B. B. King

It angers me how scholars associate the blues strictly with tragedy.

I bought my first electric guitar when I moved to Memphis; a Gibson with a DeArmond pickup which I used with a small Gibson amplifier.

As you get older, your fingers sometimes swell. But I’ve missed 18 days in 65 years. Sometimes guys will just take off; I’ve never done that. If I’m booked to play, I go and play.

I’ve always tried to defend the idea that the blues doesn’t have to be sung by a person who comes from Mississippi, as I did.

I’d solo on my guitar; then sing; then solo; then sing some more. one stopped when the other started. That way I felt a continuity, not a conflict, like a wheel that keeps turning. Both sounds – guitar and voice – were coming out of me, but they issued from different parts of my soul.

I’d take my guitar and play on the streets. A gospel song would get me a pat on the head. But a blues would get me a dime. So you see why I stuck with the blues.

When you begin to teach Jazz, the most dangerous thing is to teach style.

By and large Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.

Damn it, when I’m bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic: take it or leave it.

[On the word Jazz] There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s only a word. What’s in a name? Nothing! Cats say, Call me Muhammed so-and-so. But what’s the difference? A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music. Jazz is known all over the world as an American musical art form and that’s it. No America, no jazz. I’ve seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa.

Music making is the most joyful activity possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.

There’s always room for improvisation or changes of expression.

You’ve got to learn your instrument.

For me, I started on a Les Paul and went through years of playing other guitars and just came back full circle to what was more natural to me.

To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.

I was not prepared to play the role of singer in the camp of the warriors

It was in tune when I bought it.

If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.

I listen to all kinds of songs. There’s something to be learned from every type of music and from the one making it, whether it’s pop or jazz or hip-hop.

The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.

Jazz music is the power of now.