B.B. King Shares His Technique for Unlocking Extra Sounds from His Guitar]

“I’ve seen a lot of guys who don’t use a pick — George Benson, Bruce Bolen, Jerry Reed, Roy Clark — but never, never me, man,” B.B. King told Guitar Player in 1984. “Always the pick. I’m really lost if I’ve got to play without it. I’m horrible at chords without one. I’m terrible at fingerpicking. In fact, I’m even ashamed to try it. But I do know how to use a pick.”

As B.B. himself admitted, he wasn’t a particularly fast player, simply because “I play mostly downstrokes,” he said. Furthermore, he added, “I use a medium pick that isn’t very flexible at all. I’m old-fashioned: I was taught to hold it with two fingers in the first place, so I still do it that way most times. I hold it with my thumb and index, and control it with my middle finger.”

To that end, he was a hard player, attacking the strings of his electric guitars more ferociously than a jazz player and even many rock guitarists. “I fight the strings at times for presence,” he said, “to get that force.”