B.B. King and Billy Gibbons have a particular connection. When Billy Gibbons needed a guitar badly, B.B. King raced to his rescue, teaching him the razor-sharp phrase and two or three-note method he believed he’d never acquired. The sound produced by these approaches certainly played a significant impact in Gibbons’ metamorphosis into a blues-rocker.
In a conversation with Rolling Stone in 2017, it became clear how unique the two’s connection was. During the discussion, Gibbons was asked about the finest piece of advice he’d ever gotten. He responded by stating that BB King sent a very basic but extremely powerful one. “Learn to play what he wants to hear,” the musician advised Gibbons.
BB King stated to Gibbons that while trying to master an instrument, the instructor has a notion of what the pupil should perform and learn. Yet, if the student understands what they want to hear while starting to play, they will constantly be one step ahead, according to King.
BB King’s finest advice to Billy Gibbons was as follows:
“B.B. King laid quite a simplistic statement on me: Learn to play what you want to hear. When you’re trying to learn an instrument, chances are you find yourself at the feet of a teacher who may have an idea of what you should learn. But if you learn to play what you want to hear in your head, you are steps ahead.”
It’s not difficult to understand how this advice influenced Billy Gibbons’ career. Gibbons understands what he likes to hear and has left his mark on guitar licks that fans will love hearing for years to come.