The Turnaround: Albert King

Learn from one of the original pioneers of electric blues, with five specially recorded and transcribed examples plus backing tracks to play them over

These days, when seemingly everybody is influenced by everybody else, it’s worth remembering just how much of a pioneer Albert King was as far back as the 1950s, with his unusual set up and playing style. Using a right handed guitar flipped over to play left handed meant he was basically playing upside down, so, where a more conventional player pushes up to bend the treble strings, Albert would pull down.

As if that weren’t enough, he played in lower tunings with very light strings and he picked using just his thumb. This trademark method would play a huge part in his note choice and phrasing. His playing was mainly pentatonic, but his unique method gave him his own sound. Even so, you can capture his sound and style in standard tuning – just be prepared to work a little harder on those string bends if your guitar isn’t sporting a set of gauge 0.008 strings! We’re staying in standard tuning as we look at the licks and tricks of the blues legend. For a more authentic vibe, tune every string down by three semitones (Albert’s tunings were more unconventional than this) and play our tab three frets higher than transcribed.