I was thrust into an adult world very quickly, and that can make anyone somewhat socially maladjusted to dealing with people your own age. But I wouldn't trade any of it.
— Joe Bonamassa
A guitar is a guitar. Whether it was made yesterday or 51 years ago, if it's good, it will stand the test of time.
When you think blues, you think BB King. Even a young kid can look at a picture of BB King and say, 'the blues.' The man is more than a musician. He's a monument.
Jimi Hendrix is a classic example of a player in which everything he did, it was all in his hands.
Most blues guitar players don't concentrate on singing and melodies. And forget about the bridge - the bridge doesn't exist. They go straight for the solo.
I really loved being able to perform my songs and sing them myself.
'Beck-Ola' is a weird album.
Greece was a muse. It inspired creativity in magical ways that I can't even begin to understand or explain.
My goal for 'Black Rock' was pretty simple: I wanted to make the feel-good record of the summer.
Basically, 2011 was the hardest year on the road for me because I did a spring tour and a fall tour plus nine weeks in the summer, and I was pretty worse for wear by the time I got home in December. I know I was only 34, but that was a tough lap.
I collect as many acoustic guitars as I need for a specific purpose. Acoustic guitars are really just tools for me.
It's nice just to be able to go out and, basically, be able to play other types of music and not have any pressure to almost explain it and justify why you did. I just do it because I like to have some fun.
A great solo is one that's so frail that it actually teeters on the edge of falling apart, but doesn't.
I'm a kooky collector and own a couple of hundred guitars.
I think what I do really well is that I can 'chameleon' myself into many styles at a very fast pace, sometimes in the same verse of a song.
I never had this ego where I must write everything. I'm not Bob Dylan.
The thing people forget about Kevin Shirley a lot of the time is that he's not only a great producer, he's also a world-class engineer. He really knows how to get a sound.
At the end of the day, you, as the player, create the tone coming out of the amp. The gear is part of it but by no means all of it.
Everything Paul Kossoff did came from his fingers and went right into the amp. He was his own effects unit.
That's the thing about the blues: It's one thing to hit a note on a guitar. To make it matter is something else altogether.
The one area where I'll say that Hendrix is underrated was his ability to use chord melodies. He used different inversions of chords and was able to make a three-piece band sound absolutely huge. From the moment Hendrix and the Experience came on the scene, power trios had their work cut out for them.
That's where the Black Keys and Jack White have succeeded and I've failed: They've actually convinced college kids that they're listening to hip music - but it's just blues twisted a new way - while I'm playing for the college kid's parents.
If you keep working hard and not take 'no' for an answer, you achieve.
I'm a self-loathing slide player. Some people like the way I play slide - I hate it.
That's right, I take vocal lessons - done it for years. There's nothing wrong with it.
There are good '59 Les Pauls, and there are not-so-good ones. There are ones that are just OK, that don't sustain as well.
When you go into a situation, and you're honest and straight-up about something, you put all your cards on the table.
Carnegie was a life-long dream because I was a born New Yorker. I was born in upstate New York, and we've played Radio City, and we've played The Beacon, but Carnegie was this mystical place, you know?
I went through a period in my life where I didn't have money to buy ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly, but I also needed to go to the guitar store and buy strings and picks and polish and rags. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't play guitar.
I've always been a big fan of taking old songs and completely turning them on their head. Having no adherence to the fine tradition of the original version. Rearranging them and taking a different approach to them.
I'm not a household name; I'm just a household name to guitar freaks.
I've never been universally loved from the beginning.
I learned that if I put my mind to something vocally, I can pull it off. You just have to get your head-space right.
I have a 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash acoustic guitar, and it's so inspirational.
I'm honored people think enough of my playing to chase my sound. Hell, I chase other players' tones all the time.
If it wasn't for guys like Gary Moore, I wouldn't exist. He not only proved that the blues could rock but it could draw a crowd as well. All of which made a huge impression on me.
I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix. Rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, any guitar stuff when you get right down to it - Jimi did it. He's certainly the guy who basically invented the blues-rock genre for guitar players.
If I feel like things are getting into a routine, I want them to be different. I need to keep improving and keep moving forward.
There's always talk about the blues dying out, but it won't.
John Mayall doesn't get enough credit. He's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is a tragedy.
As far as actual playing, Clapton - by far - is my biggest influence, and you can tuck Jeff Beck underneath that.
Greece is so beautiful and inspiring.
I've always been a fan of the five-speed transmission - on anything.
The first thing you realise very quickly when you decide to do an acoustic version of an electric song is your solo either becomes either very truncated, very different, or non-existent, because even if you play a clean solo, it's different with the Kryptonite... with the acoustic.
I'll tell you, what the world doesn't need is another Joe Bonamassa DVD.
I've been lucky and very fortunate over the course of my career, and I try to do something good for people every day.
There was a rumour that I was buying Gibson. It circulated around the Internet... And I just go, 'How well off do you think I am?' I play blues-rock for a living. It's like a vow of poverty.
I live, breathe, and sleep guitars.
Some people don't like me at all. But... whatever. It comes with the territory.
You know who I'd like to open for? This will be a surprise, but I'll tell you who: Iron Maiden.
