Best guitar(type) to comp behind a singer..

**The Korux** · 06-28-2009, 08:00 AM

Hi folks!

I playing in a duo with a singer and I'm often feeling that my archtops are a little bit too dark to suit her voice best. Now I've got several guitars (6..) and sometimes I comp on my strat, which is kind of unsuall for jazz.

I feel that the sparkling highs are joining her voice better. But I'm king of afraid I'm wrong or its a no go to play classical bar jazz gigs with a strat (I want to get gigs in the future too

).

Now the strange question

: What type of guitar is best to comp behind a female singer (Just in terms of sound for chords)?

kind regards, Tobias

**GodinFan** · 06-28-2009, 09:55 AM

Any guitar suited for playing jazz is fine for comping behind a singer. Just alter your tone setting if you feel it sounds too dark.

**The Jazzworm** · 06-28-2009, 10:58 AM

Strats and girls go together well.

**bkdavidson** · 06-28-2009, 03:49 PM

My former teacher uses a strat for his jazz gigs and it sounds great. Use the guitar that gives you the right sound. You'd be surprised how little people care what it looks like.

**ZzaJMarc** · 06-28-2009, 04:02 PM

**Fidelcaster** · 06-29-2009, 04:15 AM

Perhaps it'd be sufficient to put different strings on the archtop? Steel roundwound strings are much brighter than nickel flatwounds... If I'm not wrong, D'addario even produces steel (bright-sounding) flatwounds...

**bfloyd6969** · 06-29-2009, 06:15 AM

Have you tried other pup positions? Are you using the neck position? If so, and if you have a bridge pup, try using the middle position to add a little of the bridge pup in there. Or even try the bridge pup with the tone rolled way back. Just some other ideas.

**The Jazzworm** · 07-02-2009, 06:16 AM

Maybe you really should not care what it looks like..

**The Korux** · 07-02-2009, 06:17 AM

Thanks for all the nice answers you've all posted here!
I'll try those things out,..

The guy with the mustang has a very great jazz guitar sound.
I've too got a mustang in candy apple red and it sounds the same,..and its easy to play,..but just like bkdavidson said, I should not care what it looks like, if it sounds great.

Thanks and all the best,..

**mr. beaumont** · 07-02-2009, 12:02 PM

well, as i'm sure you've gathered, the guitar itself doesn't matter--but how you play it sure does!

i like to use my fingers only for comping behind a singer--this way, there's no clicky "pick attack" noticable. it such a bare bones setting, i like to cut down on any extraneous noise...so you can bet i'm using flatwounds too!

**derek** · 07-02-2009, 12:18 PM

I have decided that I am going to respond to all these "What is the best guitar for....?" threads with the same answer, a Gibson Firebird. It is the classic guitar if your REALLY want to play....

**mr. beaumont** · 07-02-2009, 01:04 PM

i'll one up ya--schecter "synyster gates" model.

**derek** · 07-02-2009, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

i'll one up ya--schecter "synyster gates" model.

Okay, it is settled then. Real jazz guys play either a Schecter Synyster Gates, or Gibson Firebird. Everyone else is a poser.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-02-2009, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by derek

Okay, it is settled then. Real jazz guys play either a Schecter Synyster Gates, or Gibson Firebird. Everyone else is a poser.

I might as well give Prince his axe back, then...

**mr. beaumont** · 07-02-2009, 11:22 PM

prince pulls off some pretty sweet jazzy licks on his new record...i wonder if he used that guitar, or his hohner tele...

**Sordello** · 07-03-2009, 12:42 AM

Well, truly and ideally it is right that you shouldn't care which guitar you play and just use the one YOU feel right with, the reality is you DO need to think about your job prospects and the environment you are in where you are playing. As you wondered, are you dealing with people in the booking business who WILL make such judgemets about you based on your guitar? It's fine to think, "to hell with them", but you DO want to earn a living where you live.

Sadly, a lot of live jazz today is performance theatre, so you need the right costumes and the right props. Yes, there will be "some" people in the audience (jazz snobs, and there are a lot of them) who will see a strat and think that the REAL jazz guitarist must be sick, so they grabbed the nearest rock guitarist they could find. It's sad, but it's the real world. (Just like a lot of guitar snobs will judge how 'good' you are based primarily on how fast you can 'shred' - like I said, 'performance theatre' over the music...)

Be comfortable with the guitar you choose, but keep eyes and ears open and assess your audience and your environment to see what feedback you get.

**The Korux** · 07-04-2009, 06:27 PM

Thanks again for your answers.
I do have 5 different guitars (one strat, one mustang, one tele, one archtop and one semi-acoustic guitar).
Maybe I should play with the guitar I like most at the moment, unless its such a massive straight ahaid jazz gig (and I don't want to confront people..) that I should use my archtop or semi-acoustic.

By the way: Mustangs a real great jazz guitars, I just wanted to repeat that.