COVER STORY
By Mike Mettler
“I know people who are very famous who cannot even
fathom cutting a solo before they’ve got it worked out, to
the point of almost being charted out. And then it’s like
you’re an actor, where you’ve got to hit your mark. I’ve
been brought up to improvise. That is my skill set.”
I
f there’s one hard-and-fast rule
blues-rock guitar prodigy Joe
Bonamassa follows, it’s the more
you play, the more you know. “I’ve
learned a lot in the last decade musically,
and I’ve also learned a lot about myself,”
Bonamassa admits. “The first step is to
play on your strengths and accept your
weaknesses. One of my main strengths is
I have this ability to adapt to any situation
musically because I listened to so much
music over the years. I’m a fan of guitar
playing. I’m a fan of everything from the
Beano album [a.k.a. John Mayall and The
Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, released
in 1966] to Friday Night in San Francisco
[by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and
Paco de Lucia, released in 1981]. You draw
on those influences, and you draw on the
people who have paved the way for you.”
Bonamassa has spent years forging
a singular identity as a chops-driven
guitarist who respects his predecessors,
34
GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
DIGITAL EDITION
collects and plays vintage gear, calls his
own shots, and sells out performance
halls across the globe. He’s comfortable
enough in his own skin to balance guitarhero histrionics (his 2000 cover of Jethro
Tull’s, “A New Day Yesterday,” 2012’s
guns-a-blazing “I Got All You Need”)
with strings and horn-section spice (the
tasteful interplay on “Trouble Town”
and “Hidden Charms,” both from 2015’s
Live at Radio City Music Hall) — not to
mention his ferocious fretboard testifying
alongside Reese Wynans’ heavenly church
organ lines on “So, What Would I Do,” the
closing track to his majestic 2014 studio
album, Different Shades of Blue.
While he understands how to capitalize on
his aforementioned strengths, Bonamassa
is also very clear about what his primary
weaknesses are — and how to overcome
them. “I have this tendency to overplay,
and I have to constantly try to squelch the
urge to say too much,” he observes.
OCT/NOV