Joe Bonamassa is a pillar of the world of blues guitar, considered by many to be the world's best living blues guitarist.
That doesn't mean, however, that the electric guitar ace (and noted collector) is incapable of switching things up.
Case in point is the latest video from Scary Pockets, a popular group known for reinventing a wide variety of songs in a funk style, who have previously collaborated with Bonamassa on a soulful rhythm ’n’ blues reimagining of AC/DC classic Back in Black.
Their latest cover – a delectable version of Madonna's smash hit, Like a Prayer – features Bonamassa trading his typical blues-hewn leads for the glam and groove of disco. Mostly, that is...
Naturally, there's a bit of Nile Rodgers in Bonamassa's rhythm work, but there's also a touch of blues-rock bite – and compressed, razor-sharp funk – in his fills. Either way, you'll want to stick around for his solo right around the halfway point – a masterclass in telling a vivid, complete story in eight bars.
We'd like to think that Madonna – who, of course, famously loves to blur the lines between genres herself – would appreciate the guitar-heavy reinvention of the song. After all, she plays a bit – dipping into some unexpected genres along the way – herself...
During her 2008 Sticky & Sweet world tour, the pop legend – black Gibson Les Paul Classic in hand – frequently segued from her Abba-sampling hit Hung Up into Pantera’s 1992 groove-metal bruiser A New Level.
Madonna guitarist Monte Pittman had taught her the song, and – in the process – imparted to the singer an important tip he had gleaned from, you guessed it, Dimebag Darrell.
“I was trying to explain how to keep the pick on top of the strings,“ Pittman told MusicRadar in 2018.
“I learned it when Dimebag Darrell came to see Prong [Pittman's former band] in Dallas. He wanted to know if we were doing the song Cut Rate and asked about the rhythm part which doesn’t let off, which is when he said his secret was never letting the pick leave the string when playing really fast.“
