Why doesn't B.B King play chords
Richard
he plays live he always seems to have a Rhythm guitarist.
I really love his very early blues albums from the 1950s because his
voice was really powerful and sweet, and his guitar playing seemed to
have more intensity. (Maybe it was because of playing through fat bodied
semi acoustics and early tube amps which naturally distort at high
volumes).
How can a musician of such ability find it so difficult to play chords?
I am a poor guitarist but know a few chords such as a basic ninth and a
couple of seventh shapes.
In terms of guitar playing I prefer T-Bone Walker who I think was more
versatile, although I think B.B King had a better voice.
Mike Sechelski
>I have heard B.B King saying that he cannot play chords very well, When
>he plays live he always seems to have a Rhythm guitarist.
<stuff deleted>
>How can a musician of such ability find it so difficult to play chords?
Simple...he doesn't HAVE to. He's the band leader and star of the show.
He sings his heart out, plays a solo now and then, points to a horn
player, and when he doesn't have to do anything, he's looking at the
women in the audience who are looking back at him...hey, that works for me!
(;-}
Later,
Mike
Brian Rost
anymore, he can hire someone else to do it. Obviously his fans
haven't stopped going to his shows because of it.
As far as the 50s sound thing, while we may listen to the records and
think how cool it sounds, perhaps the players were wishing they could
get a cleaner sound at the time! After all, the trend through the
early 60s was to make more powerful amps to get more *clean* volume.
Supposedly after some amp tech in SF modified Eric Clapton's
Marshalls to give more gain in the preamp, the Marshall techs in the
UK were horrified. After all, with that extra gain, the sound would
be distorted, for pete's sake!
As far as T-Bone being more verstaile than BB, I suggest you try
listening through some of the available T-Bone box sets; the man
repeated himself a *lot*. BB has definitely worked in more styles and
feels than T-Bone. I will agree that T-Bone was a strong rhythm
player, though.
--
Brian Rost
Ascom Nexion
ro...@nexen.com
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"Put the money in his hand and the Cubmaster will rock!"
- Cub Koda
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NBE310200-Askew
Richard <R.P.B...@ncl.ac.uk> wrote:
>I have heard B.B King saying that he cannot play chords very well, When
>he plays live he always seems to have a Rhythm guitarist.
>voice was really powerful and sweet, and his guitar playing seemed to
>have more intensity. (Maybe it was because of playing through fat bodied
>semi acoustics and early tube amps which naturally distort at high
>volumes).
>couple of seventh shapes.
>In terms of guitar playing I prefer T-Bone Walker who I think was more
>versatile, although I think B.B King had a better voice.
B.B. Cannot sing and play at the same time. After 35+ years of
not trying to sing and play at the same time,,, well its that
old dog story. B.B. likes a traditional Memphis style band.
so theres always enough rythm section in the back. Hey Id
do anythang to strumm a little rythm behind Lucille 8^). B.B.
I know your doin the computer thAng If your reading this,,,,,
TAKE ME AWAY FROM THE HUMDRUM OF THE 9 to 5 !
Steve
Doin That Blues ThAng!
Party_Man
O(+>I have heard B.B King saying that he cannot play chords very well, When
O(+>he plays live he always seems to have a Rhythm guitarist.
O(+>I really love his very early blues albums from the 1950s because his
O(+>voice was really powerful and sweet, and his guitar playing seemed to
O(+>have more intensity. (Maybe it was because of playing through fat bodied
O(+>semi acoustics and early tube amps which naturally distort at high
O(+>volumes).
O(+>How can a musician of such ability find it so difficult to play chords?
O(+>I am a poor guitarist but know a few chords such as a basic ninth and a
O(+>couple of seventh shapes.
O(+>In terms of guitar playing I prefer T-Bone Walker who I think was more
O(+>versatile, although I think B.B King had a better voice.
2 me, B.B. doesn't seem like the kind of guitarist 2 play rythem. He seems
more like the kind of guitarist who would solo sweet, cherry syrup (which
he does). MayB it's Bcuz that's what he does...regardless, it just deosn't
seem like he's a rythem guitarist. Besides...he's good. Why complain?! :-)
--
All Hail The New King In Town!
Chris Hilliard
and he openly asks Bono if there is some one around who would play the chords
be cause he was horible at it. Bono tells him that the Edge would do it.
Charles Held
difficulty playing and singing at the same time. That's why he developed his
trademark style (sing a line, guitar answer, sing a line, guitar answer).
William Keller
fame have kind of driven him to commercialism. Don't get me wrong; I
still think he's a great guitarist and singer, but the soul just isn't
there anymore.
Voodoo Chile
Edward Liu
|> In article <40sa39$o...@whitbeck.ncl.ac.uk>, Richard <R.P.B...@ncl.ac.uk> wrote:
|> >I have heard B.B King saying that he cannot play chords very well, When
|> B.B. Cannot sing and play at the same time. After 35+ years of
|> not trying to sing and play at the same time,,, well its that
|> old dog story.
In interviews, B.B. has said that playing chords and playing-and-
singing-at-the-same-time are things that he works on in his spare time
with his MIDI computer setup. He actually did comp chords and play/sing
simultaneously on the episode of _The Cosby Show_, so there is film
footage of him doing it (and no, it's not an overdub). He still doesn't
feel comfortable doing either in concert. He also learned how to read
music and fly a plane in the 70's because he felt they were good
(although unrelated) skills to have.
He does claim that he developed his style because he couldn't play
chords well and because he couldn't figure out how to play slide.
Livin' between compiles...
-- Ed
Edward C. Liu | "We don't mean any harm. We just don't have
edw...@cc.bellcore.com | any better SENSE!"
| -- Elvin Bishop
The opinions above are mine and not Bellcore's. Really!
Simon H. Garlick
playing and singing simultaneously live...
--
______________________________________
s...@waikato.ac.nz (Simon H. Garlick)
______________________________________
Jeff Thomas
Short Answer: Because he doesn't have to.