The Thrill Is Gone

With the possible exception of Edward Van Halen's Frankenstrat, there has, quite possibly, never been a more famous guitar than B.B. King's Lucille.

I wasn't a huge B.B. King fan, but I appreciated what he did.  I even have a couple of his CDs laying around here somewhere.

While I was in college in the late 1990's/early 2000's, I got hooked on watching Nick At Night's T.V. Land, when I wasn't doing homework or studying for an exam.  During this period, one of my favorite shows to watch was Sanford & Son.  There was an episode of the show on which B.B. King appeared.  He performed "The Thrill Is Gone" on the episode. That got me interested in his music.  So I picked up a couple of his CDs.

It would be a lie to say that I was heavily influenced by his playing, but I'm sure that the exposure to it didn't hurt my playing.  It's impossible to listen to someone like B.B. King and not be influenced in some way.  I'd still like to get a hollow-bodied or semi-hollow-bodied guitar, just to see what I could do with it.

So, it's a sad day when we lose a great like B.B. King.  I expect that there will be a lot of blog posts about this subject, and I really wish I had more to say about it than he'll be missed.  But it seemed kind of obligatory to say something about it.  As a music fan, and a guitar player, I feel it's necessary to, at the very least, acknowledge his passing.

At the same time that we acknowledge that he's gone, and the world of music will be a little less awesome in his absence, we should acknowledge the amazing career he had, and celebrate the fact that he was able to continue performing to such a ripe age.  He might not have died doing what he loved, but he did what he loved for a very, very long time. And that's worthwhile.