What he said... Griff, that is. Another take on restriction

BigRigSteve

aka Drumtrucker... coming to a town near you
below is quote from this article in Guitar World by Alex Bruce:
https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/five-steps-to-bb-king-style-lead-guitar-playing

which is proof that Griff is no alone in encouraging restriction to increase creativity.

"
1. The Box

Also known as “The Blues Box” or “B.B. King’s Blues Box,” there's a lot of information out there on this subject, so what we’re more interested in here is reducing the concept to its essence so it can be used in anything, and anywhere.

King often took a small group of notes, sometimes three, sometimes four, and treated that as his essential canvas. He effectively restricted his licks to phrases that were memorable, sing-able (more on that later) and expressive because they had to be (i.e., note choice is limited, meaning expression, techniques and rhythm must be used creatively).

These are three very important qualities in any music but especially in the blues, given that call and response, playing with, under or between vocal lines and expressing emotion are so central to the style.

Start small—how much melody can you make with just three (or even two) notes? Use your expression, techniques and phrasing to see what you can create."
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
below is quote from this article in Guitar World by Alex Bruce:
https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/five-steps-to-bb-king-style-lead-guitar-playing

which is proof that Griff is no alone in encouraging restriction to increase creativity.

"
1. The Box

Also known as “The Blues Box” or “B.B. King’s Blues Box,” there's a lot of information out there on this subject, so what we’re more interested in here is reducing the concept to its essence so it can be used in anything, and anywhere.

King often took a small group of notes, sometimes three, sometimes four, and treated that as his essential canvas. He effectively restricted his licks to phrases that were memorable, sing-able (more on that later) and expressive because they had to be (i.e., note choice is limited, meaning expression, techniques and rhythm must be used creatively).

These are three very important qualities in any music but especially in the blues, given that call and response, playing with, under or between vocal lines and expressing emotion are so central to the style.

Start small—how much melody can you make with just three (or even two) notes? Use your expression, techniques and phrasing to see what you can create."

That's pretty much what Albert Collins does on "Don't lose your cool". Starting at the beginning and then again from about 3:00 to 3:12, he just plays the same note repeatedly over the progression, and then again from 3:30 to 3:45, he uses a single note that makes up the main riff, followed by a fairly simple and repeated 2-note lick. He actually does it throughout the entire song to lesser degrees but even though there is a lot of repetition, the rhythmic variations create an interesting texture and make it sound anything but boring.
 

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
"beautiful phrasing, distinctive vibrato and microtonal bends"

I find I use these less than half tone bends (or squeezes/tweaks/nudges) quite a bit and really like the sound. Here's a good video that demonstrates them nicely...

 
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