# Best guitar for playing the blues...



## shorty70

Is it Gibson or Fender??

Or another?

No $1,000 gits, pls.


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## surfspeck

Thats a loaded question.. It really depends on individual preference, feel and the tone your looking for, not to mention the amp/effects your gonna play through.

If you are looking for that old school twang I would go with an American Fender Telecaster

If you are looking for a more versatile tonre range and little more edge I would go with an American Standard Fender Stratocaster.

If you are looking for even more edge, sustain, and more of a heavy distortion groove I would go with a Gipson Les Paul or an Epiphone Copy of a Les Paul (American Made)

You can find any of these guitars for under $1,000 if you are patient and wait for the right deal to come along, however I encourage you to be more open minded with your maximum price of $1,000. If you see yourself being a lifelong guitar picker, you would be much better off saving your money today and buying the guitar, amp, effects that is right for your style and that will achieve the tone your after (reagrdless of cost within reason). Its easy to be impressed with mediocre equipment if your not a seasoned guitar player so I really encourage you to take your time and play lots of guitars through lots of different amps and effects before you make any decisions. Quality guitars, amps and effects that are well taken care of dont lose value and they are truly great investments. I wish I would have spent my money on nice stuff when I was younger instead of blowing my money on junk.


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## Pocketfisherman

IMHO, a good all purpose guitar for the blues is a Fender American Standard Fat Strat. It has a humbucker, and two single coil PU/s, and a switch to combine them 5 different ways. You can get the classic strat chimey tone like Robert Cray, Stevie Ray's fat single coil sound, or the creamy on the edge of overdrive humbucker sound like BBKing. But, you have to try them in person as Fenders and Gibsons have totally different necks, and different scale lengths. The Gibsons are better for those with smaller hands and shorter fingers. If you're looking for a great budget, but not cheap guitar, check out the beautiful Michael Kelley Patriot series. They have some fantastic tone for the money, quality hardware, and beautiful finishes.


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## JOHNNY QUEST

I would have ta say the 335 series guitars are what made the blues great.. B.B. King, Otis Rush, and John Lee Hooker may have been the first converts to the ES-*335. *
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_ES-335


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## MB

Without the right amp it doesn't matter .... Some play through Marshall's ( like Billy Gibbins with ZZ Top ) which use EL83 tubes, and most play Fenders through Fender twins that use 6L6's.

It's best to try out both first before you lay down the green. And remember " It's all about the Tone ".

*MB*


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## TXredhound

Best bargain priced blues guitar IMO would be a Mexican made Stratocaster with Texas Special or TEX/MEX pickups. 

Any tube amp would be ideal

And an Ibanez TS9 pedal 


That's my setup. I play .12 strings


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## Bruce J

Are you new to playing guitars too? Even if you have access to try a lot of different ones, you won't really know what feels or sounds good to you until you've learned to play some. Odds are pretty good that no matter what you buy now, you'll want to add or change later. So don't worry too much about what you choose now, but I'd recommend getting one of the very popular ones already mentioned because it will make it that much easier to trade in or sell when you want to move up.

Here's a gross oversimplification/generalization about the main types of very popular guitars:

Epiphone or Gibson Les Paul: More rock/some blues

Fender Stratocaster with single coil and humbucker pickups: Rock and blues

Fender Stratocaster with single coil pickups only: More blues than rock/some country

Fender Telecaster: more country (but like all it can play anything)

Epiphone Dot or Gibson 335: Blues/jazz/some rock

They make all of these guitars in a pretty wide range of prices from a couple hundred bucks up to several thousand. If you stay in the $500-1000 range, you're certain of getting a very playable guitar in these brand names. Gibsons will be harder to come by, but the same company makes the Epiphone line which is more affordable.

Fender's lines are Squire (very affordable), Made in Mexico - very good and affordable, American - considered better made and closing in on $1000, American Deluxe $1500-2000, Custom $2000+, etc.

Regarding the amps, I agree with everyone's comments about getting a tube amp and wish I had followed that advice originally. I now have a Fender Blues Jr (about $500) that I love. However, a band mate of mine plays a Fender Frontman R solid state amp at practice and it sounds just fine to me and would be a lot less money.

There's no right answer. Just jump in there with something that looks good to you and start pluckin' and strummin'!


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## MB

I like single coil strat's and prefer Tom Anderson or Michael tuddle guitars over fender .... They just sound and play so much better. You pick up either of these guitars once and you'll understand.

MB


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## matagorda_castaway

i am a gibson guy, personally, but a God-honest good blues guitar for a reasonable price is ibanez's artcore series. they are constructed well, sound beautiful, and look just as good. they really are the poor man's es335 or gretsch!


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## matagorda_castaway

also, they weren't lying about the amp thing--- you could have a $4000 guitar, but if you have a crappy amp, its going to sound like mud. a tube amp is a good start to having a great blues tone, and the good thing is just about every amp maker is making low-wattage tube amps for reasonable prices nowdays. vox, orange, egnater, mesa/boogie, and tons of independent amp makers are selling 1watt-15watt amps for $300-$800.

(my personal choice is a good ole vox ac15. although, 15 watts may not sound like a lot, but you would probably never get the volume above 2 unless you were playing a gig or trying to keep up with a drummer. you can find one of these guys easy on craigslist for $400-500)

the trick with amps is a lot of times listening to a record or song you really like the guitar tone of, and trying to find out what type of amp/effects chain the artist plays on...usually those guys make some really smart choices lol.


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## goodwood

u can find whatever tone u prefer for a thousand bucks. its all preference to the desired sound/tone.


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## Redstalker

This one .


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## Redstalker

Or maybe this one. Or the "canary"


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## Cool Hand

Lots of greats played a Strat and lots of greats played a Tele and they also played the big hollow bodied Gibson/Epiphone,but whatever you do do not play through a amp with EL83's for the Blues.


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## yack

The best guitar? The one that sounds like everything you ever dreamed of whenever you play. Only you can find that sound


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## Redstalker

GSX and Marshall Valvestate


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## spark

I love the Blues and I purchased a Fender Stratacaster Jimmy Vaughn Edition! I researched this relentlessly and that was the guitar of my choice plus it was highly recommended by a few friends that play the blues. It is already set up with the proper pickups for that bluesy sound! I think I paid around $800 for the guitar at ONE SQUARE MUSIC in Huntsville Texas 936-295-3819. I also purchased a Fender Blues Jr amp and recently purchased an Ibanez Tube Screamer stomp box. I am very pleased with the sound that I obtained from this combination! I was after the SRV/Hendrix sound!!


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## Storyville

*amp*

For the amp comments:
EL84 - Vox Ac 15, Orange etc.
EL34 - Marshall
6L6, 6V6 - Fender

All can be great blues amps. IMO the amp is more important than the guitar and Skill, feel is more important than everything.


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