May 25, 2010
Masters of Blues Guitar
It is common for guitar lovers of all abilities to have old masters of guitar that they look up to and try to style themselves upon.
In most cases it is not possible to play like any of the greats as there are so many variables at play when creating sound and tone.
What exactly contributes to the sound and tone of a guitarist is a multitude of elements such as the style of guitar being played, the type of pickups, the guitars tone and volume settings, the type of guitar strings used, and of course the type and settings for the amplifier – and this is even before considering the actual guitarist and how they bend the strings.
Two legends of guitar immediately come to mind when one thinks of the Blues style of guitar playing and those players are John Lee Hooker and BB King.
The Epiphone BB King Lucille electric guitar is a classic blues masterpiece designed originally by Gibson and used by BB King for some time now. It is an absolutely beautiful looking guitar and has some really neat features for varying the tone while playing.
BB King is the penultimate performer playing to audiences in most years, 5 nights a week, and this living legend is well into his 70’s.
An inspiration to all us guitar bunnies who continue to plug away at the guitar. Follow BB’s lead and you can keep performing for audiences at your rest home!
Another great guitar I want to put up for consideration is the Epiphone Sheraton II – a personal choice of John Lee Hooker in the middle of the 60’s .
John Lee’s life is the story of blues legends – having grownup in a family of poor farmers in the South he lived through some of the toughest times in US history – the Depression followed by WWII before settling in postwar Chicago where he worked at Ford during the day and played guitar at night. His real fame came in the late 70’s with his hit album ‘The Healer’ and he acted in the cult movie “The Blues Brothers”. The legend John Lee died in 2001 and he left behind an extensive legacy of his particular music style.
An acoustic guitar was John Lee’s guitar of choice in the early part of his career, then he moved to an electric guitar while playing in Chicago, and in the 60’s switched to the Epiphone Sheraton II guitar.
The quality of guitars produced as reissues of those used by guitar masters is significantly extremely high and the goal is generally to honor the name or memory of the guitarist.
Owning such guitars provides a guitarist an opportunity to get some feel for the guitar equipment that the blues masters used.
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