Triple Attack! BB King, Jimmy Page, and Andy Summers

I'm back in LA after a relaxing spring vacation visiting family in Indiana.  I suppose Indiana doesn't seem like much of a vacation spot.  But I love my homeland.  I've been in LA for a little over a decade now.  But, quite frankly, it's an ugly and dirty place to live.  By contrast, Indiana is green and clean.  It may not have a reputation for a progressive-minded populace, but the people are genuine, which I can't say is always the case in Los Angeles.

Now that I'm back, I'm again focused on my guitar player improvement plan.  I've decided to work on multiple songs at once - mainly I have trouble maintaining focus on one thing without getting bored.  I need multiple things to work for.  So, I'm working on three different songs.

1.) BB King's "The Thrill is Gone" - I know this song now, but I really want to master the voicings HE uses more adeptly before I video post.  Otherwise, I'll have a tendency to slip into my own versions of his licks, which I'll probably do anyway.  But, I don't want that to be the result of not having worked toward mastery of his licks.

2.) Led Zeppelin "Good Times, Bad Times" - This isn't on my original list.  But, I started messing around with this song while I was in Indiana and decided to work it up.

3.) The Police "Sychronicity 2" - I love this song and it's challenging in a way that is very different from the two previous numbers.  It's a very different style of playing than I typically employ and I can't wait to get really into those chorus arpeggios.

Stay Tuned!

     

The Thrill is Gone

I am away from my guitars this week...visiting the folks in the Midwest.  So, I won't be posting any videos for a bit.  But, I'm in the midst of working on BB King's "The Thrill is Gone." 

The song was composed in 1951 by Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell and recorded by Hawkins in the same year.  It ultimately reached #6 on the Billboard R&B charts that same year.

BB King recorded the song in June,1969 for his album Completely Well.  Released as a single in December of 1969, the song went on to become the biggest hit of King's career when, in 1970, it reached #3 on the Billboard R&B charts and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop charts.  It also earned him a Grammy Award for Vocal Performance in 1970.

I will be working with a version of the song that appeared on the live album The Thrill is Gone: an Evening with BB King.  The exact version I'm working on is available on Amazon.  But here's version that's a little different for anyone not immediately familiar with the tune. 
 



I'm really focusing on those bends and that vibrato.  Both are areas of my playing that I want to improve.  Strong bends and signature vibrato are key to expressing the unique soul of a player.  They are fundamental to making the guitar cry...and BB does both with a signature fluidity.  My goal is to add a bit of that fluidity to my own playing.

Hopefully, I'll have a video up by mid-April, when I get back to the west coast.