Dreadnought for jazz?

[Rafa]

Hi everybody. I'm a beginner guitar student, and I like jazz very muchos. At first i think to buy an archtop guitar, like a godin, but now I think that is possibly better buy a dreadnough because is more versatile and sure I play other styles. Can you recommended me a model no much expensive that I can use?
Thanks a lot and sorry for my bad english.

[marcwhy]

Greetings. If you want a dreadnaught to learn guitar, go ahead and buy a dreadnaught. If you want to play jazz, I'd suggest buying a good, inexpensive hollow or semi-hollowbody, such as a Washburn, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc. (search around here - there are plenty of posts about that). Do not buy a fancy or expensive guitar, unless you happen to have a lot of money! You'll end up selling it as soon as you progress ..

[Tom Karol]

There's no reason you can't play jazz on a flat-top acoustic, but the tonal balance of a dreadnaught isn't the most suitable. Consider a smaller rounder model like a grand concert (like a Taylor x12 or x14) or an 000/OM (Martin). When you're ready to get a hollow-body electric archtop, you'll still want to keep it.

[mr. beaumont]

You can play jazz on a flattop, but budget some money for a good setup. A lot of budget dreds come with high action because in the store, inexperienced buyers equate volume with tone. These guitars will be very difficult to play jazz on, unless you intend just to do freddie green style rhythm (and they'll still be tough for that!)

I always reccomend anything from Seagull for a good inexpensive acoustic.

[Jimmy blue note]

There's no reason you can't play jazz on a flat-top acoustic, but the tonal balance of a dreadnaught isn't the most suitable. Consider a smaller rounder model like a grand concert (like a Taylor x12 or x14) or an 000/OM (Martin). When you're ready to get a hollow-body electric archtop, you'll still want to keep it.

They are BIG too. It's a lot to get an arm around. You can make good music with any guitar of course, and the best guitar is the one that you love and want to spend time with. Try out a dread and move your hand around the neck. See if it gives you room to move. Personally, I find that much body does get in my way. Many of my students find this to be true too. Good luck finding one you can fall in love with!

[Chazmo]

Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo played great jazz with a dreadnought. Do a search for him on YouTube and listen.

[marshall]

Rafa; if you can check out the Yamaha LL6.It is of solid wood construction,very well made and IMHO plays and sounds great.Flat picking,finger style,chord melody it all sounds good.It is not overly expensive,about $500.00 U.S. shipped.It's a Very Good guitar.Best of Luck.

[AmundLauritzen]

Check this clip out:

It's Frank Gambale in his "Natural High" trio, playing an acoustic steel string guitar. He uses very light strings and a low action, so if you decide to get a guitar like that, make sure the neck is easy to play and you have it set up with low action and strung with light strings. As you can hear, Frank burns on that guitar, but then again he's Frank Gambale.

There is no right or wrong guitar for jazz. Jazz is very personal, especially your tone which is part of your voice.
I played exclusively archtops for a few years, but these days I mostly play my strat because right now it produces the tone that goes best with the lines I play nowadays.

But before you decide. Check out your options. Try an archtop and see how you like it. Try a solidbody electric, and acoustic steel string and a nylon string.

Good luck finding your axe

[monk]

You can play jazz on a flattop, but budget some money for a good setup. A lot of budget dreds come with high action because in the store, inexperienced buyers equate volume with tone. These guitars will be very difficult to play jazz on, unless you intend just to do freddie green style rhythm (and they'll still be tough for that!)

I always reccomend anything from Seagull for a good inexpensive acoustic.

+1 on a Seagull. Get a good setup like Jeff says and you'll be good to go.

Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo played great jazz with a dreadnought. Do a search for him on YouTube and listen.

Gabor got some great sound from a Martin D-45 and a Gibson J-160E

My personal preference is for the OM size guitars that Tom mentioned. I own two.

[bohemian46]

Another plus on Gabor Szabo

There was a Dutch duo playing inexpensive Martin dreads.. SEPHORA

[Eddie Lang]

You can play jazz on a flattop.

+1



Not a dread, but a flat top nonetheless. I believe this is a 00-18 that Scofield is playing.

I used to have a 1958 00-18 and you could play anything on that guitar. It went away as part of a trade for another guitar. The only flat top that I still have now is a 1941 0-15 and that little guitar can take any genre too.


Here is Kenny Burrell with a flat that I was not able to identify.

Swing (among other styles) guitarist Jordan Officer on a D-18.

I prefer the size of single or double 0 in flat top guitars as I find them well balanced and very easy to record. I usually find dreadnoughts too boomy for my taste. I also prefer mahogany instead of rosewood for back and sides of flat top guitars, causing less overtones, offering a better note definition, and allowing them to be more versatile. All of the above statements are just my personal preferences and your mileage may vary...

[Eddie Lang]

On the other hand, one can play things other than jazz on an archtop. Like country music on an L-5 for example.

[jazzman1021]

Check out Chico Hamilton's quintet w/ Charles LLoyd,and Gabor Szabo. Good Stuff. I'm almost sure there will be some on U=Tiube.


JM1021

[Rafa]

At first I want to thanks all tour concels, ever is a pleasure talk with people that know what they say. After think a lot and look some guitars, last saturday I find a guitar that make me fall in love . Is the Lag T200ACE, is a concert model that I think is what I'm looking for , a versátil model that I can use for playa jazz too.
Thanks a lot

[xuoham]

CIt's Frank Gambale in his "Natural High" trio, playing an acoustic steel string guitar. He uses very light strings and a low action, so if you decide to get a guitar like that, make sure the neck is easy to play and you have it set up with low action and strung with light strings. ...

The guitar is a Yamaha FPX300 , a guitar that cost around 600 bucks in 2004 (60 000 yen) and the back and sides are not even solid wood (ovangkol!).

1-I just LOVE Yamaha

2-It's not the tool, it's the man

[Woody Sound]

Another thing to look out for on flattop acoustics is the neck profile. Some of them have very nasty V shapes.

[TheGrandWazoo]

I own a late 87' Ibanez George Benson semi-hollow, an 84' Ibanez Artist A-10 (killer player), and 2004 Fuller's custom Gretsch 6120-55 Limited edition. But, the guitar that consistently melts my heart playing jazz, or anything else for that matter, is my 1994 Taylor 510 dreadnaught. Great neck, great action, wonderful full sound, and with 13's on her she's as loud as you would ever want an acoustic to be.

Now if I could only get her to sound like a Gibson 175 with a Charlie Christian pickup on demand, I would never need another guitar.

Oh, and I still want an Eastman ar805 non cutaway archtop, of course.

[mr. beaumont]

It's funny, but my grab and go guitar at home is a Taylor flattop as well, but for gigging, I still want that electric sound...usually...

of course, since I bought a Godin nylon string this summer, I've been leaning that way too...but no guitar gets picked up and played more than that Taylor (a 414ce)

[coolvinny]

Thinking back to my own experience, I don't think that for jazz a beginner should start on a flat-top acoustic if they can help it...it will work but there are better options that will be more conducive to being jazzy. I think a rig that encourages you to sound like the records (i.e. the pros) has a lot of value. More experienced players can play anything but at first, I think it's best to try and make it easy to get into it. I think it can be tough to achieve that on a flat-top (I realize guys like Eric Skye only play flat tops...that's rare).

I'd suggest an affordable Ibanez electric hollow-body and a cheap little amp like the ZT Lunchbox Jr. The Ibanez will be pretty versatile unless you are into metal, though admittedly it doesn't have much of an acoustic presence.

The main thing is to avoid spending any significant bucks up front...try to wait until you are the point when you playing with other people (doesn't have to be a gig, could just be jamming with jazz newbies), because that's when your actual playing needs will become much more clear. I see you mentioned Godin - those look good and I hear good things, but try to get something with a magnetic pickup installed rather than a purely 'acoustic' model.

[spiral]

I always reccomend anything from Seagull for a good inexpensive acoustic.

I concur. Seagull was the first acoustic i ever owned.

A somewhat non-traditional option could be the Loar LO-216 (1 11/16" nut, 25/5" scale) or LO-16 (1 3/4" nut, 24.75" scale). Both are very affordable, solid spruce top flat-top guitars. They are small bodied (parlor) but have a very midrange punchy sound which actually reminds me of an oval-hole archtop (and i think it's what Tom was getting at too). The midrange was the main reason i got it. They have very comfortable necks and should be available in most countries. As Jeff said: have it set up properly. Sanding the bridge saddle down to get the action comfortable is essential. The tuners are crap though but can be replaced with something like the Grover Sta-Tite 18:1 tuners.

My LO-216 was $230 as a B-Stock which continues to amaze me.

[edit]
Sorry: just noticed original post date.

[Lionelsax]

Hi ! Happy new year !
I'm a bit late for this thread...
I was asking myself the same thing, I'm not a great guitar player but for me every kind of instrument can sound.
What about dreadnought? While nylon guitars and gypsy guitars tend to be more fashionable then before (I remember seeing in the 90's guys playing gypsy jazz on dreadnoughts), dreadnoughts are good for everything, maybe it's a question of pick (I mean plectrum).
This is a great video about dreadnoughts...
https://youtu.be/cCBgBXZeORc

Another one for my pleasure or our pleasure.

[Petimar]

I really prefer the Gibson slope shoulder dreadnaughts to Martin style dreadnaughts. They tend to be much clearer and more balanced sounding to my ears. My 64 Epiphone Texan (basically a J45 with an Epiphone headstock) would make a great jazz acoustic guitar.