ockdown Licks no. 313. ‘Got Me Under Pressure’ by ZZ Top.
Lead solo played on an HB35+ guitar into a NUX M8 amp set to ‘classic’ with medium reverb.
Original played by Billy Gibbons.
Many assume to get a ZZ Top guitar sound requires heavy gauge strings.
Originally a user of heavy gauge strings in ZZ Top’s earliest days, Gibbons switched to light strings after playing a show with B.B. King. King asked to play Gibbons’ guitar, which he gladly obliged. After playing it, King noticed the heavy strings, handed the guitar back to Gibbons and asked, “Why you working so hard?”. Gibbons had assumed that the classic blues sound came from playing heavy gauge strings, but King told him otherwise and advised him to put light gauge strings on his guitar instead. So he often used ‘7s’ as opposed to standard ’10/12s.’