Joe Bonamassa: The genius of Albert King 

This man is a walking encyclopedia of guitar history! More power to you JB!

The way he built his solo from choppy lonely notes to catharsis in Stormy Monday alongside Gary Moore is second to none.

Albert King has the most copied licks in electric blues of today for good reason. Just sounds great!

Kenny Wayne Shepard once said " If you are in blues jam and feel lost, just start playing Albert King licks and you will be fine. "

I once saw Albert KIng at junior college that was supported by some foundation. The audience was charged $1.00! It was an intimate setting and he was amazing. Best buck I've ever spent.

I like how you can tell how loud it is in the room - nice

I remember the first time saw Albert King play..It was a video from a live concert 1970? the song was "I'll play the blue's for you". I was amazed by his tone and the power of the licks.. Couldn't stop watching old videos for a week. Thanks for the video Joe:)

I dig the fact that Joe is as much a fan as an icon. Love the V also. I have an SG in that color.

Albert King was a great guitar player who deserved more recognition and credit than he has gotten. It’s a shame that he didn’t get what he deserved. RIP mr. King. You are so missed today. Much respect and I love your music.

God bless you JB! You surely keep the blues alive for newer generations to come, specially with the passion you pay tribute to the founding fathers of the guitar. Albert was the real deal and a major influence to all my favorite players (Hendrix, Page, SRV, Trucks, Beck, Mick T...), I can't stress enough his importance to my musical taste and to the sound I try to achieve when I play.

i remember watching Albert King live and witnessing him play his gibson with the high E on top and bending downward....... that in itself was something to behold. Then, his classic jam session with SRV in 1983 called "in session" ( on utube) is a tour de force of a genuine love of the blues as well as one another. Not to be missed.

That is one righteous tone…..and wonderful fun facts, for a Saturday Afternoon

I met Albert King at a Club in San Francisco. We talked the whole time he was on break. I told him I learned to play guitar from buying his "Live Wire Blues Power" and his " I'll Play The Blues For You" albums. After talking to him, it confirmed to me that he was, without question a genius.

Bonamassa is a gift to us all !

Remember reading an interview where Albert said something like this about his guitar style: I was crazy about T-Bone Walker, but I couldn’t do the fancy stuff that he was doing so I invented the string squeezing style!

Joe's eyes literally change when he gets going. nice!

Joe is always great at his interpretation of the masters.

Joe, plz do an album of just you on guitar. No band. It's great to just hear you play.

Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 is an awesome album. Thanks to Joe for not cutting corners. It's great to hear horns in the background.

Thanx Joe !! KEEP The TREBLE & Trouble UP !!

The pride of Lovejoy, Illinois!

I remember listening to Albert play some of his genius riffs and thought it was a great slide guitar player, as King was bending the strings all over the place!

This is blues power!!

Joe is awesome... seems so cool and is such a wealth of knowledge.

I saw Albert King in 1989 at a small club in L.A. There were like 12 people there. My 3 friends, the bartenders & waiteresses and the soundman who Albert continually harrassed lol. He would stop in the middle of a song and yell at the sound guy, "Turn me up or I'm walking off!" Me and my friends were like wtf!?! He finally got in dialed in and it was incredible. The best!! In 2002 I was in London and went on a "Vault Tour" of the Hard Rock Cafe. Inside was one of Albert Kings flying V's. It was black with his name inlayed on the fretboard just sitting in the case. On another note they also had the Flying V that Jimi Hendrix played at The Rainbow Bridge concert and I actually got to hold it. Pretty surreal moment....

I couldn't learn to play guitar from B.B. Kings "Live at The Regal" album because, that was how you learned back then. But, I had a natural ear for Albert's style. I still do.

Greatest bluesman of all time. JB❤

Fabulous Joe.

Thanks Joe. Some real great advice❗👍

so many SRV fans credit Stevie for being far more original than he was. He built his house very much on top of Albert's foundation and many 'SRV' licks are actually King's licks. But, there's no shame in that. SRV was a force of nature who took what he learned and evolved it, breathing new life into a blues scene that seemed to be in need of that energy and life he brought onto the stage at the time. You can hear a lot of Freddie King in Clapton and he himself acknowledges that. You can hear Roy Buchanan in Jeff Beck. And they all acknowledged their influences and laid down their own bricks in the same wall. Joe has done a great job in carrying a torch for those who trail blazed, helping to spread the word and share the knowledge of all the builders that contributed to building the house we know and love today. Zero shame in standing on the shoulders of those who came before you... It's the same in all walks of life. Just credit those who came before you and hope you can add a block or two of your own for others to borrow and build on.

There needs to be a good documentary about the "three Kings"....Ken Burns where are you?!!!!!!!!!!

He really nailed this, more than if he plays other blues heroes

Could listen to Joe spit facts and shred licks all day..✌️

Glad you mentioned Dan! I was Born Under a Ban Sign…

can always learn something "new" from Joe......there is always al ittle extra gem......cheers....even though without "flying V"....haaa....

It surprises me that Joe says Gibson "fucked up" with the 50-s versions of the flying V. I have heard two different 50's V's being played live (in the 80's) and they both sounded absolutely fantastic!

I believe you played " Breaking up someone's home" on it. Great 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Albert King has always been my favorite blues man. Even more than The Wolf and Muddy which I dearly love but Albert played guitar and entertained like he was doing it for his family just like after supper. And then the pipe comes out. Albert King wasn’t Steve McQueen cool. He was Albert King cool.

❤😊❤Congrats from Brazil 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I saw the one you had at Greek Theater. It had Albert's name on the fret board.

albert had some great arrangements. he new what's goin on.

I feel like Joe should be wearing safety glasses because he does those bends in such a way that he is basically holding a 6 string compound bow. If one of them strings snap it's gonna look like that scene from the movie ghost ship

Albert was a powerful man who played the blues.

Joe is THE G.O.A.T! Well done Master🎸🌵

I’m pretty sure it was Albert King is who I saw at the Michigan Palace in Detroit in about 1975 I wish I knew if it was him or Freddy

Nice!🎸🔥

I love "Blues Power"...can 'ya did it?

What I find amazing is that Albert King plays left handed but the strings are high E on top low E on the bottom. As a Lefty myself I find that crazy, how does he do it.

Uses "hum-forcer" pickups with not grounded shields ?

2:10 video actually starts

Didn’t Albert also tune down a whole step and use light gauge strings?

There's some weird ass guitars out there. Flying V has to be in the top five.

I once had the opportunity to meet Albert and shake his hand. He accidentally broke a bone in my hand! God, what a mensch!

What is so incredible about Albert king is... to this day NOBODY has gotten the albert king phrasing down CORRECTLY still... and what's even more fascinating is bb and freddie king style and phrase is way more complex yet albert king style is very simple YET VERY HARD TO DO

🎉tune down one and a half step

Melissa, met a lot if women named melissa in the south most likely because of the Allman Brothers song .

That answers it. So he essentially learned to play and upside down guitar. That’s insane

That answers it. So he essentially learned to play an upside down guitar. That’s insane

Always remember the Albert kKing bent down insteat of up. That would make a difference in tonal sounds. But... you would have to totally relearn how to play guitar. As far as I know there are now lessons that teach anyone to play like that. I just don't think Albert King gets the just dues for his musical talent. So take a left handed guitar and string it invertedly with the high E on top and the low E on the bottom and bend down instead of up. Then it may get close.

If I had to quickly mention 3 guitarist that are, were, bona-fide geniuses would be: Wes Montgomery, Pat Methany, and Albert King.

Norm says you have all of his guitars❗ he doesn't know how you got them but he wants them back😝

Can someone write a good biography for Albert? Every great blues players has a great bio except A.K.... please anyone

One of the greatest travesties of blues guitar history, Steven Segal owns Albert's three Flying V's. I guess as long as he doesn't sit on them . . .

3:14 - if you want to skip the chat

anyone know what kinda guitar that is

He's BETTER than a PRINCE Albert! LMAO! ;oP LESS painful as well!

no way we play albert and not make a face, he invented guitar faces

play a left handed guitar right handed to get the albert king sound

Bonamassa lookin more and more like Paul McCartney

Does Joe read music?

Bad ground.

Interesting to me that he was a drummer at one point because he doesn't play a particularly rhythmic style of guitar. Not that he doesn't have a sense of rhythm obviously. There is a funny point on the live at the Fillmore album where the audience is clapping along and Albert says "keep it right there children" and he says it kind of chuckling because his new white hippie audience is all over the place with the clapping. I must have listened to that album stoned in my parents basement a hundred times in high school. Probably brain damaged from it but it was worth it.

Albert King? He played slow. With taste. Saw him near Allentown with his grandson?

😴😴😴

👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Trumppppppppppppp

I'd love to see Joe but I'm not a Rich, Old, White person. 😂😂😂

So tired of this poseur clown. It's like a walking tribute band.

Total nerdville Great player But his songs and style of performance are beyond cringe. And can somebody call Hoarders Anonymous?

Love you Joe 💋🇬🇧