“B.B. asked to try a few licks on my guitar. He smiled and asked, ‘Why you working so hard?’” How B.B. King changed Billy Gibbons’ approach to guitar strings

Billy Gibbons and BB King.

Billy Gibbons may be one of the coolest cats ever to sling a Gibson Les Paul, but it took B.B. King playing his guitar to spark a string-gauge shake-up that changed the way he played forever.

With the recent release of Joe Bonamassa’s new tribute album to the King, Blues Summit 100, the late blues legend is back in the limelight. The record’s release coincided with what would have been King's 100th birthday, and, speaking in the new issue of Guitarist, ZZ Top maestro Gibbons reflects on his earliest memories of him. It proved to be life-changing.