What's the Best Guitar for Playing the Blues?

What makes a guitar perfect for blues? Let's dig in and find out!
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*In this video I played a fender American Stratocaster, a Firefly semi-hollow body, an Ephiphone Les Paul, and a Gibson SG

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SOLI DEO GLORIA!

[DarrellBraunGuitar]

What guitar was your favorite blues machine?
Is there a different guitar you like for blues? if so, let me know!
Enjoy!

[chopsddy]

The best guitar for “The Blues”, is the one ya’ got.

[rjb]

It's not the guitar...
It's the player.
Always enjoy your playing, Darrell, particularly when it's the blues.

[Tele]

Just get a Tele and never worry about genres.

[immanuelkantholz]

Any guitar is best for blues if you believe Rory Gallagher: "Blues players don't mess around with the guitar – they hit the bloody thing."

[LAGreg]

8:32 "I grew up with one really crappy guitar..." Well, you sure got over THAT!

[toneydavis]

Some of the best blues ever played was on an acoustic guitar. Still is.

[InGratitudeIam]

The classic blues tone is in the heart, spirit and fingers of the player. That, and what they could afford at the time.

[frankhall]

I have a Tele, a Strat, and a Les Paul. I play blues on all three of them. The Les Paul with a SD 59 neck and just a smidge of dirt sounds best to me.

[cmusicjourney]

Up until recently, I was watching your videos purely for their content; and that held true also for the first time I watched this video. The second time I watched it however, it was purely to look at the cinematography - I'm looking for inspiration for some videos I want to make. It's absolutely amazing, the lighting, the color grading, the shot choices themselves, all of it very well thought out and deliberate in their execution. I just thought I'd share that. Congratulations, Darrel, this is really, really high quality work in my book. Thank you.

[pathall]

Thank you for this video! The blues is what I play most, but this offered so many great and useful tips, and of course your class A playing is making an appearance!

[marcellofreitas]

I have a strat, a Les Paul and an archtop and I use all of them for everything, including blues. The pickups have a bit more of gain, but I use an FBM1 Boss Fender Bassman pedal, which gives a warm tone. I love the way they all sound. : )

[michaelmorgan]

Darrell, Thanks for the very informative advice. As it happen I've a Les Paul copy & a Strat copy which play quite well & am now looking forward to attempting the Blues.

[rnarizona]

Darrell, I always enjoy your playing. I also find it helpful when you give tone tips regarding pickup and amp settings.

[deanuniverse]

I played Blues with guys with LP’s, Fenders, and I used a Schecter with active 81 and 89R pups. These guys loved Gary Moore, and vintage sound. When I would fire up the Schecter it was so versatile and so over powering they loved the tones that guitar has! But the guitar is really just a part of getting a really good Blues tone!

[MillerCustomGuitars]

So glad that you gave some love to the blues. My Best blues guitar is my Strat but my favorite blues guitarists play Teles. As far as noiseless pickups go, Darrell I put Fishman Fluence Single Width pickups in my Strat and for the first time in 25 years of guitar playing I get the exact Stratocaster tone that I imagine in my head every time that I flick the selector. I haven’t tried their telecaster set, but those look cool as well.

[Chimp_]

Tele - PERIOD!!!!
Oh, Ok .... my Hamer 335 copy with a little "dirt" ain't too shabby for Chicago stuff.

[dappawap]

On a more technical note the Fender strat is easy to record because of its frequency bandwidth. It just sits away from other instruments reducing the frequency buildup that may have occurred. This also applies for live performance. You can hear it in the mix even at lower volumes.

[keithbrown]

How about a how to video on how to set your guitar and amp for a good blues tone, rock tone jazz tone CW tone. Without pedals or a modeling amp?

[socialdef]

Pros and Cons of each guitar:

Strat:
pros: very comfortable to play, irreplaceable neck pickup tone
cons: despite the 5 position switch, not the most versatile tones, tremolo bridge makes tuning unstable, especially if you play around with other tunings.

Tele:
pros: awesome tones in all positions, top loader bridge plays like butter, indestructible
cons: fussy intonation on traditional 3 saddle bridges, string through bodies can feel rather stiff

Les Paul:
pros: amazing depth of tone due to combination of maple cap and mahogany woods
cons: heavy, uncomfortable to play when sitting

SG:
pros: great upper fret access, comfortable to play, versatile tones
cons: prone to neck dive