“I was 28 or something and he was 80. He’s like, ‘Here, son, this is how you do it.’ How sad is that?” Joe Bonamassa on the time BB King taught him how to use an iPod (and what made him blues guitar’s GOAT)

Joe Bonamassa [left] wears a dark blue suit and shades as he performs with a Gibson Les Paul in 2024. BB King [right] has a mischevious look on his face as he performs seated with Lucille.

BB King’s influence on blues guitar is immeasurable but we could begin to count the ways in which he shaped the art form, in the players who sought out his tutelage and counsel, who absorbed his technique, his Mozart-esque command over vibrato and phrasing, his economy with the electric guitar.

He was the one to influence the greats, from O.G. Chicago blues phenoms such as Buddy Guy, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, the British blues boom – Clapton, Green, Beck et al – right on through to the present day and the players who readily signed up to the BB King’s Blues Summit 100 tribute album convened and produced by Joe Bonamassa, who was another top-tier player in thrall to BB King.