Jazz tone

[Sushi313]

Among your favorite jazz guitarists, whose tone do you favor the most? For me, it's Ed Bickert

[Doug B]

Kenny Burrell, Peter Bernstein, Jim Hall...

[sgosnell]

Early Tal Farlow.

[mr. beaumont]

Jimmy Raney is the tone master to me. And Kenny Burrell. Jimmy for clean cleans and Kenny for the stuff that has a little "hair" to it.

I also really like Grant Green's 330 tone, but I think it only works for him. But that's kind of cool.

And yeah, Bickert's tone is great too. Sometimes a little dry for me on single note lines, but those chords just sound fantastic.

[Doctor Jeff]

^^I have to agree with you 100%.

I like a lot of different tones. Sometimes a more processed/darker tone like Jim Hall's, or Metheny's or Scofield's is just the ticket.

But for quintessential jazz tone, I can't argue with Kenny Burrell. Or Johnny Smith.

[customxke]

Charlie Christian.

[Skip Ellis]

Bickert, Wes, JS, Herb, Chet Atkins

[ptuner1]

wes

[himself]

I consider the thread as cumulative
I'm adding Ted Greene.

[nyc chaz]

I love all the guys mentioned so far but the guitarist that doesn't get enough love in my view is Dave Stryker.Every time i hear him i am blown away by the tones he gets out of his es 347.

[Jim Soloway]

Lenny Breau, Chuck Loeb, Ross Traut. Lots more that won't come to mind until that first cup of coffee kicks in.

[jazzkenny]

Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Doug Raney, René Thomas, Ed Cherry...

[Oscar67]

Kenny Burrell and Martin Taylor. Recently someone here mentioned Sean McGowan’s new album and for sure the guitar tones there are stunning.

[rpjazzguitar]

Wes, far and away.

Jim Hall especially on the albums with Desmond.

After that, a lot of players seem to blur together -- they sound great but I don't have anything in my mind that dramatically distinguishes them from others.

I like some of the smooth jazz guitar tones but I don't know the names of the players.

In other genres, I like Santana and Knopfler.

I have a friend who plays an Eric Johnson Strat through a Victoria amp and sounds terrific.

[John A.]

Yes to all of the above, but just to throw a curve ball, John Scofield.

[yebdox]

All of the above for all the right reasons, but adding in early Benson, slightly overdriven on either one of his earlier Guilds, or his Super 400, and Jesse Van Ruller on his earlier recordings on the now defunct Levin.

[WilliamScott]

Yes to all of the above, but just to throw a curve ball, John Scofield.

Yes, Scofield was the first one I thought of when starting to read this thread. He is identifiable just by hearing his tone unlike many of those already mentioned. Another one who is identifiable by tone, I believe, is Pat Martino.

[sgosnell]

For contemporary players, I like the tone of Andy Brown, Jesse Van Ruller, and Howard Alden. Different, but I like them all.

[Rickco]

Bucky, John, Frank V, Jimmy B...north jersey was the capitol of great jazz guitar for many years. (expect to hear many corrections here)

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

No love for Pat Metheny? I dig most of his tones, except not the synthesised trumpet sound.

[Christian Miller]

I only like the synthesised trumpet sound. Along with Allan’s synth axe patch on Nuages, these are the only sounds I like in music.

instruments should be abolished

[Archie]

It has to be Wes but looking past that, Bill Frisell, Howard Roberts, Pat Martino (el hombre).

[JazzPadd]

All the greats already herein, but if I had to choose one tone it’d be Grant Green.

[ESCC]

THIS!

[Gitterbug]

This is nearing Who's Who in jazz guitar. Since it's almost all in the fingers after all, I'd like to add Biréli Lagrène to the list of the Greats. I also think that Barney Kessel and Jim Hall deserve a high place on the list of players who defined the jazz guitar tone for the public at large. Did I see a reference to Joe Pass? In my encyclopedia, he appears to have been somebody in jazz guitar.