Bonamassa

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IndyWS6

IndyWS6

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I \don't get the hate. He works his ass of playing more nights a week than most do in a month. He destroys pretty much every guitar and amp he plugs in to and has an awesome sense of nuance. Music rocks - there's no room for hate. If you don't like the genre, tune in to a different vibe...

 
Agreed
I had someone tell me a bit back "I just dont think he paid his dues the way the great blues guys did"
I just shook my head...
The guys a monster player who has a fantastic feel for whatever he happens to be playing
 
Just started getting into Bonnamassa lately. He's quickly becoming a favorite. Great player and knows tone. :rock: Been playing since he was 5, I think he's earned his blues badge.
 
I've been getting way more into Joe lately. I subscribe to his Instagram and his off-the-cuff bits he posts nearly every day are just awesome. He does know tone, and seems to be able to project the resonance of the instrument. It still always sounds as though there are strings and wood vibrating rather than being so far removed.
 
From what I can tell, most people's issue is his pretentiousness. He's the hot shit in an era of very little to no guitar music happening in the popular space. That pisses people off. He is pretty full of himself, for sure...but he's a great blues player and works his ass off. He fills rooms when most professional guitar players are playing in 2-3 bands at a time to make ends meet. That tends to make people bitter. It's hard not to hate on someone in your industry when you're barely scraping by and see TV commercials/billboards for a guy who's "just playing the same old shit", as they say.
 
One thing I keyed in on was some kind of controversy about him scoping up various collector guitars, some known to be stolen from famous guitarists. Maybe in this case the criticism is lack of concern and "me centered". Do not know the truth about these comments, but definitely fits the "hard to like" guy framing, beyond his skill which is good. Looking forward to the new Black Country Communion stuff with Hughes that is supposedly in the works.
 
Bonamassa is one of the best musicians/ guitarists i know of. I read a lot of Bonamassa bashing on the net from guys claiming to be better than him (i wanna see that) to that he can`t sing/ hasn`t got a good voice and so on and so forth.
I wouldn`t consider him a blues player in the vein of Muddy Waters, etc (for that kind of music i prefer Alvin Younblood Heart, Corey Harris, etc.) but more a rock-blues artist.
 
I also don't get the hate. I had the chance to meet him after a show and he was extremely nice and humble to both my son and I. I think the attitude is more of an onstage thing where he tries to exude that cockiness and superstar persona. He does a lot for the guitar community and as far as "paying his dues" goes, what does that even mean in this day and age? If people like your music or your abilities then it is what it is.
 
Unfortunately, there's something about his music that I just can't get into. At first it was definitely the singing but I think he's gotten better there. So it's not entirely that. I think he's a Monster guitar player and comes across a very decent guy in interviews (IMO at least) and is all about sharing the history of guitar and also sharing his collection at times. This guy loves guitar. I think he's a total guitar nerd that has struggled with how to present himself on stage or create a marketable persona. He's had a long standing production/musical relationship with Kevin Shirley that I'm not sure hurts or helps him. Shirley did produce, in my mind, the most cohesive and strong Black Crowes album, By your Side but often an artist/Svengali relationship rarely produces the best music IMO, or at least creates a sameness to most releases. Elvis, not withstanding of course. He is definitely one of the torch bearers keeping rock and blues, tube driven guitar alive in todays sim/sample world, so I hope he keeps it up...even though I don't listen to his records.. :lol: :LOL:

I find with blues you just can't beat the originals from the 40's through 70's. I've never heard an artist after the 70's as a blues artist who I enjoy that much. Unless of course it's just one of the survivors still going.
 
I don't get into his music that much since blues often bores the shit out of me but I love his playing. He IS awesome. A lot of the hate must come from bitter old Gear Pages types who never went anywhere.
 
I must be out of the loop because I thought everyone loved him :confused: I haven't listened to much of his because I'm not a huge blues fan but have only ever heard positive things
 
C'mon now, the kid earned his blues badge by the time he was 12! He is good but you have to like his style and the type of music he plays, that's all. Tom Dowd took a liking to him and that is a pretty good testament to Joe's ability. I imagine that if Joe wanted to be in a Pantera cover band it would be smoking buck!
 
He seems about as nice and humble down to earth as anyone can get based on many random vidoes of him ive seen out and about.

I think is just jealosy for most
And some just aren't into that type of music is all

 
mdc1mdc11":3f6z7wd5 said:
One thing I keyed in on was some kind of controversy about him scoping up various collector guitars, some known to be stolen from famous guitarists. Maybe in this case the criticism is lack of concern and "me centered". Do not know the truth about these comments, but definitely fits the "hard to like" guy framing, beyond his skill which is good. Looking forward to the new Black Country Communion stuff with Hughes that is supposedly in the works.
Click to expand...

I work with Joe,
So you do not know the truth, but still feel the need to write this?
Why would we want a stolen guitar?
 
mikehickey":3h4bqbx4 said:
mdc1mdc11":3h4bqbx4 said:
One thing I keyed in on was some kind of controversy about him scoping up various collector guitars, some known to be stolen from famous guitarists. Maybe in this case the criticism is lack of concern and "me centered". Do not know the truth about these comments, but definitely fits the "hard to like" guy framing, beyond his skill which is good. Looking forward to the new Black Country Communion stuff with Hughes that is supposedly in the works.
Click to expand...

I work with Joe,
So you do not know the truth, but still feel the need to write this?
Why would we want a stolen guitar?
Click to expand...
I was hoping you'd chime in. :lol: :LOL: This the kind of shit people do on the net.
 
I not that big a fan of his recorded material (just not my taste), but I really like listening and watching his live concerts. He seems to open up and "go for it" when playing live. I really like that kind of playing...fun! :rock:
 
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