“He plays five notes, and those five notes said more than any of these metal shredders could ever wish they could say”: Grace Bowers on how B.B. King completely changed her perspective on what makes a good guitar solo
Grace Bowers is part of the vanguard of the new blues-rock generation. In a new interview, she talked about her deep connection to the genre and named the blues legend who compelled her to sharpen her guitar chops.
“It was right when Covid started. I was sitting in my mom's car flipping through radio stations, and I heard B.B. King,” recounts Bowers on The Zach Sang Show. “He was playing Sweet Little Angel [a blues standard recorded by many artists], which is a song off of his very first album.”
“And before I heard this, I was super into hair metal, like really, really cheesy hair metal. Hadn't heard anything else, because that's all I listened to.
“So B.B. King starts this song out. He plays like five notes, and those five notes said more than any of these metal shredders could ever wish they could say. It's so striking, because I'd never heard something like that before, and so I went home, and I started learning his solos, note for note.”
When asked whether she still does that with the work of other guitar players, she responded, “I still sometimes hear someone play something and go back and learn what they played, just so I can incorporate it into my own playing. But there has to be a line between copying and taking inspiration from something.”
In an interview with Guitar Worldearlier this year, Bowers talked about her blues revelation. “It started with seeing Slash on YouTube playing Welcome to the Jungle," she said.
“I got really into ‘80s music – but that changed when I heard B.B. King when I was 13. I discovered the blues, and now I find myself listening to lots of soul, funk, and great stuff like Mountain, Buddy Miles, Shuggie Otis, and Sly & The Family Stone.”
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Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
