Jazz on a Strat?

[whippersnapper]

Yes, suprsingly there's a few people who use a Strat for jazz and get great results...

YouTube - Jimmy Smith - The Sermon (1964)

YouTube - Vintage Fender 1962 Strat-Tomo Fujita

[m78w]

Don't forget Wayne Krantz, great player and gets a killer tone out of a strat.

MW

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by m78w

Don't forget Wayne Krantz, great player and gets a killer tone out of a strat.

MW

True, such an individual approach to Fusion, one of the only guys from that genre I like. Have you heard his recant collaborations with Tal Wikenfield and Chris Potter? He's great as a sideman.

[derek]

This topic comes up every few months. I like to mention Mike Stern's wife Leni and Wayne Krantz. Here is a vid of two strats playing jazz.

YouTube - Leni Stern Group (Krantz,Sokolow and Danziger)

[darrenj]

And not quite a Strat but there's a nice vid of Joe Pass on a Fender Jaguar here:

YouTube - Early Joe Pass on a Fender Jaguar

[skei]

Another player that comes to my mind, although perhaps not a 'jazz' guitarist, is Santana. He gets a nice jazzy feel from a strat I think.

Peace
& swing low, low...
Skei (the tired one)

[whippersnapper]

I am pretty sure he uses a PRS

[mr. beaumont]

it's a PRS. personally, i think he sounds like crap now...it's a shame, because his late 60's and 70's tones were to die for.

There used to be a cable access jazz show here in chi-town where the guitar player in the house band played a candy apple green strat with a rosewood board. he always sounded great. wish i remembered his name--a real tasty player--reminded me of barry galbraith.

[skei]

My mistake, I checked it out, seems like a nice guitar, and a nice shape too.
I have no Idea what he sounds like nowadays, haven't heard him since he opened up for Dylan at the 'Infidels' tour, so that's some twenty years ago. But I'll have to check it out now that you mention it (I heard somebody talking about them not having real drums on the recordings anymore, that would be sad..)

Peace
&
Nice guitars
Skei (the hungry in the morning one)

[rtleslie]

Hey guys it's been a while since I've been here,but on the subject of Strats and Jazz just let me say that I love to play Jazz but I don't do it very well. That said,I have a Strat Deluxe that was given to me by my brother. I recently bought a Kahler Fixed bridge,Locking tuning machines and Lace pickups. I plan to use this guitar as my main guitar when attempting to play Jazz. So,I guess you can use a Strat for Jazz.

[skei]

It may not be a strat Santana uses, and I'm not sure about - what's his name, the guy in Dire Straits - oh yes, Mark Knopfler, well he's got (or did have) a nice sound too, I think I saw him play a strat once or twice, but I may be wrong, and what I mean to say is that ultimately, if you're good enough it'll sound good no matter what guitar you play. And I played strats all those years until a year ago, and got some really jazzy sounds from them when I tried to. My last strat I had a slimline vintage sound humbucker on, and there wasn't too much diff from a les paul I had at the same time.

I think your ability is more important than the make of the guitar, but true, it's easier to get a 'jazz' sound out of the artcore than a strat, but if you know what sound you're looking for, nothing's impossible. And I know for a fact that it takes lots of hard work to get used to Gibson scales and necks after a life in the strat, so to say. But now, I wouldn't trade the artcore for anything. It's a dream.

Peace
&
Freedom of choice
As it were
Skei (the found his guitar one)

[Flat3rd]

I am getting a good Jazz tone on my Strat. I have a Blue Lace Sensor pickup in the neck, and I only use the neck pickup. I plug straight into a Rivera Chubster tube amp. Important: I leave the tone dial on the guitar around 5 or so; I do NOT dial the tone knob off, as this muddies things horribly. Rather, I dial the amp to the sound I want. I boost the mid to 7 or so, and dial off the treble to 2 or so, and I leave the bass around 3 or 4. I also make sure to dial the Volume knob low (prevent distortion), around 3 at most, and dial the Master volume to the actual volume level I want, keeping the volume on the guitar to at least 7. The result has better tone that simply dialing off the tone knob, IMHO. I actually prefer this tone to that of my ES-175 for most tunes, although there is nothing like a Jazzer for some pieces, of course. Anyway, if you're trying to get great tone out of a Strat, don't just dial off the tone knob. You don't want to sound like you've wrapped your amp in 18 blankets.

[JimBobWay]

...Hiram Bullock. Especially on Carla's Sextet disc, what a sweet tone!

[Flat3rd]

Originally Posted by Flat3rd

... do NOT dial the tone knob off, as this muddies things horribly.

We spend so much time finding just the right guitar with the right pickups, investing hundreds of dollars or more, countless hours, etc. If you have a good tube amp, dial the tone FROM THE AMP and not from the tone knob/pickup. If you have a good Strat and a good tube amp, you are pretty much guaranteed an excellent result.

By the way, Lorne Lofsky - student of Ed Bickert, toured with Oscar Peterson, and teaches at York University in Canada - currently uses a Strat and tube amp to play Jazz. There are some true greats who have used solidbody guitars. He's just one of 'em.

Here's an example of the tone I'm talking about, from Lofsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsQn6jE9kzk

[hot ford coupe]

Even Buddy Merrill who played guitar for Lawrence Welk used a Sonic Blue Strat. If Welk accepted it, it has to be good for jazz.

[Jazzophobe]

Originally Posted by skei

It may not be a strat Santana uses, and I'm not sure about - what's his name, the guy in Dire Straits - oh yes, Mark Knopfler, well he's got (or did have) a nice sound too, I think I saw him play a strat once or twice, but I may be wrong, and what I mean to say is that ultimately, if you're good enough it'll sound good no matter what guitar you play. And I played strats all those years until a year ago, and got some really jazzy sounds from them when I tried to. My last strat I had a slimline vintage sound humbucker on, and there wasn't too much diff from a les paul I had at the same time.

I think your ability is more important than the make of the guitar, but true, it's easier to get a 'jazz' sound out of the artcore than a strat, but if you know what sound you're looking for, nothing's impossible. And I know for a fact that it takes lots of hard work to get used to Gibson scales and necks after a life in the strat, so to say. But now, I wouldn't trade the artcore for anything. It's a dream.

Peace
&
Freedom of choice
As it were
Skei (the found his guitar one)

Mark Knopfler does occasionally play a Stratocaster for some of the older Dire Straits stuff, a Tele for 'Walk Of Life', but he mainly plays a Suhr Penta Custom (kind a looks like a Strat and about 10 times the price)...it is a really nice guitar, but, like Collings, WAY out of My range....

I'll toss in Nir Felder, Christopher Crocco, and Bruce Arnold. All monsters. All strat players.

[cdollar1]

Hey Guys. New here, but I thought I would chime in. I'm getting some great jazz sounds out of a modified Hwy 1 strat with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups...particularly the neck pu. With the guitar's volume rolled back to 9 and backing off the tone a bit, I get a nice sound through several different amps including a Roland Cube 80XL, a Fender Blues Deluxe, and believe it or not, a Blackstar HT60 Soloist. That last one was a shocker but with some tweaking it actually makes a nice jazz amp. Of course it sounded better after I removed that HUGE logo.