George Benson on a Les Paul

**jajabinker** · 03-21-2017, 01:11 PM

George Benson playing jazz on a Gibson Les Paul... Close you eyes and tell me you wouldn't mistake it for a $$ carved solid top HB.

**mrblues** · 03-21-2017, 02:41 PM

George is one of my all time favorites. But I somehow can't love Les Pauls. Also I dont like SG's. Dont know why.

The sound is ok on this clip, but the aesthetics of a jazz guitar is much more stunning to me...

**jajabinker** · 03-21-2017, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by mrblues

George is one of my all time fauvorites. But I somehow cant love les pauls. Also I dont like SG's. Dont know why. The sound is ok on this clip, but the aesthetics of a jazz guitar is much more stunning to me...

I don't like Les Pauls either. This clip though makes me rethink

**vinnyv1k** · 03-21-2017, 03:05 PM

George could make a washboard sound good.

**Stringswinger** · 03-21-2017, 03:12 PM

Um...a Gibson Les Paul IS a $$ carved solid top guitar. Just sayin'

**Rob MacKillop** · 03-21-2017, 03:15 PM

Designed by Les Paul for jazz players, cutting out feedback problems.

**john_a** · 03-21-2017, 05:26 PM

GB sounded great on the guitar solo, his tone was 'Jazz' and I have to think he achieved it on that solid body to a greater extent than many others could. He has it in hand(s) literally. Never seen him play any solid body before, so thanks for sharing that. I bet there were no rock 'n roll light gauge strings on that Les Paul, but what would have been the setup? Flats, rounds, or ??
Sounded like his 5th string went noticeably flat during the solo, with a few prominent notes missing intonation near its end.

Had he worked that (Bigsby?) whammy bar and poked a hole in the speaker with amp's fizzing on "ten" he might have found an alternative career to cashing in as a pop singer.

John

**Alter** · 03-21-2017, 05:34 PM

can't find it now, but there is this video of him walking on stage with a funk band and jamming with an electric, super strat style guitar, probably with thin electric strings. He sounds like himself..

I can't make a les paul sound that full, but i never tried putting jazz strings on it, so maybe... My best electric impersonation of a jazz sound has always been the telecaster

**Bluedawg** · 03-21-2017, 06:24 PM

That's some good guitar playing there

**entresz** · 03-21-2017, 07:33 PM

I have no issues getting a jazz sound from my Les Paul- although it's a LP Recording, a little bit different to a regular LP, but George Benson would sound like George Benson playing literally any guitar.

joaopaz · 03-21-2017, 08:16 PM

Well, for me it's 200% easier to get a jazzy sound on a Les Paul than on a Telecaster. If you can live with the weight of the beast and with the small body size then it's all uphill (or downhill, depending if you thing in terms of bigger or easier

)
The short scale is sweet; the radius works wonderfully for chord works... try fingering a regular F-7 drop 3 type on first position; not all guitars will allow a comfortable hand position like you get on an LP.

And finally, probably my favorite jazz tone ever comes from an LP-type ... I've posted this here a few times for sure, but here goes again! Solo starts at 2:32

**Robertkoa** · 03-22-2017, 06:53 AM

Yes. I can understand how some Jazzers like Ted Greene played a Tele - presumably for more string separation on some chord voicings- BUT you can use a fat sounding Guitar or even if you gotta have a Tele use Humbuckers and then a coil cut or Series Parallel switch for the more transparent sound on dense chords.

Yikes- listen to Benson's chops, articulation and Time in 1964 !

**Dennis D** · 03-22-2017, 07:38 AM

Why would Jim Hall have needed his G V Epps damper on a Les Paul ?

joaopaz · 03-22-2017, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Dennis D

Why would Jim Hall have needed his G V Epps damper on a Les Paul ?

Probably due to picking style? Not damping the strings with his right hand...

**vintagelove** · 03-22-2017, 07:53 AM

Les Paul's make great jazz guitars.

**Alter** · 03-22-2017, 08:45 AM

thats Ulf Wakenius there in the Oscar Peterson video. I wonder what made him choose the Les paul (they were recording a live album) for the date. He plays a bunch of archtops, semi-hollow, everything..

**Dennis D** · 03-22-2017, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by vintagelove

Les Paul's make great jazz guitars.

Here's Jack Grassel & his LP Artisan. For the years before this was his ' go-to' instrument, he used a Bluesboy.

joaopaz · 03-22-2017, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Alter

thats Ulf Wakenius there in the Oscar Peterson video. I wonder what made him choose the Les paul (they were recording a live album) for the date. He plays a bunch of archtops, semi-hollow, everything..

I believe he always used that LP-clone when he was part of the Oscar Peterson band; actually that's the guitar I saw him use the most.

Another well known video..

**Thumpalumpacus** · 03-22-2017, 09:28 AM

Les Pauls make good jazz guits, hell yeah.

You really want to trip out? Blew my mind a few years ago when I found this old vid of a young Joe Pass tearing it up on -- you guessed it -- a Jazzmaster.

Doesn't seem to have much richness to the sound, but it still works -- still gets the job done.

**whiskey02** · 03-22-2017, 09:44 AM

I'm with Joaopaz. A Les Paul is absolutely a jazz guitar that was repurposed by Clapton & Bloomfield etc into a new rock n roll tool. Everybody raves about a tele and no offense but for all the great tele players from Bickert on down, I've never been taken by the "jazz tone" achieved by Leo's plank. I'm not a Gibson fanboy because as much as they're capable of making a great guitar, one can't deny that their QC department does not put in 40 hours a week. A good LP Style is an easy tool to work with..

**DRS** · 03-22-2017, 10:31 AM

I listen with my ears, not my eyes.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 03-22-2017, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by Robertkoa

Yes. I can understand how some Jazzers like Ted Greene played a Tele - presumably for more string separation on some chord voicings- BUT you can use a fat sounding Guitar or even if you gotta have a Tele use Humbuckers and then a coil cut or Series Parallel switch for the more transparent sound on dense chords.

I went from Gibsons and HB to Teles and single coils. Works for me! Not everyone wants that HB "fatness".

**citizenk74** · 03-22-2017, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

Les Pauls make good jazz guits, hell yeah.

You really want to trip out? Blew my mind a few years ago when I found this old vid of a young Joe Pass tearing it up on -- you guessed it -- a Jazzmaster.

Doesn't seem to have much richness to the sound, but it still works -- still gets the job done.

Although Joe Pass was known to have played a Jazzmaster, the guitar in that video is in fact a Jaguar, which is what Synanon had at the time. Joe pass could play jazz on anything, anytime , anywhere.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-22-2017, 12:17 PM

Les Pauls are great jazz guitars...I just don't like their small/heavy ratio. I'll take a tele

**whiskey02** · 03-22-2017, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Les Pauls are great jazz guitars...I just don't like their small/heavy ratio. I'll take a tele

Great point, if a guitar is not comfortable you're not going to play your best on it. I never play without a strap; a LP on your leg without a strap takes more effort to balance than to play. Has there ever been a guitar more comfortable to hold against your body than a stat?