Spending time talking to Billy F. Gibbons about guitar is never a dull experience. The heavy-bearded blues hound formed ZZ Top at 20 years old, having spent the end of his teens opening on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's first American headline tour with early band The Moving Sidewalks. The man has stories.

Now as an elder statesman for the blues, despite the multi-platinum record sales and long-cemented stature as one of rock 'n' roll's true legends, he's held onto that same passion that brought him to the forefront of guitar music so many moons ago.

And it's both evident and infectious from the moment the man sits down. He will play YouTube videos from his phone, howling with laughter as old masters — many of whom feature on his list of 10 guitarists below — twist the listener's ear.

"I learned from the best," grins Gibbons. "There's a secret language to the blues — you need to say it without saying it! There is a mystique in the poetry and in those simple three chords that have been stretched every which way. It just stays on the tonic. It doesn't need to do anything else."

Van Wilks features in Gibbons' celebrated list of 10 guitarists who blew his mind at number one — the piece that inspired his quote on this page. Gibbons singles out Van's playing technique as remarkable: great style and a very Texas-tasteful approach. Read the full article at MusicRadar ↗