Play it now: “Bridge To Better Days (Live)” – Joe Bonamassa

As promised, I ventured south of the border (I mean south of the 10 freeway) to Redondo Beach in order to  bear witness to blues shredder Joe Bonamassa. He did not disappoint! It was at a small bar called Brixton, formerly Harvelle’s. Probably won’t be too many more chances to catch him at small venues.  But, they weren’t small enough to allow real cameras in, so this is what I got.  Guitar geeks may want to note my obligatory pedal board shot as well. Note, he shreds without using a guitar pick. Just his fingers slicing and dicing the guitar strings. It’s pretty unbelieveable.

Also, I think the shades may exempt him from my Open Eyes Theory, I’m not sure.

Play this now!: “Just Got Paid” – Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa
Originally uploaded by madelien on Flickr

I’m not yet an expert on Guitar Gods, but I’m slowly working my way up there. In my younger days, I never gave two shakes about the guitar. I dug cool riffs and all, but the shredders always seemed too over the top for me. Then for some reason, a year or so it all changed. I think maybe seeing Philip Sayce for the first time started it. Then my buddy Greg got me really into Jimi and I finally got it — as much as I “get” anything, I suppose.

So, Joe Bonamassa is a dude who was born in upstate New York just like me. Like me, he’s now from Los Angeles. That’s about where the similarities end. He’s a total shredder. He’s playing a show at BriXton in Redondo Beach next month, and I’ll be there. His latest release comes out tomorrow — a double live album called Live From Nowhere in Particular. The ZZ Top cover above is mindblowing. I really hope you clicked the play button.

Regarding that cool photo on Flickr, I don’t know the photographer, but I like the shot. When Greg saw it he said, “In every adult guitar god, you can see a trace of the boy, the one who locked himself in his room every day and night for his entire childhood, playing guitar.” Exactly!