Joe Bonamassa

• Attack controls everything — light touch for cleans, dig in hard for natural breakup
• Guitar volume knob is your gain control — 10 for crunch, 7 for clean, 4 for crystal clear
• Tweed Deluxe pushed hard gives a compressed, vintage breakup nothing else replicates
• Les Paul bridge pickup: aggressive pick attack into slightly dirty amp for the core tone
• Vibrato is measured — Bonamassa uses it only on target notes at the end of phrases
• Learn the Albert King box position (high fretboard minor pentatonic) — central to his leads
• EQ: warm midrange (boost 800Hz), no scooping — vintage tone lives in the mids
• Study "Ball Peen Hammer" and "Sloe Gin" for the contrast between aggression and emotion
• String gauge matters — heavy strings (.011s) give the thick, chewy note quality

Joe Bonamassa is the most technically accomplished modern blues-rock guitarist — a vast vintage gear collection combined with encyclopaedic knowledge of blues and rock history. His multiple vintage Les Pauls through Dumble and Fender Tweed amps deliver a tone with extraordinary dynamic range and harmonic richness.