Playing Along with Eric Clapton and BB King

After two years of working on the blues, and I mean specifically the blues, I have grown to love a number of artists.  In an earlier post, I identified a number of blues singers/guitarists that I particularly have come to know about and have also determined to be very enjoyable to hear.  I generally have played along with the CD's of all of my favorites.  In the summer of 2010, I began aggressively to collect blues albums.  I just love Stevie Ray Vaughan, for both his voice and his guitar style.  We lost him too soon and there is no telling the heights he would have risen to in his abilities and diversity of guitar techniques he might have used.  The scarey part is that he may have been the best ever when he died and so young he was as he ripped blues rifts from his Fender Stratocaster guitar!

I am a big Albert King fan, as you know if you are a regular reader.  Albert King had the purest Blues voice of anyone in music history.  He sounded so warm and emotive in the way he sang that each song's message is unmistakable.  His guitar playing was smooth and pleasant, as he glided on his left handed instrument, nearly always a Gibson Flying V. 

Of late I have begun to formulate my own style and find that when I am learning blues songs, I tend to choose Muddy Waters, Albert King, BB King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I have a duo album by the great Eric Clapton combined with the great king of blues, BB King.  I have listened to that album and included my commentary about it on this blog site in an earlier post.

BB King plays a black Gibson ES-355 Semi-hollow Guitar he calls "Lucille" while Eric Clapton is known for his work on a variety of Fender Strats; but one he loves in particular is black with a white pick guard.  He calls it "Blackie."

The more I have played along with "Riding with the King," the more eager I have become to play the songs on the album. I particularly love to play Three O'Clock Blues,  When My Heart Starts Beating Like a Hammer, Ten Long Years, Come Rain or Shine, and Worried Life Blues.  I frequently sit with my Fender Stratocaster plugged into my VHT Special 6 Head and Cabinet combination and play the guitar with the recordings of these songs.

I have begun to realize that I am able to play along best with Clapton and BB, when compared to other guitarists.  This may be due to the style and the feel I have for their arrangements. I have been playing and singing some of them solo, stepping away from playing to the CD as I listen to these great players!  I think their music fits my style better because these two don't emphasize speed as much as emotion and rhythmic excellence.  The songs tend to be a bit slower and more emotional in nature, which does correspond well with my personality.  Also, I have a rare form of Parkinson's Disease and this slows down my songs and weakens my voice.  Slower blues songs are more achievable for me, but I am not wanting to take anything away from the slow blues style.  Also, singing in general helps to strengthen my singing voice which is at risk due to my neurological disease.

I choose to pay blues because it is a challenge and something different for me.  I was an acoustic guitarist songwriter all my adult life (beginning to write songs in high school) so the electric guitar and a new style, such as the blues, were elements I needed to give me a greater challenge for years to come.  For now, I have come to understand that I both like hearing and playing Eric and BB's music, both their duet stuff as well as their own solo performances.  One day I will post some videos of yours truly playing more of their songs.  In the meantime, here is a song from their Riding with the King album: