The Velvet Bulldozer!
If anyone can hold the title of string-bending champion it’s Mr. Albert King.
Standing in at a massive 6 ft 4″, The Velvet Bulldozer as he’s known, took to the stage with a flying V and a transistor amp, no valves here!
Unlike the other Kings (B.B. and Freddie), Albert wasn’t a major figure in blues until around the mid-60s, despite his debut release being as early as 1953.
Backed by Stax’s house band MD Booker T. Jones, who actually wrote his signature tune Born Under A Bad Sign, Albert rose to become a blues giant, not just literally!
Since its release in 1967, every blues guitarist/singer worth their salt has attempted to cover it, some even recorded it, including Cream, and Paul Butterfield.
Other big tunes from Albert include Crosscut Saw, I’ll Play The Blues For You, and Oh, Pretty Woman (later covered by Gary Moore).
Perhaps best known for his huge bends, achieved using his Flying V turned upside down, without bothering to change the strings around, Albert King can bend his high e string like no other as he bends down, not up.
Albert’s legacy can mainly be traced to Stevie Ray Vaughan with his wild bends, but Freddie King must have looked to Albert, at least for the sound!
Albert King tunes | Related pages
Born Under A Bad Sign
You can learn how to play Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and a Spytunes video guitar lesson.
| Db7 | Db7 | Db7 | Db7 (Gb G) |
Born under a bad sign, been down since I began to crawl…
Love Me Tender
You can learn how to play Love Me Tender by Elvis using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 | D D/A |
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go…
Albert King on the web
