B. B. King and his musical “wife,” his Gibson guitar “Lucille,” is one of the most famous electric blues guitarists in the world. Inspired early on by Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, he also drew inspiration from early jazz guitarists such as Charlie Christian. King developed a style of playing that used the guitar not just as a rhythmic accompaniment but also as a sort of “backup” — or accompanying voice — when he sang, playing short, riff-like single-note melodic phrases. His first hit came in 1951 with “Three o' Clock Blues,” and he went on to record many more, with big band accompaniment and jazzy phrasing.

The Gibson 335 guitar, a symmetrical, thin-bodied instrument that became the mainstay for bluesmen such as B. B. King and Freddie King, first appeared in 1958. During the 1940s, B. B. King used a Fender Bassman amplifier with his Gibson, and the combination became the standard for blues playing and recording until the late 1980s.