Albert Upside Down (Albert the Tortoise)

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Mike Bordin ( Ozzy Osbourne, Faith No More) uses a right-handed setup, but with his primary ride cymbal on his left. Albert is based on the writer's own pet, who is more than 80 years old and has been in Ian's family for more than 50 years. I suspect it was this that motivatedKing to tune down. It allowed him to hit massive bends and play with heavy vibrato, without placing his fretting arm and fingers under unnecessary stress.

Don’t worry though, because here I will explain how you can replicate King’s tone and setup, without completely overhauling your current rig. 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. Another essential technique involves the incorporation of pre-bends, wherein a string is pre-bent a specific amount before it is sounded. In FIGURES 3a and 3b, two-step bends on the high E are followed by one- and one-and-a-half pre-bends on the high E. Albert was a master of microtonal bending, so use your ear and listen closely to insure you have complete control over the notes that are sounded when the string is pre-bent.

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Primary Guitar: Choice of guitars has changed over the years. Known to use a Gibson 335, but now favors guitars made by Alhambra instruments.

This in part is what helped King play his signature bends. He bent with great force and speed, and it is difficult to replicate this with a normal set up. Unlike a lot of the guitarists that I have featured in my ‘ How to sound like‘ series, King’s set up is very unorthodox. As Gibbons recalls: ‘Albert asked to play my guitar. He had it upside-down and played a little bit. Then he asked, “Why are you using these strings?” I told him because I wanted to have that bluesy sound. He said, “Why are you working so hard? Get something light!”

Jimi Hendrix's Les Paul Custom – a right-handed guitar with the strings reversed for playing left-handed People forget that great rhythm guitar will help make your solo sound better”: YouTube guitar guru Marty Schwartz on the biggest mistakes aspiring guitarists make – and how to fix them For although Albert King is now recognised as one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time, he spent the vast majority of his career playing in clubs and smaller venues. As a result, he sometimes had to rely on what was available to him.