Bb, Ab, Db, etc., and each three-note pickup begins on beat four, just before the downbeat of bar 1 in a standard 12-bar blues progression. Ex.

1a’s opening 5-6-root motif approaches a whole-step grace-note slide into a partial Bb chord shape followed by a drop back to the 5. Ex. 1b alters the rhythm of the previous pickup, then approaches the same partial Bb chord via a half-step slide, concluding with a tonic Bb rounded off to beat two. The same pickup leads into a first-inversion Bb triad decorated with a half-step grace slide in Ex. 1c, while Ex. 1d reveals an alternative fingering for Ex. 1a. In Ex. 1e, we raise the pickup notes one octave and replace our chordal downbeat with a high-D bend and pair of tonic Bb’s, the latter embellished with plenty of King’s signature “butterfly” vibrato. Finally, Ex. 1f adds another eighth-note and alters the tones to produce a swinging b3-n3-5-6 pickup into a single Bb. Silky moves! 7.

PLAY IT YOUR WAY In addition to putting his own stamp on many familiar T-Bone Walker-style licks, King has developed a unique vocabulary of runs derived from the upper half of the less commonly used hybrid major/minor pentatonic scale pattern located two-and-a-half steps above the standard minor pentatonic blues box. Watch him play and you’ll be surprised by how many “blues box” licks King squeezes out of the compact pattern illustrated in the horn-friendly key of Ab in Ex. 2a. Any essential tones not included, such as the b7, can be achieved by bending the existing ones. You can bend the 5 a whole-step to a sweet, upper octave 6, or one-and-a-half steps for a wailing, over-bent b7, and produce microtonal to spot-on 3’s by bending the 2 a whole-step, or the b3 a half-step. King also uses his 1st finger to bend the 4 a half-step to the b5, or a whole-step to the n5. In Ex.

2b, a six-bar intro excerpt culled from a 2007 performance of the blues standard “Key to the Highway,” every note is derived exclusively from this pattern. 8. TAKE A SAD SONG AND MAKE IT BETTER You can always cram more notes into a slow song than a fast one, but take it from B.B.—quality beats quantity every time. Let’s examine a pair of elegant phrases similar to what King plays on “Sweet Little Angel,” a slow blues in Db. The familiar lazy intro lick and subsequent hurried rhythmic phrase in Ex. 3a are derived from the more common ninth-position blues box, and navigate the I-IV-I change found in bars 1-3 of the 12-bar quick-change progression. Notice how the run ends with another intro lick. Ex. 3b covers the turnaround in bars 11-12 with characteristic lines in both the fourteenth and ninth positions. The closing Db6 punctuation played over the ensemble’s V chord (Ab7) is another King trademark. 9.

ADOPT A THEME SONG King has recorded his longtime theme song, “Every Day I Have the Blues” at a variety of tempos, but none more blistering than the swinging jump-blues version found on Live at the Regal. King hits the stage accompanied by a jumping horn chart, then answers the horn section’s questions with short, melodic bursts that fill the spaces in the arrangement. You’ll find both the horn chart (written in the concert key of Bb) and King’s solo illustrated in Ex. 4. Record or have someone play the horn figure to see exactly how these phrases complement each other. (EXAMPLE NOT SHOWN DUE TO COPYRIGHT) 10. BECOME A STORYTELLER If there’s one classic B.B. King solo you’ve gotta know, it’s ... well, any of them. Each one tells a story, so you simply can’t go wrong. We’ve already transcribed King’s biggest hit, “The Thrill is Gone,” in the February ’99 GP, so let’s continue with “Every Day I Have the Blues.” Ex. 5 presents the second solo chorus from the Regal version of this jumpin’ 12-bar blues.

King commences by rolling his tone control from full bass to full treble mid-bend—a move not lost on a young Eric Clapton, who later mimicked the technique at the end of his “I Feel Free” solo on Fresh Cream (albeit by switching pickups). Additional highlights include King’s sweet staccato and legato bends, generous use of space, a Charlie Christian-influenced Cm7 arpeggio in bar 9, and all-around swingin’ vibe. Enjoy, absorb, and pass it on!

Question: What name does B. B. King always give to his guitars?
Answer: Lucille