To this day there remains speculation over Albert King’s tunings. Legend has it that when asked what tuning he used, King responded I-D-U-N-N-O. King was survived by his wife, Glendle; two daughters, Evelyn Smith and Gloria Randolph; a son, Donald Randolph; a sister, Elvie Wells; eight grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. [15] Artistry [ edit ] Instruments [ edit ] King in Chicago, 1981 King's "Lucy" custom-made guitar at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music When I watch a old video I feel sad for a little bit that he’s gone. Then I smile knowing his music and influence will always be there.. he influenced me . As Albert would say during one of his soulful solos “whooooo” 🙂 Reply It may have been the open slide-guitar tunings of players like Jefferson and James that inspired King’s own use of alternate tunings. He is mainly associated with an E minor tuning (low to high, C B E G B E). But he also tuned to the same intervals in both C# and D. He was known to use open F (low to high, C F C D A D) as well. Lots of people try to be cool ..Albert just walked in the room 😉 I thought I’d share Albert’s influence on me musically. As I have mentioned I have been playing strictly old school metal rhythm . I came to the point where I wanted to learn to play lead. You would think I would I would start playing lead metal. The Blues really drew me in I started to read about and listen to Albert King and then I heard a watched ” Blues Power” . After that is was settled .. I would learn and play blues lead;-) He played with so much emotion and soul during Blues Power. The way he would talk and tell a story about different cases about the blues. His live tone for Blues Power was sort of clean but at the point of breaking. Then my favorite of the way he would bend a note 2 steps up and just hold it for about 3 seconds and the whole band would stop ..he would hold his fist in the air . ..that is Blues Power !

It’s generally accepted that the list of Chicago blues greats is complete, with no names to be added, but Cannon shows the Windy City is not done teaching us about electric blues. Luthier Dan Erlewine, who made King one of the Flying V guitars that he played throughout his career, had a few occasions to witness the Velvet Bulldozer in high dudgeon. By this point, his original 1958 Flying V had gone missing, allegedly lost by the guitarist in a game of craps. It was replaced by a 1966 Flying V presented to King by Gibson. This instrument accompanied the guitarist onto the stage for his many appearances at Bill Graham’s legendary Fillmore venues in San Francisco and New York City. Aside from the Fender Dual Showman, these are not amps that are associated with beautiful blues tones. This is because they are solid state, and not tube amplifiers. If you do decide that a Flying V isn’t for you, I would recommend opting for an alternative Gibson or Epiphone model.According to Dan Erlewine, luthier who built King’s Flying V, Albert tuned all of his strings down a whole step. He then tuned his low E and A strings down a further whole step. His guitar was tuned to C-F-C-F-A-D. This tuning method helped his string bending to become easier. That is not to say that I recommend you turn your guitar upside down to sound like Albert King. However it’s worth paying close attention to your bending style if you really want to nail that Albert King tone.

Years Gone By (1969) Blues for Elvis – King Does the King's Things (1970) Lovejoy (1971) I'll Play the Blues for You (1972) I Wanna Get Funky (1974) The Pinch a.k.a. The Blues Don't Change (1974) King Albert (1977) I'm in a Phone Booth, Baby (1984)With these two points in mind, and assuming that you are doing the majority of your playing at home, I would recommend going for a small tube amp.

Central Bedfordshire College is taking steps in the right direction after merger says Ofsted after previous 'requires improvement' rating This is a fun, amusing story that I enjoyed the whole way through. It was lovely at the end to be told all about the real Albert, and also have some facts about Tortoises shared with us. In 1983, King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. [7] He received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1993. [35] In 2011, King was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown Indianola. [7] [36] He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2013. [9]This idea was largely perpetuated by Stevie Ray Vaughan, who used gauge 0.13 strings. Before Vaughan though, both B.B. King and Albert King swore by using lighter strings. King was left-handed, but usually played right-handed guitars flipped over upside-down. He used a dropped open tuning, possibly more than one, as reports vary: (C#-G#-B-E-G#-C#) or open E-minor (C-B-E-G-B-E) or open F (C-F-C-F-A-D). [33] Steve Cropper (who played rhythm guitar on many of King's Stax sessions), told Guitar Player magazine that King tuned his guitar to C-B-E-F#-B-E (low to high). [34] The luthier Dan Erlewine said King tuned to C-F-C-F-A-D with light-gauge strings (0.050", 0.038", 0.028", 0.024" wound, 0.012", 0.009"). The lighter-gauge strings, and lower string tension of the dropped tuning, were factors in King's string-bending technique. Having said that, there were 3 amps that King did rely on during his career. These were the Roland JC-120, a Model 260 Acoustic head, and at times a 1969 Fender Dual Showman. The argument goes that people with dominant left hands are likely to have more developed right brain hemispheres, and be better at creative tasks. As with everything in neuroscience, the truth is probably that it’s more complicated than that. Still, looking at famous wielders of upside-down guitars, it’s a tempting idea. Ian said: "Albert seems to be taking all this in his stride. He has become a bit of a diva but that might just be his age. We've all been amazed at how his popularity has grown.

Ian said: “Unlike the Albert books, these are rhyming stories. Also, we don’t have a pet yeti at home.”

Engel, John (2006), Uncommon Sound: The Left-Handed Guitar Players Who Changed Music, Left Field Ventures, ISBN 2-9600614-0-3, archived from the original on 2007-02-08