TORONTO -- Whenever Randy Bachman thinks of B.B. King, he can't help but wince. "I first played a show with B.B. in the mid-60s," says Bachman in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press on Friday. "He told me I 'played pretty good for a white boy,' but needed to 'make a few faces' to show that I 'felt the notes and strings I was bending.' "To this day, there are many pictures of me playing my B.B. King string-bending notes and my face looks like someone is stepping on my foot. "Every time I do that on stage, I think of him." King died peacefully in his sleep Thursday night in his Las Vegas home. He was 89. Unsurprisingly, the death of the evocative guitarist -- who stood as the symbolic personification of blues for many music fans -- has inspired dedications from musicians around the world, including many prominent Canadians. Bryan Adams tweeted a memorial to "one of the best blues guitarists ever, maybe the best," someone who "could do more on one note than anyone." Dan Aykroyd also paid his respects, having acted alongside King in 1998's "Blues Brothers 2000" (King played the owner of a used car lot who moves to New Orleans to try his hand at blues). "Thank you BB for your graceful presence and power," Aykroyd wrote. Regina-reared blues guitarist Colin James remembered the formative influence carried by King's inimitable playing. When he was 10, James become a religious devotee of an instructional record/songbook that King had endorsed. "(I) played it over and over again," wrote the six-time Juno winner via email, noting how fortunate he felt to have seen King live. "It feels like the end of an era in a way. These guys wrote the book. He had so much passion in his vibrato when he played guitar and such fantastic economy in his playing and singing." Added Bachman: "He was amazing, like Hendrix in a way, and a tour de force of blues and rock." Like James, Juno-winning blues guitarist Steve Hill was fascinated by King at an early age. The Montreal native recalls appreciating King even before he started to learn guitar -- and then snatching up his records with enthusiastic abandon once he did, at age 14. It must have felt like a dream, then, when Hill actually got to open for his hero in his hometown at the then-Molson Centre in 2001. "He was the nicest guy you could think of," said Hill, who won four awards at this year's Maple Blues Awards. "I've done shows with a lot of ... big names, and B.B. King was the nicest guy." Hill recalls chatting with King about music, but also receiving some level-headed personal advice. "He had diabetes back then already, so we talked about that," Hill remembered. "(He said), 'You gotta take care of your body, son. That's all you got."' King signed Hill's Fender Telecaster, which instantly became a prized possession. "I've retired that guitar," he said. "I haven't played it since he signed it. It just stays at home." Bachman similarly possesses a cherished King artifact -- beyond the concentrated grimace that graces his face when he solos, that is. "Years ago for my birthday, I received a 'Lucille' guitar signed by B.B.," Bachman wrote. "It will be treasured forever. Long live the King."
