Longest, most complex BB King solo ever

[sunjamr]

Most of BB’s songs are just that – songs. And he often just does little guitar fills, with minimal solo. This video is just the opposite: non-stop solo work, all over the neck.

And you can get a good look at his fingering and famous vibrato technique.

Sunjamr Steve

[6stringer Pete]

Wow! Never seen that one before. Thanks for posting.

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
Active Melody
Forum Moderator

[William F]

I can almost imagine that he mistakenly started off in A, the band, professionals that they are, get with him, he plays the little lick and switches to A flat, like nothing ever happened, but then it could have been planned that way.

[sunjamr]

William F wrote:

I can almost imagine that he mistakenly started off in A, the band, professionals that they are, get with him, he plays the little lick and switches to A flat, like nothing ever happened, but then it could have been planned that way.

Yeh, that’s really weird. Why would he start off in A, then switch to A flat? I can’t believe he did it by mistake. Was it because the wind instruments prefer A flat? As far as I know, nobody likes A flat. I think if a trumpet player has been practicing his licks in A, then you jump up on stage and start playing in A flat, he would have a hard time adapting to the new key. Maybe they had agreed to play in A flat for the benefit of the wind instruments, and BB just forgot and started off in A. Then he remembered, and had to build a transition to A flat…which he did masterfully.

Sunjamr Steve

[Don D.]

That’s beautiful! Here’s 40 or so minutes of the concert it’s from. He also played in Africa in 1974 in a concert that’s well-documented on YouTube (you can find all of it in order on the B.B. King playlist I put together).

I’ve been on a B.B. King binge because I just realized I hadn’t heard My Kind of Blues from 1961. I got it and it’s the best, just B.B. King with piano (Lloyd Glenn), bass and drums. It opens with “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now” and it doesn’t let up. If you haven’t heard it, it’s on YouTube, but the vinyl sounds great and I’ve heard that the 2005 CD reissue from Ace sounds even better (find that hard to believe).

Don D.

[William F]

Catch the look on the rhythm guy’s face when B.B. starts the song.

[William F]

And then it’s like “hang on a second, I’m going to fix this”.

[Author]

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