COVER STORY
and very good who cannot even fathom cutting
a solo before they’ve got it worked out to the
point of almost being charted out,” Bonamassa
says. “And then it’s like you’re an actor, where
you’ve got to hit your mark. That is one
approach. Generally, those type of players and
musicians are what I call real musicians. They
actually know what those black dots do on the
page, but I don’t read music. I’ve been brought
up to improvise. That is my skill set.”
Said skill set is what makes Bonamassa such a
fine off-the-cuff player. “Blues is improvisation,”
he notes. “Blues is feel and off the top of your
head, reacting to other players and developing
your listening skills. The concept of just digging
your heels into the dirt and putting your head
down, going, ‘It doesn’t matter what happens
around me; I’ve got to hit these marks at
so-and-so bar’ — that is definitely a foreign
concept in my world.”
Bonamassa consistently makes sure his heroes
get their due whenever he plays across the
pond in Europe. “Stevie Ray Vaughan paved
the way for a lot of blues guitar players, as
did Gary Moore and B.B. King,” he says. “So
whenever I’m in Europe, I always try to give
credit to a gentleman, who is a wonderful artist
and a friend — Walter Trout. Walter, particularly
in Europe along with the late Gary Moore
and the late Luther Allison, really charged
ahead in the early 90’s, and they were playing
blistering blues rock to a very welcoming
European audience. Walter is a much bigger
name in Europe than he is in his home country,
unfortunately. But if it wasn’t for those cats
in Europe paving the way, I wouldn’t exist. I
came over and I was this American kid playing
British blues covers, and it somehow resonated
with that audience. We’ve been able to take it
to where we’ve taken it over there as well. It
really does say a lot, because it’s important to
understand the history. It’s not a fluke. It’s not
immaculate conception.”
“Cadillac Assembly Line from Live at the Greek Theatre” by Joe Bonamassa
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GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
DIGITAL EDITION
OCT/NOV