“They didn’t call him the Iceman for nothing. I mean, I was on the receiving end when I was a kid”: Joe Bonamassa on how Albert Collins taught him to wield his guitar as “a weapon” – and jamming with him was the ultimate test of his “intestinal fortitude”

Joe Bonamassa wears a blue suit and plays his signature Epiphone Les Paul [left]; the late great Albert Collins with his Telecaster.

Albert Collins did not take any prisoners. The master of the Telecaster was blues guitar’s Iceman. Collins was also one of its great iconoclasts, tuning his guitar to open F minor and using a capo.

He would pick at the notes with his thumb and index finger and when he really went for it the audience would know all about it. Everyone would. Joe Bonamassa says there is no better example of a guitar player who knew how to wield his instrument “as a weapon” – and he learned at first hand just how powerful this was.