Let Me Introduce My Guitar Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lucille

Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, in Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA. When he was younger, he sang in the Gospel choir at church and taught himself how to play the guitar. He heard blues singers on the radio and decided he wanted to also be on the radio.

In 1946, he was working as a singer and a DJ at the WDIA radio station in Memphis, Tennessee. Because King was part of the Blues scene on Beale Street in Memphis, he earned the nickname Beale Street Blues Boy at the radio station. Soon, that was shortened to Blues Boy King, which then became B.B. King.

After King heard fellow Blues artist T-Bone Walker play for the first time, he decided he had to have an electric guitar. He got his guitar and was playing at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. While there two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. While fighting, one knocked over some kerosene which caused a fire to break out. Everyone made it out, but King did not want to lose his precious guitar and ran back to get it. He named the guitar Lucille as a reminder to himself never to fight with another man over a woman, and also never to stupidly run back into a burning building.

King has had other reincarnations of Lucille since that one as they wear out. He mainly preferred to play Gibson ES-335 guitars.

B.B. King died on May 14, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA from vascular dementia, a complication of his diabetes. He was 89. He was buried in the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Mississippi.

Answer: Maybellene

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Berry started performing in high school, unfortunately, he also started robbing places then as well. After an arrest for armed robbery, he was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa in Missouri. However, Berry used his time wisely and formed a singing quartet, and did so well that they let the group perform in places outside of the facility. When he turned 21, he was released.

In 1955, he adapted a traditional tune called "Ida Red" and wrote the words for "Maybellene." The song sold over a million copies, and reached number one on the Billboard charts.
"Maybellene, why can't you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can't you be true?"

His guitar, a Gibson ES-350T, was named Maybellene, after his first hit.

Chuck Berry died on March 18, 2017, at the age of 90, in Wentzville, Missouri due to a heart attack.

Answer: The Black Strat

David Gilmour was born on March 6, 1946, in Cambridge, England. As a youngster, his parents encouraged him to pursue his love of music. When he was eleven, he met future Pink Floyd members Syd Barrett and Roger Waters. They were in high school, near his (then) all-boys school.

In 1962, he joined a blues rock band called Jokers Wild. They were only together for three years, and only produced a single-sided album, and a single. They sold about fifty copies in total.

Pink Floyd was formed in 1965. Gilmour joined in 1967, and the following year Barrett left the group due to mental health issues. In 1978, Gilmour also started doing solo work. His first solo album was "David Gilmour."

Gilmour's guitar The Black Strat, is a Fender Stratocaster. The nickname comes from the fact that it's black and the type of guitar.

Answer: Blackie

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in Ripley, Surrey, England. He received his first guitar, a Hoyer acoustic guitar, when he turned thirteen. However, he found it too hard to play and quickly lost interest. A couple of years later, he tried again and never stopped playing guitars after that.

In 1969, he started to play a Fender Stratocaster. The first one he used, which was brown, was named "Brownie." In 1973, that one became a backup guitar when he got the one he is most associated with, his black Fender Stratocaster guitar, "Blackie." Blackie was retired in 1985.

Answer: Micawber

Keith Richards was born on December 18, 1943, in Dartford, Kent, England.

In 1962, he and Mick Jagger (vocals) formed The Rolling Stones. The group also included Brian Jones (multiple instruments), Bill Wyman (bass), and Charlie Watts (drums).

In 1971, he got his Fender Telecaster guitar for which he is most known. This is the guitar he named Micawber. He named it after a character in Charles Dickens's novel "David Copperfield."

Answer: The Red Special

Sir Brian Harold May was born on July 19, 1947, in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, England. He formed his first band while in grammar school, which was named 1984, after the novel by George Orwell. In 1968, he formed the band, Smile, which included drummer Roger Taylor, who also was in Queen. Smile lasted only two years, and in 1970, the band Queen was formed by May, Taylor, and Freddie Mercury.

May's main guitar is an electric guitar he built with his father called "The Red Special." He explained that he "likes a big neck - thick flat and wide." Because he built the guitar himself and gave it its special design, the guitar can produce some sounds that regular guitars cannot do.

Answer: Lucy & Rocky

George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, England. When his mother was pregnant with him, she used to listen to music from India, which is interesting since Harrison is the Beatle who was interested in the sitar and other instruments from India.

Harrison joined the Quarryman in 1958. In 1960, the group became The Beatles. Harrison also had a solo career.

Harrison named the Stratocaster that he played mainly in movies and in his solo career, Rocky. Then in 1968, Eric Clapton, whom he had worked with, and who called Harrison an "innovator of music," gave Harrison a Gibson Les Paul guitar that was cherry red. Harrison named this guitar Lucy.

George Harrison, a long-time smoker, died on November 29, 2001, at the age of 58 in Los Angeles. The cause was cancer.

Answer: The Log

Lester William Polsfuss was born on June 9, 1915, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. His mother simplified their Prussian name first to Polfuss then to Polfus. Paul never legally changed his name but used Les Paul as his stage name. Paul learned to play the harmonica when he was eight years old. He also learned to play the piano, and then the banjo, and guitar as he was growing up. He then invented a neck-worn harmonica holder so he could play the harmonica and guitar or banjo simultaneously.

By the time he was a teenager, he had started singing country music semi-professionally.

In 1940, he was also building guitars. One of his first electric guitars he named "The Log."

Les Paul died on August 12, 2009, in White Plains, NY at age 94, from complications of pneumonia.

Answer: Old Black

Neil Percival Young was born on November 12, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

He first learned to play music on a ukulele, then a banjo, and then a guitar. Old Black is Young's main electric guitar. It is a 1953 Les Paul customized Goldtop. The guitar is almost always used with the Ace "peace" guitar strap. Both have been modified and repaired several times since the 1950s.

Answer: Virginia

Eric Johnson was born on August 17, 1954, in Austin, TX, USA. He first started to learn the guitar when he was eleven. He joined his first band, Mariani, when he was 15. They released one demo, which has since become a collector's item as it is very rare.

His main guitar is a 1954 Fender Stratocaster, an electric guitar, which he named Virginia. Johnson can create violin-like sounds from his guitar, and has become known for this. It was made out of sassafras.

In 2020, Fender created a guitar called the "Eric Johnson 'Virginia'," modeled after Johnson's original guitar.