Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

I do think there was a time period back when Joe was starting out as a solo that every new hotshot young blues guitar player was "the next SRV".That could mean in sound or just the next blues player to make waves in the main stream.This would apply to KWS and Johnny Lang and maybe a few others.Cant say I have heard that next SRV thing in the last 5 years or so.

Your rock candy baby
Your hard sweet and sticky

20 (edited by Jimi75 2015-04-10 03:42:40)

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Sorry, but I have never felt that Joe's style nor his compositions were very SRV like. In the beginning Joe's composition were very wide in variety and I think it's okay that great players left a mark. He is and never was a clone! Totally found his own way and bridging the old British with the old American style - can't say SRV really did that. Maybe Hendrix, but still JB is totally different. Regarding the switch from the Strat to the Les Paul, I think both mentioned rumors/arguments are weak. A professional musician choses the instrument that suits him best, this has nothing to do with comparisons or company policy discrepancies, I guess. I totally appreciate Joe being so unique, but I also love SRV/Hendrix influenced players like KWS and Eric Gales.

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

jackfossett wrote:

I've encountered many of said policemen on the Highway to Mordor. The YouTube comment section - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Lol, ain't that the truth.  Sometimes good for a laugh, though.

22 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2015-04-10 09:32:49)

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Anyone that wields a strat is automatically compared to Hendrix, Clapton, or SRV. Joe Bonamassa started getting popular playing his gold sparkle "Goldie" strat. Instantly, everyone thought he was an SRV ripoff. First time I saw him, he was opening for KWS, and that's what some of my friends said. I knew different.

Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

To avoid that, JB started playing Les Pauls. It was a good move. People that play Les Pauls don't have the comarison to other LesPaul players for some reason. You can be your own guitarist. Add to the point that Fender made a clone of his Goldie strat (and Phillip Sayce's white strat) without mention or talk of an artist endorsement. It was a sore spot for a couple years, but it's obviously been forgiven as of late. There was a point where anything that said Fender or had an F on it wasn't allow near or on stage.

As a guitarist, I (personally) would avoid all SRV songs like the plague to avoid the comparisons. I know John Mayer plays some SRV tunes, and KWS does as well... so that market is already taken up. Covering "old favorites" to me is sort of a yawn. Finding obscure B-sides and re arranging them, however, would be quite interesting.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Seriously????????????

                                                                          J Dawg

What is success? Is it do yo' own thang, or is it to join the rest?   -Allen Toussaint

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

ZeyerGTR wrote:
jackfossett wrote:

I've encountered many of said policemen on the Highway to Mordor. The YouTube comment section - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Lol, ain't that the truth.  Sometimes good for a laugh, though.

The number of twisted, pathetic souls who feel the need to troll and write obnoxious comments on youtube and other Internet forums never ceases to amaze me. If they don't like something, why not move on & comment on something they DO like, rather than crap on something they don't?  I suspect these types don't really like anything, and judging or tearing others down makes them somehow feel better about their sad unfulfilled lives. And I agree that youtube has more than its share.

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

I guess it's the trap he doesn't want to fall into, at an early time in his career, he'd want to be able to stand alone and not be labelled. I respect that.

Reading a lot of magazines, it's a problem for people like Eric Gales, who is labelled as a Hendrix copy because he plays upside down right-handed guitars because he learnt to play left handed with the strings upside down. Yet, he makes it very clear that Hendrix was not one of his biggest influences. Being drawn into playing for Billy Cox and Buddy Miles for the Band Of Gypsies Return Tour probably didn't help.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to pull out a SRV cover, discretely. Would be a nice return for Reece Wynans. But of course, only if Joe wants to. Personally I don't think it's really necessary, he has more than enough material to fill a brilliant set without breaking into loads of covers.

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Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

NPB_EST.1979 wrote:

Anyone that wields a strat is automatically compared to Hendrix, Clapton, or SRV. Joe Bonamassa started getting popular playing his gold sparkle "Goldie" strat. Instantly, everyone thought he was an SRV ripoff. First time I saw him, he was opening for KWS, and that's what some of my friends said. I knew different.

Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

To avoid that, JB started playing Les Pauls. It was a good move. People that play Les Pauls don't have the comarison to other LesPaul players for some reason. You can be your own guitarist. Add to the point that Fender made a clone of his Goldie strat (and Phillip Sayce's white strat) without mention or talk of an artist endorsement. It was a sore spot for a couple years, but it's obviously been forgiven as of late. There was a point where anything that said Fender or had an F on it wasn't allow near or on stage.

As a guitarist, I (personally) would avoid all SRV songs like the plague to avoid the comparisons. I know John Mayer plays some SRV tunes, and KWS does as well... so that market is already taken up. Covering "old favorites" to me is sort of a yawn. Finding obscure B-sides and re arranging them, however, would be quite interesting.

Thanks Nic. The Goldie rip off was what I remembered about 99.9% sure, but didn't want to put something out there I wasnt 100% certain of.
This was not rumors incidentally, it is fact.

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

xavier wrote:

I guess it's the trap he doesn't want to fall into .. to stand alone and not be labelled.

Reading a lot of magazines, it's a problem for people like Eric Gales, who is labelled as a Hendrix copy because he plays upside down right-handed guitars because he learnt to play left handed with the strings upside down. Yet, he makes it very clear that Hendrix was not one of his biggest influences.  Personally I don't think it's really necessary, he has more than enough material to fill a brilliant set

Right on xavier!

Lenny mentioned he was doin SRV note for note .. pre-teen

I really enjoy watchin Eric Gales, Albert King, and JP Cervoni (to name a few). I was given a guitar at age 9, and being a south paw, I grabbed it and learned that way too .. lol  Jimi had the strings set properly for a left hander (although the guitar was upside down).

Why doesn't Joe cover SRV? .. he's been there .. done that .. lol

Cheers!  cool

The BonaMaritimer .. All Dials To The Right!

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Flogging a dead horse guys.
JB played Led Zep... Do we call him a Jimmy Page clone?
If I want SRV esq songs I'll play KWS or even better...  my SRV albums.
C'mon folks,
Let's strap in and enjoy the journey JB is taking us on.... I am

Ok...Brain...I don't like you and you don't like me...     ("H. Simpson")

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

2014 - Howlin Wolf / Muddy Waters tribute concert.
2015 - Three Kings Tour
2016 - SRV Tribute? Maybe?

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Jack that's a great Idea.  SRV tribute wow,  with special guest Jimmy Vaughn

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

wvgirlinky wrote:

Jack that's a great Idea.  SRV tribute wow,  with special guest Jimmy Vaughn

........at Alpine Valley.  Why not put together a 25th tribute show.  Hell, call up Guy, Clapton, Cray, and Vaughan too?  I can almost hear Sweet Home Chicago playing again!

"You can't put a price on cool."

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Jelly Roll wrote:
wvgirlinky wrote:

Jack that's a great Idea.  SRV tribute wow,  with special guest Jimmy Vaughn

........at Alpine Valley.  Why not put together a 25th tribute show.  Hell, call up Guy, Clapton, Cray, and Vaughan too?  I can almost hear Sweet Home Chicago playing again!

That would be awesome!  I'm in.  Hey, Joe, are you listening? big_smile

"Oh baby, since you're gone, I got a massa the blues!"

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

If Joe were to do another tribute tour I think it would be more fitting for it to be a tribute to British blues. For instance, a full set of songs from Cream, Free, Rory Gallagher, Zeppelin, etc.

Guitars: 1974 LP Custom, 2013 R8
Amps: '88 JCM 800 w/ TV cab, Tone King Falcon
Effects: Fulltone Clyde, Monsterpiece Stud, EP Booster, Strymon El Capistan

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

Massa the Blues wrote:
Jelly Roll wrote:
wvgirlinky wrote:

Jack that's a great Idea.  SRV tribute wow,  with special guest Jimmy Vaughn

........at Alpine Valley.  Why not put together a 25th tribute show.  Hell, call up Guy, Clapton, Cray, and Vaughan too?  I can almost hear Sweet Home Chicago playing again!

That would be awesome!  I'm in.  Hey, Joe, are you listening? big_smile

At Alpine is a great idea. How awesome would that be?

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

At Alpine is a great idea. How awesome would that be?


I was there that night.  It was the night before my first day of high school.  Boy I wish I could go back and experience it all over again with these older and more mature eyes/ears.  (That and steal the keys from that chopper.)

"You can't put a price on cool."

Re: Why doesn't Joe cover SRV?

GuitarSlingerofTruth wrote:

If Joe were to do another tribute tour I think it would be more fitting for it to be a tribute to British blues. For instance, a full set of songs from Cream, Free, Rory Gallagher, Zeppelin, etc.

+1.  Not sure why Joe would be compared to SRV, or why he would want to do a tribute to SRV.  Joe does not play "Texas Blues".  There are a couple early Joe tracks, that if you really stretch, it maybe sounds a little "Texas". 
Both great guitar players, in my opinion that is where the comparison ends.  To me it's like comparing Ty Cobb to Nolan Ryan.  Both great baseball players.  One was a great hitter the other a great pitcher.

The only thing we deserve, is an opportunity.  Everything else has to be earned.