Home Forums Guitar News Weekly Guitar News Weekly Archive Play like … B.B. King

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    Topic
  • #22500
    Guitar Expert
    Keymaster

    by Dirk Hagemann
    http://www.blueslessons.net

    The B.B. King Guitar Style
    ==========================

    Please notice: You can find the tab, midis and GuitarPro files of this
    lesson on BluesLessons.net!

    The Equipment
    ————-
    B.B. King B.B. King had been playing Gibsons for over 40 years when he
    and Gibson officially joined forces in 1982. B.B.’s personal touches on
    his signature model include the fine-tuner tailpiece, the semi-hollow
    body with no soundholes and, of course, the name that has adorned his
    guitars throughout his career “Lucille” with his signature Gibson
    Strings: 010 .013 .017p .032w .045w .054w

    The Tone
    ——–
    You should not use a distortion on your amp too much. Just use a nice warm
    overdriven tone.

    The Style
    ———
    B.B. plays a variation of the pentatonic/Blues scale or the Mixolydian scale.
    For this lesson we stick to the A-Minor Blues scale.
    All licks in this exercise are in the key of A.

    The Technique
    ————-
    B.B. King is no SRV 😉 His famous signature comes from the phrasing and the
    vibrato (See Lessons “Slides & Vibratos” and “Phrasing”).

    B.B. King has a special vibrato technique: On a vibrato the only part of his left
    hand touches the guitar is the finger which do the vibrato.

    B.B. Kings vibrato style
    ————————
    Put your ring finger on the B string on the 8th fret. Your fingertip is
    the only part of your hand that touches the guitar! Then hit the string
    and “shake” your wrist to get a long and intense vibrato!

    
    e|---------|
    B|--8~~~~--|
    G|---------|
    D|---------|
    A|---------|
    E|---------|
    
    

    B.B. King Style Licks
    ———————-

    
    Lick 1                                                         
    E||--10~-----12b-------------|--------------10--12b-----|
    B||------------------10~-13--|------10--13--------------|
    G||--------------------------|--------------------------|
    D||--------------------------|--------------------------|
    A||--------------------------|--------------------------|
    E||--------------------------|--------------------------|
    
    
                                    Lick 2                          
    ------10----------------------|--------------10----------|
    ----------10------------------|--------------------------|
    --------------12------10--11--|------12b---------12--10--|
    ------------------12----------|--------------------------|
    ------------------------------|--------------------------|
    ------------------------------|--------------------------|
    
    
                                  Lick 3                              
    ------------10--------|------|------10h12---10--------x----|
    ----------------------|------|-----------------13-13~-x----|
    ----------------------|------|-----------------------------|
    --12~-----------------|------|-----------------------------|
    ----------------------|------|-----------------------------|
    ----------------------|------|-----------------------------|
                                                                            
    --------10--12--12p10-----12p10-----|--12r-10---------10p8--------------|
    ----13----------------13--------13--|---------13~---x------8------------|
    ------------------------------------|------------------------7h9-9-7----|
    ------------------------------------|--------------------------------10-|
    ------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
    ------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
    
    
                                Lick 4                                                    
    --------------------|------|--5--5------------------|--5--5--------------------|
    --------------------|------|--------8--8--5~-----5--|--------8--8--5-----------|
    --------------------|------|------------------------|-----------------7--5--6--|
    --10~---------------|------|------------------------|--------------------------|
    --------------------|------|------------------------|--------------------------|
    --------------------|------|------------------------|--------------------------|
                                                                    
    ------------------------5--7b---|--5--------------------|------|
    --------------5------7----------|-----5--8-----5~-------|------|
    --------5/-6----5-7-------------|-----------7-----------|------|
    --7--7--------------------------|-----------------------|------|
    --------------------------------|-----------------------|------|
    --------------------------------|-----------------------|------|
    
    
    Lick 5                                                             
    ---------------------------|--------------------------------|
    ---------5--------------5--|--------------5-----------------|
    ----7b------7--5-----7b----|--7--5-----7b----7--5-----7-----|
    ------------------7--------|--------7--------------7-----7--|
    ---------------------------|--------------------------------|
    ---------------------------|--------------------------------|
                                                         
    --------------------------|-------------------------|
    --------------------------|-------------------------|
    --5--5--------------------|-------------------------|
    --------7-----5--5--7-----|-------------5--5--7--7--|
    -----------7-----------7--|----5--7--7--------------|
    --------------------------|-------------------------|
                                                                  
    ---------------------------|--8b----------------5~---|------||
    --------------5--5--7--10--|-----10------------------|------||
    --5--5--7--7---------------|---------9--8--7---------|------||
    ---------------------------|-------------------------|------||
    ---------------------------|-------------------------|------||
    ---------------------------|-------------------------|------||
    
    

    B.B. King Style Solo
    ——————–

    
    E||----------------------|--8b-----------------------|------------------------|
    B||--10~-----------10----|-----10--8-----------------|------------------------|
    G||----------------------|------------7b-5--5--7-----|--5b--------------5--7~-|
    D||----------------------|------------------------7--|-----7--7--7~-----------|
    A||----------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|
    E||----------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|
                                                                             
    ---------5----------|--8~-----8------------|----------8b-9--10--10b-10--|
    ------5-------------|------------10~-------|------10--------------------|
    --------------------|----------------------|----------------------------|
    --------------------|----------------------|----------------------------|
    --------------------|----------------------|----------------------------|
    --------------------|----------------------|----------------------------|
                                                                                    
    --8b---8b-------------8b-|----8----8--------------|--8b-10--10--8--------------|
    ------------10----10-----|------------10----10~---|----------------10~---10----|
    -------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|
    -------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|
    -------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|
    -------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|
                                                                               
    ------10--10r-8----8h10----|--8b-----8--------8b---|---------------------||
    ---------------------------|------------10~--------|--10~----------------||
    ---------------------------|-----------------------|----------------9----||
    ---------------------------|-----------------------|---------------------||
    ---------------------------|-----------------------|---------------------||
    ---------------------------|-----------------------|---------------------||
    
    

    For more exercises and GuitarPro files for this lesson visit:

    http://www.blueslessons.net

    From the 12-Bar-Blues, the Shuffle Rythm and the Blues Turnarounds to
    the Blues and Pentatonic Scale, to Lead Guitar techniques, Slide guitar
    lessons and more. For each Lesson there are images or GuitarPro files
    and midis to listen to. Each lesson can be downloaded as textfile.
    PLUS: mp3 Blues Backing Tracks/Jam Tracks and Ebooks!

Viewing 4 reply threads
  • Author
    Replies
    • #75334
      luvecor
      Participant

      i adore B.B. he’s a real king))
      and Gtrman777, thanx for the site, it’s really cool

    • #75346
      Anonymous
      Guest

      [quote=”Tommy Max”]I Love B.B. King! :D[/quote]
      Me too.

    • #75333
      Tommy Max
      Participant

      I Love B.B. King! 😀

    • #75315
      Gtrman777
      Participant

      Slow-hand, you can get B.B. King tabs at guitarinstructor.com. I found it a couple of months ago, and it’s really the best site for tabs. They’ve got the actual Hal Leonard versions, so it’s real tab, and it’s acurate. Wolf Marshall also has a great B.B. King lesson at that site.

    • #75347
      Slow-Hand Steve
      Participant

      This is great. I love B.B.King and I’ve always tried to play his kind of blues. I checked the site and it’s good, but there’s just a couple of licks there. I wish there were more.

      Does anybody know where I can find full B.B.King songs, with tab and everything? I would really appreciate it.

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