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The Latest Breaking News from BB King

“He would put a lot of treble on his amp to get the sound he wanted out of Lucille. Working and being in his presence was magical”: Jerry Jemmott on playing bass with B.B. King

When Jemmott was drafted to play on the Live & Well sessions in 1969, he would find himself in awe of the King, and joined a band that would produce three albums’ worth of material

Guitar World

“My dad said, ‘Take a seat – a band is coming in to make a record.’ I spotted a guitar case entering through the side door… carried by none other than B.B. King”: Billy Gibbons on how B.B. King changed his life

At the age of 7, seeing B.B. King lit the path for Gibbons as a blues guitarist. The ZZ Top legend discusses B.B.’s lasting impact

Guitar World

“For King, there was nothing particularly special about the show… It would go on to rank among the best live albums of all time”: The life and times of B.B. King

To celebrate the King of the Blues' centenary, we rewind the reels of a life story that’s equal parts pain and redemption…

Guitar World

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“We continued being friends for 69 years. I don’t think there’s nobody living today that knew him as long as I did”: Bobby Rush salutes his old friend B.B. King

In his own words, Rush reflects on the brilliance of B.B. and what he learned from the King of the Blues

Guitar World

“When we did the tribute to my brother, we had B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy. And just to watch B.B. playing close up was amazing”: Jimmie Vaughan was a garbage man listening to B.B. King. Then he wound up touring with his hero

He once snuck into a B.B. King show aged 13. Now Jimmie Vaughan is part of Joe Bonamassa's all-star tribute to the King of the Blues – he explains how he approached tackling his hero's licks and what he learned from the master

Guitar World

Hotel bombings, car crashes, conspiracy theories, towering infernos and more: The A to Z of B.B. King

Introduction written by Joe Bonamassa

Louder

“It sounds way bigger than it is”: Joe Bonamassa names his go-to studio amp – which he bought from Steven Seagal

The 1950s combo “roars” in the studio despite its compact size

Guitar World

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“I’d never met B.B. and thought he’d look at me like, ‘Who the hell are you?’ So I just froze”: Warren Haynes remembers B.B. King – from being in awe to playing with him

Haynes was one of the many guitar greats whose lives have been changed by B.B. King, and thanks to Joe Bonamassa, he got to pay tribute to him on the song he would have chosen himself

Guitar World

“I was 28 or something and he was 80. He’s like, ‘Here, son, this is how you do it.’ How sad is that?” Joe Bonamassa on the time BB King taught him how to use an iPod (and what made him blues guitar’s GOAT)

Bonamassa pays tribute to the undisputed king of the blues as a road dog who "knew everything" and was pretty handy with newfangled technologies, too

MusicRadar

“Every lick he plays sounds perfect, like it’s etched in stone. But I’m sure that he simply improvised everything”: How to play B.B. King’s greatest song (with some help from Joe Bonamassa)

Bonamassa says B.B. King’s The Thrill Is Gone is so perfect that he initially couldn’t find anyone to cover it on his tribute album. Here, he unpacks the tones and approaches of the King of the Blues

Guitar World

“I remember he had these massive hands… I said, ‘Mr King, my name is Joanne and I’m 13, and I think I’m going to be a blues guitarist’”: Joanne Shaw Taylor’s life-changing first meeting with the great B.B. King

Joanne Shaw Taylor was just a young kid when she met B.B. King. Now she is paying tribute to the King of the Blues on Joe Bonamassa’s all-star album

Guitar World

“There was a big snowstorm. The governor asked him to postpone the show. He wouldn’t do it. He goes, ‘I told them I’m going to be here and I’m here’”: Joe Bonamassa on his friendship with the ultimate bluesman, B.B. King – and paying the ultimate tribute

B.B. King would have celebrated his 100th birthday in September last year. But when Joe Bonamassa discovered that the centenary was going almost unnoticed, he swung into action

Guitar World

“A flamboyant guitar suited to a flamboyant performer”: T-Bone Walker’s Gibson ES-5N helped give rise to electric blues – and it’s been listed for $2 million

The workhorse guitar from the blues pioneer was thought to be lost forever until its recent re-emergence

Guitar World

“I had a poster on my wall of B.B. King playing Lucille. I always wanted one of those guitars”: Gary Clark Jr. comes full circle with a new signature Gibson ES-355 that pays homage to his hero

The stunning signature is a recreation of Gary Clark Jr.'s one-of-one Custom Shop model – and it channels his love for B.B. King

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“When I was a child, I had a poster on my wall of BB King playing his signature Lucille… I just wanted to be a part of that world”: Gary Clark Jr channels the King of the Blues for limited edition Gibson Custom Shop collab

The 21st-century blues king pays dues to his hero with a stunning limited edition Cobra Burst ES-355, fresh from the Custom Shop

Guitar World

“More than anything, I wanted to go, but I just froze”: Warren Haynes on the time he missed the chance to play with B.B. King

Haynes had witnessed the King play live years earlier – but when he first got the chance to jam with the blues icon, nerves got the better of him

Guitar World

“I think about him, ‘What would B.B. King do?’” How Justin Lyons is channeling the King of the Blues in mgk's punk-rock band – and he even has his own Lucille

The mgk touring guitarist has been a superfan of the King of the Blues since he was five years old

Guitar World

“B.B. asked to try a few licks on my guitar. He smiled and asked, ‘Why you working so hard?’” How B.B. King changed Billy Gibbons’ approach to guitar strings

When the King speaks, his subjects listen

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Guitar World

“I was too young to get in. Then T-Bone Walker walked by and said, ‘Let me talk to ’em, son’”: When a 13-year-old Jimmie Vaughan was stopped from watching B.B. King play, another blues great came to his aid

Vaughan wanted to watch his guitar hero play live for the first time – and another hero saved the day

Louder

No rules. No limits. No quarter. Led Zeppelin: 18 months on the road with the biggest band in the world - only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in Classic Rock 350: Smashing Pumpkins, Michael Monroe, Jay Buchanan, Joan Armatrading, BB King, Ten Years After, The Mission, The Boomtown Rats, Tyketto, Danny Francis, Peter Capaldi and more

Guitar World

“I met him in 1990 when I was 13 years old. We became lifelong friends”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to B.B. King – and shows us why blues starts and ends with the King

Bonamassa says King was the kind of player who could say it all with one note – “Just one stinging vibrato and you know it can only be him”

MusicRadar

“It is one of the most difficult guitar solos to mimic… I started playing it because I had gotten close, and Buddy Guy turned around, smiling. He knew it note for note”: Billy Gibbons on the tip Buddy Guy gave him after they jammed a T-Bone Walker classic

Blues guitar's greatest showman shared a little stagecraft after the ZZ Top man's cameo during a live show

MusicRadar

“We all adored BB, and he asked us to write something for him. But when we listened back to the demo we agreed we should keep it. Sorry, BB!”: The classic song that Whitesnake wrote for the King of the Blues – but didn’t give to him

And they later did the same thing with Tina Turner

Guitar World

“There is no greater story of triumph than that of B.B. King. I’m humbled to help bring it to life”: A B.B. King biopic is on the way – and it will chronicle the blues legend’s life, legacy and Lucille

The film will chart B.B. King’s rise from extreme poverty to global stardom – and his life-long partnership with his iconic ES-355 will be at the heart of it all

Guitar World

“You only get one shot to do this correctly. And I think we nailed it”: Joe Bonamassa once called Eric Clapton his favorite guitar player of all time. Now, the two blues greats are set to collaborate on a B.B. King classic

Bonamassa's star-studded tribute project to B.B. King – B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100 – is set to be released in February, with collaborators including Buddy Guy, Eric Gales, Larkin Poe and Jimmie Vaughan

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