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Hey guys new here have been playing guitar for a while but mainly just blues and a little rock. Just got started in jazz guitar. I have a Gibson 1960 reproduction les Paul custom but that is mainly for rock and blues. Now that I am starting to venture into jazz I am looking at getting another guitar that gives off more of a jazz/blues tone than a les Paul.
So I want a guitar that would be good for jazz and blues without spending too much. Being a huge fan of Gibson I have looked at their sister company Epiphone and thought about a dot or a lucille (being a fan of B.B). However are there any better value guitars you would recommend?
Thanks guys.
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06-13-2011 01:05 AM
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Hi, you should try the Ibanez Artcore AG75. I think it's the best semi acoustic guitar you can buy without spending a lot of money.
Antonio
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Conman,you really dont need a jazz guitar to get a jazz sound,if your les paulcopy is a good one it should give you a perfectly good jazz tone.Put it on to the neck pickup and turn down the tone to about three or four,increase the bass on your amp,back off the treble and set the middle to where you think it sounds best,this should put you in the ball park but every guitar and amp is different so use your ears,i think we all think at first we need a jazz box to sound like jazz,but the truth is the sound of jazz comes more from the use of more sophisticated harmony than the gear.Hope this helps ,spend the money on some good jazz books or even a good teacher.Hwever if you just wanted an excuse to buy a new guitar then the Ibanez offer great value for money.
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I don't agree, having a proper jazz box will inspire to play better.
Originally Posted by gingerjazz
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Who was that jazz guitarist that played a Les Paul?....dang....I can't remember his name...oh...yeah...Les Paul.
Kidding aside, there's some truth to what Morten says...if you're already convinced your guitar isn't going to cut it for jazz, there's nothing we can tell you to make you not want to buy another guitar. If your instrument doesn't inspire you, well, then you ain't gonna play, right?
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Conman!, before you do anything drastic, Try a Guild starfire
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I was in the same position, started exploring jazz and the only electric I had was an old solid body Gretsch BST. I put D'Addario Chrome .12s on it and that helped... also ran it through Garage Band on my Mac and used the 'cool jazz combo' model and got a pretty good sound out of it. But I have to agree with Morten..... I saved my quarters and recently got a Godin Kingpin and there is a world of difference.... it's definitely the right tool for the job. Ginger is also right, though, a guitar is a guitar and it's more about the player than the instrument, ultimately, but as a beginner I found it much easier to get the right tone, feel, playability, out of a 'jazz' guitar. Maybe it's just a nicer guitar than my old ragged out Gretsch, but if it's something you can afford, I'd say go for it.
For what it's worth, when shopping for a guitar recently, I played several of the $400-$700 US Epiphones and Ibanezes and, in general, much preferred the feel of the Ibanez Artcore guitars..... just my opinion, and I'm certainly no expert.....
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Thanks for the replys. I will play around with the amp and I do have a phenomenal jazz teacher. His name is Jeff Sherman. If you have iTunes look up the Jeff Sherman trio to hear him.
Thanks again everyone
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I know what you guys are saying,that it can inspire your playing having a great guitar,but my point was more that it is not essentiall to getting a good jazz sound,im sure that if ted greene had been given conmans gibson copy it would still have sounded great and like jazz but still all good points by you guys.I think it was joe pass who once said to an interviewer who said joes guitar was a great sounding guitar,upon which joe pass put the guitar down and asked how it sounded now.I love that line.
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Yeah, but it probably wasn't stock Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Brad
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Welcome to the board!
There's nothing wrong with a Les Paul for jazz.
To me there are two approaches for a jazz-guitar sound:
If you want to sound more horn like, you will want to play a thick jazzbox with thick flatwound strings an turn the tone knob down (imho it sounds better when you turn down the volume a bit. Makes the sound a bit darker, too, but to me it sounds better).
If you want to sound more like a guitar and less horn-like you will want to use roundwound strings and don't want to turn down the tone knob. You can still achive a fatter sound by using thinker strings an picks. You can use any guitar, which sound you like, for that approach.
I prefer the second approach. I want my guitar to sound like a guitar. Otherwise I would start out playing some horn.
Cheers, Modalguru
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Haha I almost expected to read Clint Strong! Total beast on a Les Paul, though I think he has switched to a Bendetto in recent years. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Les Paul for jazz is fine, though an easier way to get a great jazz tone would be to go for medium output pickups on your LP. As far as cheap guitar solutions, I went for an AS73 after a month or so of A/B-ing various -$400 guitars, to include the Dot. Just my 2 cents. Originally Posted by Conman
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Do have fun trying lots of different kinds (not necessarily going by brand name though as many different brands are made in the same factory.) Might I suggest that you learn to play some jazzy piece or exercise that requires fret access all over the neck, chord voicings across the fingerboard and a bit of movement all around. This is not to put an obstacle in your shopping process but to let you better assess the ability of your new guitar to play things that are different from what you might be doing now.
When you do go looking, you'll be better prepared to feel whether an instrument inspires you, whether it sounds "jazzy" to you, whether you'll want to live with your new musical partner. Maybe it'll be a semi hollow, maybe a hollow, maybe a tele with a humbucker in it, who knows?
Most important, have it set up really well, consider a string gauge maybe a little heavier than what you're used to, and let your own style and playing guide you. Anybody else's advice is just a suggestion.
When I worked at Ibanez, each instrument had to be tested for every note. Do this, play a chromatic run from one position to the next, and make sure it feels even, no drop outs, no dead spots (feel your way through that one) , no buzzing frets and an action that you can work well with. If the guitar store has not set up the guitar, ask them to bring the action down; they want your money, somebody should be able to turn a screw adjustment for you. Only then, when you're in a good playing action, will you know if that outrageously high action was hiding a multitude of bad fret sins.
Test each guitar slowly, so you can listen. Play your "test" piece or exercise the same way for each guitar and you'll start to form a picture. Maybe you can throw a slightly heavier gauge on your regular guitar and get a feel for what that does-does it fatten up the sound? Sound jazzier? Let you play differently? If so, you have a better baseline for comparison and you'll know the limitations of that guitar-and look for why your new guitar will suit you better. Maybe you've got all you need right there.
Just my own experience, Epiphone, Guild, Ibanez, Samick, Cort have all been names that I've come to trust. Trusting my own taste, that's real useful.
Good luck and have fun
DavidLast edited by TH; 06-28-2011 at 06:25 AM.
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The Loar LH-350 or LH-650. Depending on how much you want to spend, 700 and 1000 respectively.
It's an Archtop, fully hollow. Comes with a Kent Armstrong floater. The sound is AMAZING. It's loud acoustically and if you play it through the right amp, the sound is beautiful. I used to own a Gibson Les Paul Studio Raw Power and around February, I switched to the LH-350. Best decision I've ever made. My friend owns a 2,000 dollar Eastman and everyone that hears us both play say my guitar has a way better sound than his Eastman. There's one you should definitely consider, but don't buy it before you try it out. If you don't like it or it doesn't feel right, there's nothing you can do.
The Epiphone Joe Pass model is a great Jazz box for the price too. It has barely any acoustic sound though.
Also, what amp do you own, or you plan to use for the Jazz playing?
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The truth is that most of guitar playing is between the ears. If you feel like you need a jazzbox to play jazz, you will play better and practice more if you have one.
On the other hand a MIM tele with a Charlie Christian neck PU sounds sweet and is also good for blues, country and rock.Last edited by Hekim; 07-08-2011 at 07:11 PM.
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hi new to jazz playing, and have a similar problem. I own a fender strat. And I'm not looking to buy a jazzbox just yet. So can anyone suggest what setting would work well for jazz palying on the strat?
thanks !
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These peeps don't even seem to roll off much treble, so I think you're good to go with your strat:
For a more straight ahead stuff, check this one out as well:Last edited by Vihar; 07-12-2011 at 05:13 PM.
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Get yourself a Princeton amp, or maybe a Twin. Strats aren't going to get the box sound no matter how hard you try, but that doesn't mean you can't get a good jazz sound. Originally Posted by subhro
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how much is the OP willing to spend. For "not a lot" means what, under 1000 or under 500? You'd be pretty surprised what you can get for under $1000USD these days
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thanks Vihar and Atticus for your replies!
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You can play jazz on anything. The only guitars I have ever enjoyed playing endlessly are archtops, I've had a boatload of fun guitars to play and gotten good tones from. There is an archtop sound and response no other guitar gets, and I'm not happy with anything else though I've tried. I have an Aria Pro archttop 14 fretter, lists for around 800 dollars friend won it for 100 dollars on e bay NEW. Hated it I love it.
But, these guitar styles seem to work and all have wonderful knock off cheapies.
Fender Telecaster (or Strat) yeah Strat's not a knock off of a tele!)
Gibson ES 335 (or Epi Dot or Sheridan)
Gibson Les Paul (or Epi)
An Archtop.
All these basic styles have something pretty decent at any price point.
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A lot of advice... more than I know... but if you've already been playing for awhile... you probable already play the way your going to play. Old dog thing... I read some great advice about buying cheap guitars from TruthHertz... you can find a pretty good cheap jazz box, you just need to play a bunch of them and check every detail out. The guitar will effect how your skills develop, but if you've already trained yourself...you need to be pretty motivated to be able to make changes... if that's what your after. Most classical players... stay classical and simply cover jazz tunes, the same with rock, blues etc... But I love checking out jazz boxes... but I mean why play one, there always trouble... tuning, intonation, volume issues... there's a ton of reasons why not to play one...
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That's right, and there's a beautiful delicateness you can only get with strat style pickups. I mean, you can pretty much fake a jazz box tone with it with turning the treble knob down, but you can't fake the strat tone with a jazz box (except maybe Tuck Andress going straight into the PA, lol). In other words, find a sound you like and embrace it. It will be yours and only yours.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
oopps...
Clint Strong is a great Les Paul jazz guitar player!
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