If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money.
B. B. KingRead
Playing the guitar is like telling the truth - you never have to worry about repeating the same [lie] if you told the truth. You don't have to pretend, or cover up. If someone asks you again, you don't have to think about it or worry about it because there it is. It's you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Playing the guitar authentically is comparable to being honest; both require no pretense.
This quote by B.B. King emphasizes the importance of authenticity in both music and life. Just as playing the guitar honestly allows the musician to express their true self without the burden of pretense or deceit, living truthfully enables individuals to navigate their lives with clarity and ease, free from the complications of dishonesty or cover-ups.
Themes
GuitarTruthAuthenticityHonestyPretense
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of honesty in art, you might say this quote to illustrate your point.
More from B. B. King
All quotes →The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I'll keep playing until I feel like I can't.
B. B. KingRead
Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do and then just go for it. I never know what the public's going to like, anyway.
B. B. KingRead
A guitar is like an old friend that is there with me.
B. B. KingRead
I have not been a good father, but no father has loved his children more. Like my father, I decided the best thing I could do for my kids was work and provide. Fortunately, I've been able to do that. Unfortunately, my work was on the road, and that's meant a life of one-nighters.
B. B. KingRead
People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.
B. B. KingRead
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So I asked him to play "Trav'lin' All Alone." That came closer than anything to the way I felt. And some part of it must have come across. The whole joint quieted down. If someone had dropped a pin, it would have sounded like a bomb. When I finished, everybody in the joint was crying in their beer, and I picked thirty-eight bucks up off the floor. . . . When I showed Mom the money for the rent and told her I had a regular job singing for eighteen dollars a week, she could hardly believe it.
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If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian [Epstein].
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When you pay your money to see me, I want you to have the best concert you can have from me.
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I cannot give a single concert at which I do not play one piece after the other in an agony of terror because my memory threatens to fail me. This fear torments me for days beforehand.
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I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life.
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