Although Pink Floyd is the most successful Progressive Rock band of all time, their music incorporated many different influences. David Gilmour demonstrated this in his guitar playing, not only with his technique but especially through the feel he put into every note, which often led to comparisons with Blues guitarists. He was deeply influenced by that kind of music when developing his own style and spoke about many important American Blues artists. Gilmour shared his opinions on them, including the late legendary B.B. King. What is David Gilmour's opinion on B.B. King B.B. King was one of David Gilmour's biggest influences when growing up and curiously, the Bluesman was quite impressed by the Pink Floyd guitarist talent, even asking him once if he was sure he wasn't born in Mississippi. The British musician was once questioned which was his favorite musical memory and he mentioned that meeting. "I did play at a Les Paul tribute once in New York. I was playing a Blues number with B.B. King and at the end of the song he came up to me and said: 'Hey boy, you sure you wasn't born in Mississippi?' David Gilmour said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). He recalled the same story when talking to The Guardian in 2006, saying: “He’s a lovely chap. His early stuff was stupendous, and he’s just kept going. I first met him in New York. He came up to me and said, ‘Hey, boy, are you sure you weren’t born in Mississippi?’" David Gilmour continued: "I’ve played with him a couple of times since, on a Later With Jools Holland session and on one of his albums. When he’s in the dressing room, he spends all his time writing lyrics. There are some guitar players who are instantly recognisable, and then there are all the rest,” David Gilmour said. As David said, he had the chance to perform with B.B. King a few times. The first one in 1988 at the Les Paul tribute show and the second one in 1998 at the Jools Holland show on BBC Two. That day they performed the song “Eyesight To The Blind”. 11 years later, in 2009, King and Gilmour would be once again at the Jools Holland TV Show and this time they would perform the track "Pauly's Birthday Boogie". That song was part of B.B.'s 1997 album "Deuces Wild" and Holland had played the piano on it. Curiously, Gilmour also was part of that album, playing the guitar with King in the track "Cryin' Won't Help You Babe", which had Paul Carrack on vocals. David Gilmour said every young musician should study guitarists like B.B. King https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oTeyi1Ztsc&list=RD_oTeyi1Ztsc&start_radio=1&pp=ygUVYmIga2luZyBkYXZpZCBnaWxtb3VyoAcB One of the questions famous Rock stars are asked more often during interviews is always "which advice would you give to a young musician?' When talking about artists like B.B. King, in an interview with Relix magazine in 2015, Gilmour said young guitar players should study his work. After the interviewer mentioned artists like B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Peter Green, Gilmour said: “All of those guys were incredible and I spent time trying to learn how to play their licks perfectly. I would suggest any young player should try to sit down and do that. You will wind up knowing how to play their stuff quite well but, eventually, you will form your own style. It forces its way out of the copying,” he said. Besides B.B. King records, Gilmour also had in his house a book on B.B. King. That was revealed by Q magazine journalist D. Cavanagh, who interviewed the Pink Floyd member in 1999 and described how one of the rooms of the house were. "Leading us through a sitting-room and a kitchen - the latter decorated by the paintings of his young children - Gilmour makes coffee and parks himself in a low armchair in his study." He continued: "Around him, the shelves contain vinyl copies of Floyd's debut album, Piper At The Gates of Dawn ('I don't listen to it, no' - Gilmour said) Encyclopedia Britannica, a book on B.B. King and Please Kill Me, the story of New York punk rock." Although Pink Floyd is known primarily as a Progressive Rock band, Gilmour is actually a versatile guitarist and some of his influences can be heard on the band's discography and in his solo career. He once described himself as a "jack of all trades" when it comes to guitar playing and used B.B. King as an example of the kind of guitarist he couldn't be. "Im a real jack of all trades. I’m completely the anti-purist. I was never going to dedicate my life to being B.B. King. My influences were Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Bob Dylan, Hank Marvin, all the Blues guys and everything. It was all a complete hotchpotch, a mass of different styles and influences. I saw no reason why all these influences could not co-habit reasonably and I still don’t!" David Gilmour told Record Collector in 2003. When Gilmour was born in 1946, B.B. King already had a 4-year career in music. By the time Gilmour would start his career, in 1963, King had already released 12 albums. The American musician passed away in 2015 at the age of 89 and was active until the very end, playing his final show less than one year earlier. During his career he released 43 studio albums and almost 140 singles.The post David Gilmour’s opinion on B.B. King appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.