Monday 27 April 2020

Why I Suck... Progress Report #3 – B.B. King


This was it. This was the biggy. Mr. Riley B. King, the King of the Blues himself – B. B. (Blues Boy) King! Armed with a tuxedo and a shiny Gibson 335 (the ever faithful Lucille), this man carved himself a place in history – even the normies out there, those non-musos and non-blues fans have heard of this guy. Christ, he played Glastonbury 2011 (remember that? Remember Glastonbury? Remember... outside?)

I've dealt with the extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary career in a previous post, so this time out I'm going to focus on the technique, the licks and his overall musical approach. I'm going to break this down into three categories – 1) major and minor pentatonic 2) arpeggios 3) quirks! So.. let's dive in!

Major and minor pentatonics – firstly, unlike his namesakes Freddie and Albert, BB's style was largely based around the major pentatonic. The classic “BB box” was centred on the root note on the B string under the first finger, with easy access to the 2nd falling neatly under the third finger allowing a bend up to the major 3rd. Equally, the 5th scale degree is easily accessible by the third finger, allowing a bend up to the 6th and back (a trick BB would often do when playing a turnaround and nailing the V chord), as well as those characteristic 5th to root resolutions. Some example licks are below:

This box pattern also has the benefit of being able to shift handily into minor pentatonic – the b3 falls nicely under the third finger, able to be bent up to the 4th (or even b5 if you're feeling adventurous). The presence of the 2nd nearby allows you to easily get both minor and major 3rds, as well as being able to bend in between them – the “blues curl” quarter tone bend.





Arpeggios – BB was wont to break out the odd jazzy lick now and again, and my first encounter with this was whilst transcribing “Every Day I Have The Blues” (key Bb) from “Live At The Regal”. In the first solo, he pulls out something very tasty in the turnaround – making his way down the I chord, followed by a very tasty inverted dominant 13th V chord (F13) arpeggio! Another trick used elsewhere in the album (Please Love Me), he plays over a blues in Eb, and over the V (Bb) chord he plays an arpeggio of the ii (Fm). Fm is comprised of F (root) Ab (b3) C (5). When played over a Bb root, however, these notes translate to 5th (F) b7 (Ab) 9th © - giving the overall impression of a Bb9! Whether he was operating on a purely intuitive level or whether he had perhaps a little more theoretical knowledge than he liked to let on, BB King was a wily old fox with a beautiful taste in note choice. I've tabbed out both the licks below:




Quirks! - the main BB King-ism that springs to mind is the famous “stinger. This is simply a high root note, often played on the change to the IV chord. Although notable by it's absence on the entirety of “Live At The Regal”, it does crop up on the iconic blues standard, “The Thrill Is Gone”. This track is in B minor, the intro solo played around the 7th and 12th frets, but in the main solo he leaps up to the 19th fret as the chord changes up to the Em.

Like the other players we've examined so far, BB was not afraid to stick to one note – in fact, on "Worry Worry", he plays the same bend (B up to C, 2 to b3 in the song's key of A) no fewer than twenty consecutive times. TWENTY. This is a man who is unafraid to stick to his guns when he feels he's on a good note!

So, this has been a very informative month for me, I've thoroughly enjoyed wrapping my ear and fingers around the licks of one of the undisputed masters of blues guitar. Having gone so in depth with him, I've come to understand much more instinctively just WHY he's so highly regarded. There's a lot more to the BB King style than just pentatonics, and I'm VERY glad to have finally got around to this step in paying my dues!

See you all next month for spot of T-Bone Walker...

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