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If it wasn't for guys like Gary Moore, I wouldn't exist. He not only proved that the blues could rock but it could draw a crowd as well. All of which made a huge impression on me.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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When I write for an album, I'll always have about 30 different types of instrument around me. I set them up in a small room with my computer running GarageBand, which is always set to record.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix. Rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, any guitar stuff when you get right down to it - Jimi did it. He's certainly the guy who basically invented the blues-rock genre for guitar players.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I used to watch MTV when they played music, and discovered Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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All I'm trying to do is simply play guitar and elicit this creativity from the instrument.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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If I feel like things are getting into a routine, I want them to be different. I need to keep improving and keep moving forward.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I never had this ego where I must write everything. I'm not Bob Dylan.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I'm a self-loathing slide player. Some people like the way I play slide - I hate it.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I went through a period in my life where I didn't have money to buy ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly, but I also needed to go to the guitar store and buy strings and picks and polish and rags. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't play guitar.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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The blues, the way it's interpreted, is always a product of your environment, and so it's almost like food. You know, it's like you use the ingredients, and you use your life experiences that you have.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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A guitar is a guitar. Whether it was made yesterday or 51 years ago, if it's good, it will stand the test of time.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I'm not sure when I first heard about Beth Hart. I do remember seeing her on various TV shows. I think I'd seen her on 'Conan O'Brien' or whatever. And it seemed that whenever we'd tour Europe, our paths would cross.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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If I'm soloing, I usually try to start with a theme, which will often stem from the blues.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I've really gotten over pedals. I can't keep up with this craze of boutique pedals that make you sound like everything but your guitar. I can't get my head around it.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I'm probably a more intentional acoustic player than I am an electric player because of lack of influences. I just play acoustic to see what happens.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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Everything Paul Kossoff did came from his fingers and went right into the amp. He was his own effects unit.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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That's where the Black Keys and Jack White have succeeded and I've failed: They've actually convinced college kids that they're listening to hip music - but it's just blues twisted a new way - while I'm playing for the college kid's parents.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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Most blues guitar players don't concentrate on singing and melodies. And forget about the bridge - the bridge doesn't exist. They go straight for the solo.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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A guitar is so tactile, and when you're playing bends - and bending notes is a big part of my style - there are so many notes within the note you're bending from and the note you're bending up to.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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Being a niche kind of artist, you're not going to make a lot of friends in the traditional music biz.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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Greece is so beautiful and inspiring.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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My first memory of guitar was seeing my father play one.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I've always been a fan of the five-speed transmission - on anything.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
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I really loved being able to perform my songs and sing them myself.
Joe Bonamassa Black Country Communion
