“I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow”: B.B. King in his own words – the blues’ greatest guitarist on heroes, influences and his philosophy

B.B. King reflected on his life in guitar many times across the decades. Here, he paints a nuanced, surprisingly humble portrait of himself in quotes selected from milestone interviews with Guitarist magazine.

Walking the talk (Guitarist, December 2011) 

I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow – the whole works. It isn’t because I feel that way, that’s just the way I am.

Divine inspiration (Guitarist, December 2011) 

My mother’s brother was married to a sanctified preacher’s sister. And when I heard him play the guitar, that was the nicest thing ever. That’s about the first time I started paying attention.

Hallmark vibrato (Guitarist, December 2011) 

When the Hawaiian people would play, it was so mellow, so good to your ears. Every time I’d get a guitar, I’d always trill my hand and it became a habit. Guys would say, ‘How’d you do that?’ I’d say, ‘Like this!’

In the footsteps of T-Bone Walker (Guitarist, August 2009) 

The greatest thing for me was to hear T-Bone Walker, and the first time I ever heard him, he was playing Stormy Monday. He was a driving force in my learning to play and I would’ve married him!

He was playing one of those big-bodied Gibsons [an ES-5], and you could hear it cutting right above the band, so that was always my idea, too; putting the microphone on the amp just gave me the little boost I needed.

The trouble was every time I had a guitar in my hands, the notes that T-Bone and the others used just didn’t seem to be on the neck.

The hard life of a touring guitar (Guitarist, August 2009) 

I was just a sucker for any guitar I could get and manage to hold on to! I was from the country and we didn’t have money like people did in the towns; you could save and save but still rarely get enough money to buy a nice guitar.

I bought my first electric guitar when I moved to Memphis, a Gibson with a DeArmond pickup, which I used with a small Gibson amplifier. But sometimes they’d get busted up, people would steal ’em and one time I even had a car wreck when an 18-wheeler ran into the back of me. At least that time I had a chance to get a new guitar on insurance.

Finding amps that sing (Guitarist, August 2009)

I like to use tube amps and I’ve always been crazy about Fender Twins; as long as they’re in reasonable shape, they’ll give me what I want. I like to have the volume and treble up all the way and bass at about number 6, with just a small hint of reverb.

If I have the amp set up like that, I find I can change the sound to suit the hall if I need to, just by adjusting the controls on my guitar. I’ve always used those old Gibson Lab Series amps, too – you don’t see them around too much these days, so every time I see one for sale I just buy it!

B. B. King - The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Montreux 1993) | Stages - YouTube

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Doing the work (Guitarist, August 2009) 

If I’m lucky maybe I’ll sit down with my guitar for half an hour a day [when out in the tourbus] – that’s all. But it always felt as though I’ve had to work harder at it than other people.

I’ve never really been able to play chords and that’s why I’ve always had my band play the rhythm while I play the lead – I started out that way and I guess I just got lazy. I wouldn’t want to sound just like T-Bone Walker or Barney Kessel, but it would be nice to feel sometimes that at least I was their equal.

No quitting (Guitarist, December 2011) 

It [the passage of time] made me know that I couldn’t play very well. I hear some people playing so good – I hear them and say to myself, ‘Oh God, I might as well quit.’ Then the other half of my mind says, ‘Well, how you gonna eat?’ [laughs]. So that’s one of the reasons I haven’t quit.

Feeling the way (Guitarist, August 2009) 

I wanted to play like Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson – even Jimmy Rogers did things I liked. I loved Django Reinhardt as well, but when T-Bone Walker came up with that single-string playing on the electric guitar, that did it – I just went crazy.

I never really wanted to play just like them; I was a rebel and just wanted to play what I felt. I’ve been criticised for it and even read recently that I played ‘watered-down blues’. Well, if they think that, they can write it – I really don’t mind. I just do what I do!”

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.