Joe, a guitarists guitarist

My thoughts as a non-guitar playing fan or a guitar gear obsessed person is this....... I cannot imagine an actual guitar player who would not be completely and totally impressed and/or obsessed by his talent.  If they were not, then I might have to call their skills into question before even hearing them play.   I am just a music lover who happened to attend a Jonny Lang concert by chance last year and just became infatuated with the sound of the guitar.  So I started looking up other guitarists on You Tube.  That is how I came across the videos of Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall.  From that moment, I became an obsessed fan and literally cannot go one day without listening to him.  Don't know if you even cared to hear from the non-guitar playing fans, but that was my two cents.

I know a little about music- grew up in an Acapella Christian  fellowship so learned go sing all 4 parts, etc.    But, per my other post never learned to play.  Still as Dana has said, it does not take a guitar player to be able to see Joe's immense skills.   But it is still nice to hear the guitar players state their informed opinion.  That was one reason I took my son, a guitar player, to see Joe at the Ryman in April.  I wanted an "expert"to confirm what I already knew- and he did! 

I'm not a guitar player either but I have always been drawn to the sounds of the guitar.  I have plenty of favorites and of course, Joe is on my list but he's managed to do something that none of my other favorites have manged to get me to do - pay attention to the location of his hands and what he does to create specific tones/notes.  I recently went to my first Joe concert and instead of watching him my attention immediately went to his hands.  I left that concert appreciating him even more. 

It's funny how many of my guitar friends I have turned onto Joe.  Not a one of them had heard of him but now they are all hooked and can't get enough.  One of my friends said what sets Joe apart from a lot of other guitar players is his clear respect for the music he plays whether it's an original composition or someone else's.  Joe takes great care of the song, a true artist in every way.

Hey there,

I really like a lot of Joes stuff. Anyway, there might be some awesome musicians/guitar players who are just not into Joe's music/guitar playing. Doesn't devalue them and certainly doesn't devalue all of Joe's achievements. Just different tastes and preferences.

My $.02:

I've played guitar off and on for 40 years. I can learn a song, I can read music, I can transcribe by ear. I can play a hard lick, I can groove a rhythm, I can fingerpick 100s of open tuning acoustic blues tunes. But I'm not a musician. It's taken me 40 year to learn that. And then in a moment of insanity I'll buy another guitar or piece of gear that will "make it different" this time. It doesn't.

My deficiency lies in my utter inability to connect my heart and soul to my hands and strings. I think Joe mentioned in the Jane Pauley interview when he was 13 that he can just talk through a guitar. At 13! I still can't do it at 54. It is not lack of effort. It's lack of ability.

It must be an amazing feeling standing in front of 1000s of people with a guitar in your hands and a 140dB wall of awesomeness behind you and be able to control that power. But that's not what makes Joe (and musicians on that level) special. What makes him special is that he can talk to the audience through a guitar. That's why so many feel compelled to talk back. We are reached and affected. That is the gift.

I enjoyed Joe's performance so much because, if I was blessed with the gift, I would want to do it just like Joe. The fact that he is doing instead of me is OK. At least someone is.

"What makes him special is that he can talk to the audience through a guitar. That's why so many feel compelled to talk back. We are reached and affected. That is the gift."

My friend almico has hit the nail on the proverbial head.  That talk from his guitar appeals to my heart and soul.  Love this idea

I'm going to play a bit of Devil's Advocate here -

While I totally agree hes a guitarists' guitarist, I've always been a JB fan because I think hes a killer song writer. Sure, hes licks are other worldly, but I wouldn't care to listen if said licks were in bad tunes. I can honestly say that his lead playing is probably less than 10% of why I'm a fan - real emotion and stories in music trump chops in my opinion. I realized that pretty early on in guitar playing, none of my favorite players were ever considered in the top bracket of 'technique' - but they played the best music. I bet this is true for other guitarists too whether they realize it or not.

While its true that different people are drawn to JB for different reasons, I think that is at the heart of it. Joe really is a complete package. Ability, technique, talent, song writing, showmanship, its all there.