Blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa recently spoke with Ultimate Guitar for On The Record about his formative years, offering advice to people starting out learning how to play guitar. He also discusses his new album, Blues Deluxe Vol. 2. Following is an excerpt.

UG: What are some of the first songs that you tried to learn? I would assume you learned by ear. Did you use tabs? Did you have the books?

Bonamassa: "I learned by ear. Back in my day, we had cassettes and vinyl. And the very first song I learned was 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)', and I was about seven and I had my first communion, so I bought a wah. Because Italian kids in upstate New York, when they get their first communion, you clean up, I had like a couple hundred bucks and I convinced my mom and dad to let me spend $65 for a Dunlop Crybaby. I don't have the wah, I don't know what happened to the wah, but I have a signature wah now. So it goes all the way back to my first communion."

UG: Is there anything you'd like to say to that kid who just got his first guitar, and is looking to learn some tunes?

Bonamassa: "Learn it, but don't learn it to the point where it sounds exactly the same. Always put your own spin on it. I never learned anything note for note. I didn't see the reason why and I still don't. I mean, yeah, if I was tasked to play the solo from 'Hotel California' with Don Felder, you bet your ass I'm going to learn it correctly because it's a very specific thing. But if you're just learning licks off of records from your favorite players, okay, learn the gist of it, maybe learn the whole thing, but then don't just go and play it verbatim, always try to put a spin on it because all your favorite players that have their own styles generally did this exact same thing, but then put their own spin on it, and next thing you know, they have their own style and people are learning from them.

"So that's a good way to look at it. And the other thing about guitar… and I know this is a controversial statement… have fun. It's supposed to be fun. All this arguing and nitpicking other people and competition, people go, 'Oh, so-and-so's better than you', or 'You're better than that.' None of it. It's supposed to be fun. Just play and enjoy it and say to yourself, hey listen, I am who I am, nothing better, nothing worse."

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Bonamassa recently released "Hope You Realize It (Goodbye Again)", the latest single from his forthcoming album, Blues Deluxe Vol. 2. This original song, written by Bonamassa and Tom Hambridge, demonstrates the 26x Billboard chart-topper’s commitment to innovation within the blues genre. 

"This is a song that I wrote with Tom Hambridge, and we did a real Tower Of Power treatment on it," Bonamassa explains. "Now, the whole thing about Blues Deluxe, Vol. 2, we tried to keep the same ratio of covers to originals as on Blues Deluxe, Vol. 1, so we needed an upbeat song and I had this song kind of laying around for over a year. Calvin Turner wrote a killer funky horn part, and we just did like a Tower Of Power take on it and made no apologies about it. It’s just the nature of the groove and everything else - you have to tip the hat.”

Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 comes twenty years since the release of Bonamassa’s best-selling album ‘Blues Deluxe,’ which celebrated what the US government had declared “the year of the blues.” 

Out October 6th via J&R Adventures, the album features two new originals and eight new covers spanning some of the most important names in the blues – from Bobby “Blue” Bland and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac to Albert King. Also available for pre-order is the Platinum Edition Box Set (limited to 500 units worldwide) which includes the CD and Vinyl versions for both Vol. 2 and Blues Deluxe Remastered along with exclusive items.

Pre-order the album from North America at this location. Pre-order the album from the UK and Europe here. 

“If you had told me 20 years ago my career would last long enough to see the 20th anniversary of this little record called ‘Blues Deluxe,’ I’m sure I would have laughed,” Bonamassa explains. “Blues Deluxe was my last shot after being dropped by two major record labels and my booking agent. It was then that my manager, Roy Weisman, had his first ‘all in’ moment. We would go back into the studio and record. A record that would hopefully define the direction of whatever future career I might have.”

“Part of my approach to these new recordings was that I wanted to see if I had matured musically over the years, and if I had gotten better as a player,” Bonamassa says. “I’m happy to say that I am a much better singer than I was 20 years ago - though I still don’t really consider myself to be a legit ‘singer,’ I can now carry a tune a little better than I could back then.”

Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 tracklist:

"Twenty-Four Hour Blues" (originally performed by Bobby “Blue” Bland)
"It’s Hard But It’s Fair" (originally performed by Bobby Parker)
"Well, I Done Got Over It" (originally performed by Guitar Slim)
"I Want to Shout About It" (originally performed by Ronnie Earle & The Broadcasters)
"Win-O" (originally performed by Pee Wee Crayton)
"Hope You Realize It (Goodbye Again)" (original song)
"Lazy Poker Blues" (originally performed by Fleetwood Mac)
"You Sure Drive a Hard Bargain" (originally performed by Albert King)
"The Truth Hurts" (originally performed by Kenny Neal)
"Is It Safe To Go Home" (original song)