Revision as of 07:12, 18 October 2009

Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonammasa is a widely regarded American , blues rock guitarist. He has been described by Guitarist Magazine as “the new king of the blues” . He has described his influences as the great British blues rock players like Eric Clapton, Paul Kosoff, Jeff Beck, Rory Galagher and Peter Green. He has played alongside many of the greats including Clapton and BB King. He recently played a concert at The Royal Albert Hall in London which sold out very quickly and which was very well received. At various times during the concert he was joined on stage by guest musicians including Eric Clapton and Paul Jones (blues harmonica player ex of The Manfred Mann Group). Joe described the night as one of the best of his life and a recording of the show is available on DVD.

Early Life

He was born in Utica, New York in 1977 and learned guitar from an early age having been given his first guitar by his father at the age of 5. He proved to be a natural guitarist and was by the age of 7 already picking out SRV licks! At the age of 11 was mentored by guitarist Danny Gatton (number 63 in Rolling Stone Magazine list of 100 best guitarists), and would often jam with his band. At 14 he met up with the sons of some famous musicians including Berry Oakley, Jr. (son of Berry Oakley, bassist of The Allman Brothers), Miles Davis's son Erin and Waylon Krieger son of Robby Krieger (formally of The Doors) . Together they formed the group Bloodline and released an album from which came two successful singles — "Stone Cold Hearted", and "Dixie Peach." The high standard of playing on the album was widely recognised and acknowledged particularly that of Joe Bonamassa but the songwriting was less favourably perceived.

Music Career

Discography

2000 – A New Day Yesterday
2002 – So, It's Like That
2002 – A New Day Yesterday, Live
2003 – Blues Deluxe
2004 – Had To Cry Today
2006 – You & Me
2007 – Sloe Gin
2008 – Live From Nowhere in Particular
2009 - The Ballad of John Henry

Equipment

The viseo below shows Joe explaining about his setup. He has some amazing gear which he uses to get a fantastic blues/rock tone.

He maintains two rigs for live work one in the UK and one in USA which avoids shipping his gear back and forwards for shows.

Most frequently he plays a Les Paul guitar, notably a Joe Bonammassa Gold Top signature model. You can have your very own for about $4,000!

On stage he switches between four amp heads:

         * A 100 W Van Weelden Special which he uses with a boss reverb pedal

         * A high gain head made by Two Rock which he explains gives a big rounded tone with extra sparkle giving him an Eric Johnston like sound 

         * A Category 5 super lead giving a cleaner sound, often used with a custom made Fuzz Face pedal.

         * A Carol-Ann signature JB-100 head. Initial production of these amps was limited to only ten amps. Each of these JB-100 amps was played at a gig by Joe and then signed before being handed over to the purchaser with a certificate of authenticity! 

His pedal board is fairly standard having a Vox wah wah and he says he uses a standard tube screamer with everything.

Video

Related GMC Lessons

Pentatonic Solo Lesson by Marcus Siepen