BB King's setup

[David Schwab]

That's true, on a shorter scale instrument, you can use heavier strings. And in the end it's what feels good to you!

Those Bluegrass guys can sure play well, so that obviously works for them.

[Bruce Johnson]

Bluegrass and other acoustic style music can be surprisingly tough to play. The song structures are usually fairly simple, but the thing is, it's all completely open. There's no drums, no amps, no distortion pedals, no knobs to play with. You can completely hear every single note that everyone plays and sings. There's nothing to hide behind. You have to do it all with your fingers and your voice and your internal timing.

About the guitars, our lead singer/guitarist Steve plays a beautiful and well-worn 1939 Martin with 12's. The action is pretty high on it. Our occasional lead guitarist Alec plays a fairly modern Taylor with 11's. Both use the coated D'Addarios.

[ThermionicScott]

Good info on this thread!

Remember that BB isn't playing any chords, and gets to take a break from playing whenever he sings, so a heavy setup won't be as tiring to him as it would be to other players. That high action lets him bend "under" neighboring strings pretty easily, and he doesn't have to worry about accidentally sounding other notes when doing his "hummingbird" vibrato.

- Scott