Blues guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa recently spoke about techniques in playing the guitar. He talked about two tips for a guitarist that he got inspired by the iconic names, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.
Bonamassa kicked off his career when he was only 12 years old and had the opportunity to open up for B.B. King. He established a successful solo career and released 15 solo albums since 2000, and 11 of them made it to number one on the Billboard Blues charts.
The guitarist was inspired mainly by two guitarists who were not only involved in rock and roll but also in the blues genre. In his recent interview, Bonamassa talked about building up the music on the guitar by starting ‘low’ and then slowly building up the music to a ‘crescendo.’ However, his heroes like Jeff Beck applied another technique, which is also alright.
He described Beck’s technique as ‘crazy’ but ‘good crazy’ and revealed that he is a supporter of both techniques. He went further to state that his other heroes, including Eric Clapton, also applied the second technique. He would also start strong and continue strong, but according to Bonamassa, if you do that technique, you need to stick with it.
Here is how he talked about the two techniques:
“There are two schools of thought to soloing, and I subscribe to both of them. The first is to start slow, low, and subtle and then build to a crescendo. That’s totally fine. Or you could go the other way as Jeff Beck did on his solo to ‘Farther Up the Road’ from the album, ‘The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball.’
Right from the downbeat, he opens a can of whoop-ass and doesn’t let up. It reminds me of when I would be on stage with Albert Collins in the early ’90s. He’d just rip into a solo at my expense, and it was unrelenting. I’d be like, ‘Wow.’ This is just crazy good and crazy scary.
I see the value of both approaches, but I do like hitting people over the head at the very beginning. Albert King did it, and so did Albert Collins. Jeff Beck does it, Clapton does it, and Eric Johnson does it. All my heroes do it. But if you start out slamming, you’ve got to stay with it. Whatever you do, you have to tell a story, and depending on your mood, you can choose which way you want to go.”
You can listen to ‘Farther Up the Road’ to see Clapton and Beck’s technique below.
