It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

The defining characteristic of B.B.'s playing is that fast finger vibrato he uses a lot on a single, long-held note

You should go back and listen to more B.B. Your description is lacking.

Certainly each of the three Brits in question were influenced somewhat by each of the three Kings--listen to how much Strange Brew sounds like Albert's Crosscut Saw, for instance--and by other early blues artists as well. I hear a ton of B.B. in Peter's early records and thought it worthwhile to mention what Mayall, after many years of listening and reflection, had to say on the subject. As for B.B., he once said that Peter Green was the only white blues player who made him sweat, FWIW.

He's no David St.Hubbins. I'll tell you that.

You're right Onhwy61; it's not just on long held notes, but on short ones as well ;-). I'm also not crazy about B.B.'s tone. There's not enough tube saturation for me (B.B., try a lower-powered amp cranked up to 11), but that, of course, is a matter of taste. What isn't?!

Speaking of amp power, guitars, and tone, a Telecaster isn't known as a Blues guitar (Country is a completely different story), yet in the hands of the right player can be excellent. Danny Gatton sure made one sound good, didn't he? That was with the stock Fender pickups replaced with Joe Barden's, his favorite. When I recorded with Telecaster player Evan Johns (a Gatton bandmate at times) he plugged his Tele into a blackface Super Reverb and turned it up full. It sounded great, but was LOUDER THAN HELL!

BB King also had a tendency to play in a pentatonic minor/blues scale hybrid box just below the 12th fret on the B and G strings. Mainly just four notes plus bends, etc. He got a ton of mileage out of that little box and Peter Green would often linger there while improvising, too. To my ear, that often gave his playing a little BB flavor.

As to the "bubblegum team" comment, that came from someone else. I, too, won't always object to the term, but it's so frequently applied (incorrectly) to Buckingham and Nicks that I'll always respond when I see it. Buckingham is so academic about his song structures (and uncomfortable about that fact) that he's kind of funny to listen to when discussing his process. He refuses to learn standard notation because (as he puts it) "That's a left brain process and rock n roll is a right brain art form". FWIW, I actually 100% agree with him, but I learned to read so long ago that I guess I'm a lost cause.

Nevertheless, when you check out a song like "Time Precious Time", you can see that he's failed miserably at stamping out his left brain.

BTW - there's a great Guitar World Magazine on-line interview about the composition of that tune. Worth checking out for anyone who is interested in that sort of thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCGKFY9NBZY